Pediatrician Mom: Sleeping plan for babies (0 to 18 months old)

The following article comes from Pediatrician Mom, author Xiami Mommy

Pediatrician Mom.

With the conscience of a mother with professional medical knowledge, I can speak for the babies and answer questions for the parents.

This is the 3624th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

For babies under 18 months old, sleeping is also a skill. They need to gradually understand that day and night should be used for different things, and slowly learn to fall asleep on their own after waking up. In this learning process, feeding when hungry, letting sleep when sleepy, and comforting at the right time are the "baby sleeping secrets" that parents must master.

The truth about babies' restless sleep

"I'm hungry, I'm not feeling well" Babies wake up in the middle of the night mostly because they are hungry. Although breast milk is easier to digest and formula milk is more resistant to hunger, in general, whether they are breastfed or formula milk, the sleeping patterns of babies of this age are similar: during the neonatal period, low-birth-weight and premature babies wake up more frequently due to hunger than healthy full-term babies; babies around 6 months old will wake up 2 to 3 times a night due to hunger; babies around 9 months old will still wake up 1 to 2 times a night due to hunger, and even babies around 18 months old need to eat something before going to bed at night.

A baby who wakes up at night because of hunger will fall asleep again as long as he is full. Similarly, if the baby urinates, is too hot, or is too cold, as long as the physiological factors that make him uncomfortable are removed, he will fall asleep contentedly.

“I still don’t know how to put myself to sleep.”

The baby's sleep cycle is short, and the light sleep time is longer than the deep sleep time. And after switching from deep sleep to light sleep, it is difficult for the baby to fall asleep again. At this time, what the mother needs to do is to comfort the baby to sleep in time. It is normal for adults to not sleep through the night before the baby is 1 and a half years old. Don't worry, such days will soon end, because most babies can basically learn to fall asleep again by themselves in the preschool period.

“I’m overtired”

Adults feel sleepy when they are tired, but it is difficult to fall asleep when they are too tired. The same is true for babies. To avoid this situation, mothers should try to maintain their baby's normal schedule and never miss their bedtime. The following behaviors remind you that your baby is sleepy: rubbing eyes, pulling ears, yawning, light dark circles under eyes, lack of interest in anything, lack of concentration, and even restlessness.

"It was you who made me develop the habit of sleeping in your arms."

Many parents have had similar experiences: "The baby falls asleep when held, but wakes up when put down." This is because when you put the baby down, he is still in a light sleep stage and wakes up easily. In the first few months, you usually need to wait until the baby's limbs become soft (entering a deep sleep state) before you can easily put him down. Or you should put the baby back in the crib before he falls asleep from the beginning, so that he can learn to fall asleep in the crib by himself, so as to avoid the problem of having to hold him to coax him to sleep all the time.

Sleeping strategies for babies

1. Let your baby know that the daytime is for eating, drinking and having fun, and the night is for recuperating. Some babies always wake up in the middle of the night because they mistake the nighttime sleep for the daytime nap. In this case, parents should help them associate sleep with fixed places and scenes. For example, keep the room bright during the day, do not draw thick curtains when the baby takes a nap, draw the curtains tightly and dim the indoor light at night; talk to the baby more when feeding during the day, and try not to make any noise when feeding at night; daytime naps and nighttime sleep can be arranged in different places, etc.

2. Form a fixed bedtime routine to calm your baby. There is no special regulation for the content of the bedtime routine, as long as the baby likes it and can calm down. This routine usually includes: playing a game that allows the child to vent excess energy (babies under 3 months old are easy to coax to sleep, so games are not necessary), giving the baby a warm bath, putting on the baby's favorite pajamas, reading a warm story or playing a quiet game, singing a song, chatting for a while, and then putting the baby to bed and saying good night to him... Let the baby know that the bed is a very comfortable little nest, not a place where you "abandon" him when it's time to go to bed.

3. Let the baby try to go from needing comfort from the mother to falling asleep by holding a "comfort object" For a small baby, the best way to make him fall asleep quickly is to wrap him up, hold him, rock him gently, walk back and forth, pat his back gently, or listen to his mother humming a lullaby. For an older baby who can turn over freely when sleeping, you can give him a "comfort object". This comfort object may be a blanket or a plush toy, as long as it can divert the baby's emotional dependence on breast milk (bottle) or pacifier. Comfort objects help babies overcome separation anxiety and panic. The mother can take the comfort object to her side for a while, so that it will be stained with the "smell of mother". Holding the "comfort object" with the "smell of mother" will help the baby fall asleep peacefully.

4 Help your baby establish a biological clock and wake him up when necessary. If your baby is still sleeping after the usual waking time, it is usually best to wake him up, which will help him establish a biological clock for sleep.