For novice parents, it is absolutely common to get up at night to take care of the baby.
As a new parent, you need to realize the following points:
- A few weeks after birth, Babies sleep 14 to 20 hours a day. Newborns usually do not have a day-night pattern, Wake up every 2-3 hours, At this time, breast-feeding or [interaction] is required. In the first few months, the baby may wake up frequently at night and need to be fed with night milk 2-3 times, which is a normal phenomenon. About 4 months, the baby will slowly begin to form a day-night rule. At this time, the baby can usually sleep for 4-5 hours or even longer at night. Please do not wake him up to feed him.
Having mastered the sleep characteristics of the baby, what are the suggestions for what’s rearing for the special sleep conditions of the baby?
Adapt to your baby’s sleep time
Just came out of his mother’s stomach, the newborn baby has not learned to distinguish day from night, so his sleep is irregular and it is difficult to predict when what will sleep.
The stomach volume of the newborn baby is still very small, and it can only last for 2-3 hours after feeding, so the baby will often wake up to eat milk in the first 1-2 months of birth.
Thankfully, after 4 ~ 6 months, as long as parents can guide them correctly, most babies will form regular sleep.
Don’t try to train newborn babies to sleep.
Due to the physiological characteristics of the newborn baby, don’t expect to cultivate [good] sleep rules in the first few months. It is wise to rest with the unpredictable and sporadic sleep time of the baby.
Sometimes the baby’s sleep pattern will suddenly change inexplicably. Most of the time, this is only a normal phenomenon in the process of the child’s growth, but at the same time, attention should be paid to the presence or absence of disease manifestations.
Changes in your baby’s sleep habits may be a sign of over-stimulation before going to bed or turning points in your development, but it may also be caused by diseases such as otitis media. If you are not sure, please consult your pediatrician.
In the same room, sleep alone in a small bed.
Sleeping in the same room with parents, parents will respond positively to the needs of the baby, which can help establish a good safe attachment relationship between mother and child and has a positive effect on the mental health development of the baby.
It is recommended to sleep in separate beds because sleeping in the same bed with the baby and the parents can lead to an increased risk of neonatal death.
Sleep on your back
Let the baby face up and sleep on his back can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and is the safest sleeping posture.
In addition, there should be no big pillows, plush toys, soft quilts and other items on the baby’s bed, which may cover the baby’s nose and mouth and hinder breathing. For newborn babies, hard mattresses with sheets and baby sleeping bags are safer choices.
Don’t wake up your baby at night to nurse
Pediatricians will give advice according to the different situations of each baby. Usually, once the newborn has returned to his birth weight, about 2 weeks after birth, there is no need to wake up the baby specially to nurse at night.
However, special circumstances such as premature infants are different, and feeding adjustments may need to be made. Please consult a pediatrician for details.
Breastfed babies usually sleep a little shorter than artificially fed babies. Some parents want their babies to sleep longer at night and prefer to add formula milk to their babies before going to bed. Adding formula milk is easy to interfere with breastfeeding when stable breastfeeding has not yet been established, so this practice is not recommended.
Other
1. Don’t let your baby sleep with a bottle in it
This is easy to lead to asphyxia and otitis media, and is not conducive to oral hygiene.
2. Find out the signal that the baby wants to sleep in time,
This is of great help to actively guide the baby to fall asleep, otherwise the baby will be agitated and difficult to fall asleep when entering a state of excessive fatigue.
3. In addition to sleeping on your back, remember to play on your stomach.
Lie on your back is very important for newborn babies, but this does not mean that babies should lie in bed all day.
When the baby wakes up, he should practice lying prone under the supervision of his parents, which is helpful to the development of the muscle strength and control ability of the baby’s head, neck and shoulder, and can also prevent the back of the baby’s head from sleeping too flat.
Responsible Editor: Haitang