How can we help a child fall asleep? Here is a list of common and useful remedies that can relax your baby and prepare you for rest.
- Swaddling.
- Motion sickness.
- Booing.
- Singing.
- White noise.
- Using an electric swing.
- Exposure to fresh air (open window or walk).
- Walking with a baby in a stroller.
- Walking with your baby in a carrier or sling.
- Breast/formula feeding.
- Pacifier (not recommended, see below).
- Suction diaper (better than a pacifier).
- Carrying on hands.
- Soft toy (for children over one year old).
- Blanket (for children over one year old).
You can use some of the above to calm your child and help him fall asleep. Remember that it is very important not to let him sleep all day, so use these products minimally during the day. For example, you can put your baby in an electric swing to help him fall asleep faster, but you shouldn't rock him for several hours at a time. Turn off the swing when it's time to wake up so your baby wakes up on his own.
Below, I'll go into more detail on how to use some of these assistive techniques to help your baby fall asleep during the day, while keeping in mind our main goal: getting your baby to sleep peacefully until the morning.
Swaddling
Swaddling can be very useful when laying down a newborn baby, because he is accustomed to a position in which the movements of his arms and legs are limited: this is exactly how it was, cozy and cramped, for him in the womb.
Newborns have the Moro reflex - a startle reflex in which the baby instinctively throws up his arms when he thinks he is going to fall on his back. This is a protective reflex. It gradually fades away and fades away by the age of six months.
When newborns sleep, naturally occurring twitching triggers this reflex, and then throwing up can wake the baby. Therefore, it can be difficult for a small child to fall asleep and sleep peacefully. Limiting hand activity may help.
Swaddling recreates the cozy closeness of the mother's womb and prevents arousal due to the Moro reflex, and many mothers (including myself) testify in favor of swaddling.
The effectiveness of this method is based not only on individual observations. It was tested in sleep research laboratories at Washington University in St. Louis. Using a variety of instruments and techniques, including polysomnography, which records the electrical activity of the brain during sleep, electromyography, which shows muscle activity, and special swaddles that capture the movements of children, researchers have proven that swaddling can reduce the number of arms raised during sleep and, as a result, , awakenings by 90% compared to the statistics of awakenings in children who are not swaddled.
Swaddling seems like an ideal way to help your baby sleep, but it's extremely important to do it only at night, otherwise your baby will get used to sleeping too much during the day, which will have a detrimental effect on nighttime sleep. Use other means during the day (swings, walks with a stroller, fresh air), save the most important weapon for the situation when it is really difficult to do without it, that is, for going to bed at night.
It is recommended to swaddle the baby until he learns to roll over; This usually occurs at the age of five to six months, but it can happen earlier. From this point on, swaddling becomes unsafe, because at night the baby may roll over onto his stomach, without being able to use his arms. He may lie face down, thereby making it very difficult for himself to breathe. Stop swaddling as soon as you notice that your baby begins to roll over from back to stomach or vice versa.
It's scary to stop doing something that helps you put your baby to sleep so well every day. Instead of a diaper, start putting him in a sleeping bag: this is a cozy blanket that wraps your baby's legs, leaving his hands free. The great thing is that your baby's sleep will not be affected by such changes if all other signs of nighttime routine are maintained.
This is the advantage of my technique: you provide the baby with a stable rhythm using a variety of factors, including light, routine and rituals. Swaddling is only a small part of it. You stop swaddling, but all the other evening rituals remain the same, and the baby is just as tired at the end of the day - and now your baby sleeps peacefully, even though his arms are suddenly not tied by anything.
How to find out what is bothering your child?
In order to understand what to do to help your child sleep well at night, you need to find out what may be bothering your baby. If a mother has no experience in dealing with small children, then she will experience great difficulties with her first-born, because he himself does not know how to say what is bothering him. Mom needs help and support. It can be provided by an older relative, a friend who had the same problems, or a local doctor.
When the baby does not sleep, screams, moves restlessly, it means he is unwell. Something needs to be done. Encyclopedic reference books for young mothers and Internet resources often turn out to be very good helpers if there is no opportunity to talk with a competent person. From them you can learn the rules of hygiene for children of different ages, find out the possible reasons for the crying of newborns, and also find tips on what to do so that the child sleeps at night, eats well during the day, etc.
The length of daily sleep depends on the age of the baby. A newborn sleeps eighteen hours a day, waking up only to feed. Up to a year, every two months the required amount of sleep is reduced by an hour. You need to understand that this process is sequential. Only in the first three months are the changes occurring in the child immediately visible. At this time, it depends little on external factors. He only eats, sleeps, defecates and spends a lot of energy getting used to the new reality outside his mother’s belly.
Eye contact
Try to avoid eye contact with your baby when putting him to sleep. Psychologists have long proven - and this fact is familiar to each of us from our own experience - that looking directly into the eyes increases nervous arousal and changes the algorithms of the brain.
Direct eye contact with the mother excites the baby so much that he stops wanting to sleep. During the curfew, this is the last thing we want. Therefore, try to train yourself to look at your baby's chin or tummy to make it easier for him to fall asleep.
How to get ready for bed
Quiet, relaxing games, such as putting dolls and teddy bears to rest, can help do this. Evening classes should not strain your attention. Intensive developmental activities should be reserved for daytime. Plasma or LCD screens should also be excluded. It must be said that viewing pictures (movies, anime, etc.) from electronic media has a negative impact on the psychosomatic development of children. It’s better to read a book to him or tell him a fairy tale. This will calm the nervous system and set you up for relaxation.
Choose a place to sleep at night
If possible, place your child to sleep during the day in a different place from where he sleeps at night. At night, always put him in a crib that is always in the same place. For naps, using another crib, crib or bassinet, and a sling or stroller if you're going out are all great options.
One of my favorite stories is how I helped Max, a young dad who was complaining to me about his daughter’s naps. He said that Olympia has great difficulty going to sleep during the day if she is not rocked in the cradle.
This conversation happened in the summer, the weather was beautiful, and I suggested that Max start going out with Olympia for a walk, every day at the same time. I said that this would make it easier for my daughter to fall asleep, and he would be able to leave the house, which is also important for a change of scenery. A week later, Max reported that Olympia was sleeping in the stroller, there was no way to wake her up with a gun, and he and his wife were having a great time walking around the area. A win-win!
By improving a child’s sleep, we build future relationships in the family.
If your baby does not have a problem with diaper rash, but due to an ill-considered routine, the child sleeps very poorly at night, what should you do to accustom him to a comfortable and more adult daily routine?
It is very useful to take a half-hour walk in the fresh air before going to bed. The room where the baby sleeps must be ventilated in the morning and evening. Poor sleep is often a consequence of oxygen deprivation. In the children's bedroom it is recommended to install an air ionizer and an aquarium with fish. It is better not to engage in daytime play in this room. Her entire environment should create a feeling of peace, relaxation and sleep. Even if the number of rooms in the apartment does not allow several of them to be designated as separate bedrooms for each family member, then when a small child appears, one of the rooms should become a common oasis of silence, freshness and peace for him and his parents. Let mom, dad and baby sleep in it. As you know, children sleep better and more soundly when they are with their parents. They are not tormented by night terrors - they do not experience feelings of loneliness and abandonment. In addition, a daily ritual performed before going to bed is of great importance.
Young parents at all times and in all parts of the world have always faced the same problems when raising children: a newborn, a one-year-old, or an older child does not sleep at night. What to do? It is clear that a healthy baby will happily sleep or nap next to his mother, father, grandmother or grandfather, but it is impossible to be with him all the time. And he sensitively monitors all the attempts of the unfortunate parents to quietly leave the room. Modern mothers and fathers are much better off in this sense than their predecessors. Electronic technology provides them with great help. They have the opportunity to connect headphones to the gadget and watch a movie, play a computer game, read an interesting online magazine or book while the baby falls asleep. This must be used. In past times, children were given pacifiers soaked in soothing drugs, in particular poppy decoction, alcohol tinctures, etc. After all, it is too early for an adult to go to bed at eight or nine o’clock, and the baby does not want to be alone.
It is important not to overdo it with electronic assistants. Live communication with a child is of great importance both for his development and for relationships within the family in the future. In addition, it is necessary for instilling communication skills, without which it is very difficult in adult life. If a one-year-old child does not sleep well at night, what can be done to prevent this from becoming the cause of chronic lack of sleep for his parents? Feeding, pottying, playing and communicating with the baby every time he wakes up is very difficult for working parents. Sooner or later, the baby will still have to get used to the fact that people sleep at night and are awake, play and communicate during the day. That's how it is in our world.
White noise
Many parents claim that white noise is the best way to put a child to sleep. In 1990, London scientists reported that white noise allowed 80% of newborns aged two to seven days to fall asleep within five minutes. At the same time, without white noise, only 20% of participants in the control group fell asleep during the same time.
White noise muffles all other background noise that can disturb a child's sleep, but also has a calming effect. It is believed that this sound is similar to the one that the fetus constantly hears in the womb.
White noise is a wonderful aid, but use it sparingly as its effect wears off over time. Turn it off during night feedings and turn it back on only if your baby starts crying when you put him back in his crib. During the day, try to avoid white noise. If used only at night, it will be another signal for the child: it is night and he needs to sleep at night.
Use other sounds to comfort your baby during the day. Many swings have built-in sounds, such as lullabies or nature sounds, and are often used to help parents put their baby to sleep. There are special white noise generators on sale, and you can also download an application for your smartphone.
Teething is a common cause of insomnia
You fed your little one, stroked his head, back or tummy, and yet your baby doesn’t sleep well at night. What to do in this situation? Take his temperature. Perhaps he got sick. This happens extremely rarely with children who are breastfed and isolated from external infections. Most often, an increase in temperature indicates teething. In this situation, the baby’s salivation increases, he tries to take something into his mouth, and screams sharply. The mother's breast is the best sedative and pain reliever for him. In some cases, a numbing gel designed to lubricate the gums can be used, but this should only be given after consultation with a pediatrician. When a month-old baby does not sleep at night, the same doctor will tell you what to do.
Pacifiers
When your child cries, you are ready to do anything to calm him down. I have never been keen on the idea of giving children pacifiers, yet in moments of desperation I have offered a pacifier to both Leah and Noah. With Leah, everything turned out to be simple: she took the pacifier and spat it out - and the fairy tale ended. Noah took it... and how peacefully the next month passed in our family! Imagine: I just fed the baby, he got excited and fussed - I take out a pacifier. The son immediately calmed down, the pacifier helped him fall asleep. During the day we hardly heard him cry.
At night things were completely different. He often woke up and started crying. To calm Noah down, I either had to feed him or give him a pacifier. After about five weeks, it dawned on me: I had very successfully trained my son to fall asleep exclusively with a pacifier.
During the day there were no problems with this: the pacifier fell out and we simply stuck it back. At night, a pacifier falling out of his mouth meant that he needed to get up and find it, because without it he simply could not sleep. This is how my son became addicted to the pacifier!
I realized that the pacifier only distances Noah from his goal, that is, from the ability to calm down on his own. And she made a radical decision. We gave up pacifiers. They just threw every single one out of the house one fine day and completely changed the program. We had a rather fussy baby squirming in our arms for about a day, and I won’t deny it, I eventually broke down and turned a blind eye to the feeding schedule, switching to on-demand feeding whenever Noah’s mood got worse.
For a while, I became a “living pacifier”, but at the same time I gradually reduced the number of breastfeedings until Noah returned to the original schedule.
Although many parents swear by pacifiers and, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, they actually reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, I cannot recommend them based on my personal experience and the experiences of other parents who have faced similar problems. A soothing alternative that is not as addictive is a muslin wrap.
When Noah was about four months old, he began to love holding cloth in his hand and occasionally sucking on it. The lightweight, transparent material is breathable, so you don't have to worry about SIDS. And yet, do not forget: it is better to give the baby a diaper during the daytime and at the same time closely monitor him.
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Vaccinations create short-term problems, but they cannot be avoided
What to do if your child does not sleep at night after vaccination? This is a common situation. There is nothing to be afraid of here. You just need to wait it out. After this procedure, most children develop a fever, become restless, and scream a lot. Carry your baby in your arms for more time, protect him from sudden changes in temperature, and don’t go outside with him for a couple of days. Vaccination is a difficult ordeal for a tiny person, but it is necessary. Some parents make the mistake of refusing to vaccinate their child against polio, mumps, rubella and other diseases. A good doctor will not send him for vaccination if he is too weak or there is a health threat.
Where should your baby sleep?
The question of where a child should sleep - in bed with parents, in their bedroom or in a crib in the next room - is widely discussed in the parenting community. Adherents of the so-called “natural” parenting advocate co-sleeping and avoiding any reasons for crying. And while hearing your baby cry is hard for any mom or dad, is it really the best thing you can do to ensure your little one sleeps soundly until the morning?
In addition to safety concerns (the American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes co-sleeping as an unsafe practice due to an increased risk of SIDS), there is evidence that creating a separate space in which a baby can learn to comfort himself helps promote a restful night's sleep.
In 2021, researchers from University College London compared children sleeping in the same bed as their parents with those sleeping in their own crib, using video footage and sleep diaries.
They found that parents who practice co-sleeping respond to their baby's night awakenings in a matter of seconds and immediately begin to feed him. Those parents whose babies sleep in a separate crib, in comparison with the first group, react a little slower and, accordingly, delay feeding for a short time.
And here's the trick: scientists have proven that at the age of three months, only 25% of children in the co-sleeping group sleep more than five hours at a time. In contrast, 72% of children in the second group, who regularly had to wait at least a minute to be calmed and fed, slept more than five hours a night without waking up. In other words, delaying feeding a small baby by just one minute has a profound effect on how long it takes to fall asleep after waking up at night.
It is almost impossible to postpone feeding if the baby is lying next to you in bed, but if he sleeps in a separate crib, or even better - in a separate room, parents quickly learn to restrain their impulse, giving the baby the opportunity to calm down on his own.
Plants will help you relax
Herbal medicine is an indispensable assistant for difficulties falling asleep. Baths with extracts of chamomile, motherwort, mint or lemon balm, decoctions of oak bark, pine needles, cedar, fir, etc. are very relaxing. Evening tea with chamomile, linden, raspberry, motherwort or a collection of these herbs is useful to drink half an hour before bedtime, after bathing. A pillow with unblown dry hop cones will give a sound and healthy sleep to both the child and his parents.
Medicines
Self-medication is unacceptable! There are completely safe remedies that can be given if the question arises: “What should a child do if he doesn’t sleep at night?”, but they should be taken only with the permission of the pediatrician.
Many people know that glycine often helps parents out. It has mild sedative and tranquilizing effects. By relieving psycho-emotional stress, glycine makes it easier to fall asleep and normalizes sleep. One tablet half an hour before bedtime is enough.
"Sanason" and "Persen" are also harmless sedatives. They are made on the basis of medicinal herbs, but they cannot be given to a healthy child without the consent of a doctor. They contain valerian root extract, and this plant can provoke an allergic reaction.
During teething, the child’s body urgently needs additional calcium. Its deficiency manifests itself in increased nervous and psycho-emotional excitability. Ask your pediatrician to prescribe the appropriate medication for you.
Another safe remedy is sodium bromide solution. Nowadays it is rarely prescribed because it is made to order according to an individual prescription.
