Baby Sleep Schedule

It can be very difficult trying to get a baby to sleep through the night. As babies are born with no concept of circadian rhythm they will not understand that day and night are different. This may be fine for baby at first, but for Mum and Dad who need their sleep this is a big thing that needs to be achieved.

Getting a good baby sleep schedule will make life much easier for baby, Mum and Dad. The best way to get them to tell the difference between day and night is to make the activity that takes place very different. Make sure that during daytime feeding, you are in a nice bright room, with the TV, Radio or some music playing. Even when baby goes down for a daytime nap, ensure there is some daytime noise going on and that the room is not really dark and silent as at night.

For night feeds, its just the opposite. When you feed your baby make sure the light is very dim, and keep any talking to a minimum. Then lay baby back down swiftly with a quick kiss and then leave them alone. They may cry and this can be stressful, but bear with it, they will learn the routine and will not suffer in the long run.

On thing that you need to achieve early on is getting baby to sleep alone. As lovely as it is to cuddle your baby and see them drop off to sleep in your arms, they really need to learn to drop off to sleep on their own.

If you do always let them go to sleep whilst they are with you, it is a sure fire way to run into baby sleeping issues. If they wake, they will remember the last place they were was in your arms, so will feel anxious and confused when they find themselves in their cot.

If you get a good bedtime routine in place, this will be very benefical in getting good baby sleep habits in place. Different things work, really depending on your lifestyle. But generally a nice bath, a story and a cuddle will do the trick. Make everything very quiet and relaxing and stick to this routine like glue ! Babies love routine and taking them out of it even for one night can cause havoc. You have put in a lot of work to get this baby sleep schedule in place so make sure that you keep it going.

As strange as its sounds, you could find that your baby is fighting sleep. This often happens when a child is "over tired" and is simply too exhausted to get the energy to go to sleep. Think about it yourself. How often have you been so tired you cannot wait to get to bed, and then when you finally get there sleep eludes you.

Try not to get to the baby fighting sleep stage by ensuring that you lay him down in his cot as soon as he seems to be tired. Then he will be able to drop off naturally when he is ready.

Another reason for a baby fighting sleep often appears when baby is around eight months old. If baby is really tired when he is put to bed and drops off straight away, then he will not realise that Mum or Dad has left the room. Then should he wake he becomes anxious. This anxiety leads to other baby sleeping issues and you will find it hard getting baby to sleep alone.