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Have a little angel at home, who does not let you sleep at night, or wakes you up in the middle of the night every now and then?
Check out some of the most common bedtime mistakes parents make and ways to avoid them.
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Not setting up a proper bedtime routine
One of the most common mistakes parents make is not to set up a proper bedtime routine.
Think of your own self, what makes you sleep better?
Do you sleep better and wake up fresh and hearty when you work up to the last minute and then go to sleep or when you take a bath, read a page or two of your favorite books or have a glass of hot milk before going to sleep.
Most certainly you will agree with the latter. Just like you, your baby sleeps better when you set up a bedtime routine for him/her to follow.
So every day when you switch off the lights, give your baby a hot bath or read their favorite book there is a better chance your baby will understand that it’s time to sleep.
Feed the baby and lay them to bed drowsy so the baby learns to fall asleep on his/her own.
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Not paying attention to your child’s sleep cues
If you do not pay attention to or miss your child’s sleep cues such as yawning, rubbing eyes, slow movement, lack of interest in playing and lying down.
If parents miss the so-called “sleep window” it then becomes difficult to put the baby down to sleep as after the time has passed the body stops secreting the relaxing hormone, melatonin and instead will start secreting cortisol, a stress-related hormone that is more likely to result in an overstimulated baby.
In order not to miss the baby’s sleep cues, it is important to pay attention to the baby’s routine throughout the day and chances are that parents will be able to observe a sleep pattern or times during the day and night when the baby feels most sleepy.
- Relying on sleep crutches
Parents more often tend to rely on some sort of sleep crutches to put the baby to sleep.
Activities such as rocking, walking or swinging your baby to sleep seem to be last resort when it’s 2 a.m.
in the morning and you are tired to the point of falling down to sleep and the baby is still showing no signs of sleeping.
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However, if the baby is three or four months old and these actions are repeated regularly each day, night after night, they become sleep crutches without which the baby cannot fall asleep.
Babies like elder people, wake up several times during the night, the key is not to accustom him/her to the habit of falling down to these sleep crutches, rather put them to bed drowsy so that they learn to get themselves back to sleep every time they wake up during the night.
Get help!
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