I thought I would share a short video filled with good sleep tips that I filmed almost a year ago! Below you can read the summary of the video with some additional information.

1. Have an early bedtime

Ooops the video camera got me a bit nervous. I said in the video 11-13 of night sleep but what I should have said was babies need 10-12 hours of sleep every night. Having an early bedtime will help them achieve those hours and avoid an overtired baby. Ideal bedtime is between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

2. Consistent sleep environment

Consistency is my favourite word and when it comes to where your baby sleep it plays an important role. The more often our child’s sleep environment looks and feels the same the more predictably and comfortable the process becomes.

3. Bedtime routine

Bedtime routines are what I like to call the foundation for baby’s sleep. It acts as a cueing system to let them know bedtime is near. Routines should be 20-30 min not including a feed. An example of a routine could look like; bath, lotion, pjs, feed, burp, book, sleep sack, bed AWAKE. Your child’s bedtime routine can look different as you want to make a routine that works for your family. The importance of the routine is that it is CONSISTENT at least 80% of the time.

4. Baby is placed in their crib or bassinet AWAKE!

The reason it is important to place your baby in the crib awake is that you want them to use their own self-soothing skills to lull themselves to sleep. Once they have this skill, they will be able to enter sleep cycles independently instead of needing an external prop every hour or two throughout the night.

5. Pause before responding when baby wakes in the night

I know it can be hard not to rush in when you hear your baby crying in the middle of the night but there are a couple of reasons, I recommend the pause. One babies can cry well in lighter stages of sleep so rushing in may wake them and two allowing a few minutes gives your baby an opportunity to practicing entering another sleep cycle independently.

If you have any further questions about your babies sleep like when can you expect them to sleep through the night or extend their daytime naps please reach out and book a FREE 15 min discovery call.