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Encouraging more peaceful sleep

It’s inevitable that having a newborn baby is going to cost you your sleep. Newborn babies tend to wake up fairly often – needing feeding, a nappy change or just attention. But there are some steps you can take to help your baby become better at sleeping

Typical sleep requirements

• At six to nine months babies need about fourteen hours of sleep per day.
• They’re capable of sleeping for seven hours at a time.
• If your baby sleeps for more than seven hours, he’s probably waking but then settling himself happily. This is a great sign that he’s becoming a good sleeper.
• Naps probably now only last a couple of hours, and he’s probably taking one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Sleep is a family affair

An unhappy baby who can’t sleep can upset your whole family environment. So set some ground rules to help you all to encourage your baby to sleep more consistently.

Establish the ground rules

• Decide what your response will be if your baby is awake and crying.
• Make these decisions during the day. The small hours with a crying baby are a bad time to try and decide on sleeping tactics.
• Do you wait a minute or five or ten before responding to a cry? Whatever you decide, be consistent in your response.
• Remember your strategy will need to develop and change as your baby grows.

The trouble with sleep

There are a number of different factors that can put your baby off sleeping;

• Babies can become distressed by their separation from you, so remind your baby that you’re not far away and use reassuring props like toys, nightlights and music.
• Try and keep night time rituals short and practical, otherwise your child will try to prolong the pleasurable time spent with you at the cost of sleep.
• Instead have your cosy private time together at a different time, such as after a bath or in the early morning.
• Having too much energy can be a problem for a young baby, especially if he stands up in his cot and can’t easily sit down again.
• Teach him how to lie down on his own or gently lie him back down in his cot without making a fuss over him or cuddling.
• A bedtime of 8.30pm or later may be too late for your baby. Try shifting it to an hour earlier.
• Be careful to be calm and even a bit boring for bedtime. If the ‘awake’ world is too exciting, your baby won’t want to sleep.
• Make the nursery a fun yet soothing place to be with mobiles, music boxes, cuddly toys and soft blankets.

Use consistent rituals to encourage sleep

Set up some regular rituals to help your baby to get used to sleeping at the right times;

• Make sure that mealtimes and bedtimes are consistent whether it’s a weekday or a weekend.
• Put in place a wind-down routine before bed that’s always the same.
• The routine can include a bath, a quiet game or a lullaby and should be done in the same order and at the same time each night.
• Don’t let your baby become too used to being rocked or breastfed to sleep, or you’ll find it really difficult to put him down to sleep without him becoming upset.

Encourage your baby to settle without you

In order to sleep through the night your baby needs to learn to settle himself without calling for you, so you should avoid lifting or touching your crying baby too much when you go to him in his cot. Of course, if you can see your baby is very hungry, has a wet nappy or seems ill or hysterical you should pick him up and help him.

Otherwise, consider not going to him at his first cry. See if he will settle back down on his own. Feeding is not a good solution to sleep problems. If he’s had plenty of food during the day, don’t offer him the breast or bottle. Just enter the room and pat him gently on the back, speaking soothing words. But don’t lift him or cuddle him. Encourage him to feel soothed by his favourite blanket or soft toy.