Finding Your Village
Episode 02: Set Yourself Up for Success with your Newborn's Sleep Habits

In today’s episode I will be discussing newborn sleep habits. 

Goal: Provide you information on how you can get yourself in a rhythm that sets you and your baby up for successful sleep habits

The 5 most important factors for baby sleep are:

1. Paying attention to how long a baby is awake for in between naps and bedtime and making sure you dont let them stay awake too long
   • Awake intervals by age chart 
   • For newborns to 2 months old its 45 minutes to 1 hour. That’s it. 
   • Start getting them ready for their nap 5-10 minutes before the awake interval is over.
   • Also, learn baby-tired cues, if you see your baby do this, even if its only been 35 minutes, start that nap routine and get them dow
   • Try to avoid on the go naps as much as possible
2. Don't let them take a nap longer than 3 hours during the day
   • Newborns generally only get one long period of sleep in a day, make it happen at night!
3. Create an optimal sleep environment for your baby in a dark, quiet room, in their own crib/bassinet with nothing in the crib except for a tight fitted sheet on the mattress
   • Dark room 
   • Quiet (Get a sound machine)
   • Room temp between 68 and 72
   • In the same place for naps and bedtime 
4. Create a consistent bedtime routine
   • Keep it simple
   • Shorter for naps: change diaper, swaddle, sing a quick lullaby, turn on sound machine and turn off lights
5. Avoiding creating sleep crutches, things that babies get used to relying on in order to fall asleep like nursing or being rocked to sleep
   • Pacifiers are ok
     • Good for babys between 1-6 months old for SIDs prevention
     • If they dont want it, dont force it
   • If they cry when you put them down reassure them for a few seconds with gentle pats and a lullaby or shhhhing sounds 
     • There is a difference between crying and fussing
     • Let them fuss for a minute or two, if they cry then go comfort them

My Experience

• Didn't know what I was doing with my daughter 
• Sleep regression
• I couldnt handle letting her cry
• I hired a sleep consultant
• With my son, I started out the right way
  • He hardly ever cries when I put him to bed
  • Never had to sleep train him

Point of clarification: ROUTINE vs. SCHEDULE

• I do not believe that infants should be put on a schedule, especially if you are breastfeeding. 
  • Follow their hunger cues
  • So important to establishing good supply and encouraging good weight gain 
• A routine is not a schedule
  • Routine is an order in which you do things or a predictable pattern of how things are going to go in a day
  • The times those things happen will vary day by day (not drastically) 
• Follow the EASY order when baby wakes up: Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time!

Recommended reading:

• Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracey Hogg
• The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West

If you follow the basic principles of baby sleep your issues will be mitigated and it will be much easier to correct an issue for a baby who isn’t overtired and tied to a sleep crutch 

T

Visit www.keepsakecastle.com today!

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