5 Tips To Get Newborn Sleep Longer

Tip #1 – Swaddle Your Baby

Till five months, babies have a startle reflex, in which they feel as if they are falling. The vibe of falling jerks them causing them to wake up. Swaddling keeps infants from frightening themselves, helping the baby to rest more. Ensure to swaddle the baby cozily.

I will recommend Muslin Swaddle Wraps & PEUBUD Swaddle Pod. Muslin is a natural fiber and is very soft for a baby’s skin. Further, it is stretchable and breathable. Swaddle Pod is helpful as one doesn’t have to spend time learning how to swaddle a baby.

Regardless of whether your child appears to hate the wrap-up, I would still recommend continuing attempting. Do understand that it is a natural inclination for an infant to appreciate a coziness around them since that’s how they were in the womb.

We quit wrapping up once Aveer could routinely get his arms out and turn over. We kept on utilizing HALO sleep sack which we wrapped up around his body, forgetting about his arms.

Tip #2 – Dream Feed

Exactly as it sounds, dream feed means feeding your newborn when they are still asleep. Along with that, you need to take care to give the feed to the baby just before you go to bed. It is good if both of these things coincide. It helps by ensuring the baby doesn’t get up once you have dozed off.

Isn’t it frustrating, you just went to bed and your baby wakes up?

The dream feed can enable your infant to rest for more while you rest. We utilized it until about age 6 months. After this, it began to disturb the sleep.

By and large, if your baby can sleep for 3-4 hours during the night in the first 6 weeks, it is great! From 6-12 weeks a baby can get a 4-6 hour sleep at a stretch at times for a few babies it can go up till 8-9 hour.

Generally getting newborns to sleep through the night refers to a 6 hour stretch of rest. An infant’s stomach is small hence I used to feed every 2-2.5 hours during the day, bunch feed in the evening, AND dream feed at night. The more calories you can give during the day, the less they may require at night.

One more thing which we did was to express the milk. It gave us a chance to take turns and feed the baby. It was really helpful as this meant one of us was asleep for a min of 5 hours at a stretch. I must admit dream feed along with the help from your better half can work wonders.

I am also mentioning a schedule for the baby, we followed for the first three months:

• 7:00 am – Good Morning, feed, play
• 8:00 am – Bathing and massage
• 8:30 am – Feed, sleep
• 10:00 am – Feed, play
• 11:30 am – Sleep
• 1:00 pm – Feed, play
• 2:30 pm – Sleep
• 4:00 pm – Feed, play
• 5:30 pm – Sleep
• 7:00 – Feed, play
• 8:30 pm – Feed (bunch feed), sleep
• 10:30 pm – Dream feed
• 10:30 pm – 7 am – night feeds as required.

Tip #3 – 2 To 2.5hours Sleep At A Stretch In A Day

I know it’s very difficult to wake an innocent and sleepy newborn, however, sleeping excessively for a long stretch during the day can hamper night sleep. We used to ensure not to let Aveer sleep more than a 2 – 2.5hour mark. I would feel free to wake him up, feed him, keep him awake for some time, and afterward lay him down for another snooze.

If you think your baby needs some more time to sleep and want to increase the time limit to 2.5 hours, please do so. Planning sleeps during the day will enable your baby to rest better around during the night. It additionally empowers you to give more feedings during the day, which is extremely useful.

There were, obviously, times where Aveer was overtired and required a little recuperation snooze. We used to let him be and afterward began refocusing with our day by day schedule.

Tip #4 – White Noise

New noises are attractive to the baby and older noises soothing. Hence, if your baby is tuning in to all the fun going on in the house it tends to be difficult to nod off and stay asleep.

As a newborn photographer, I always had a white noise devise with me which really helped. You can also use white noise, it’s worthwhile investing in one when you see your baby having a sound sleep every time he/she goes to bed. I recommend Baby Shusher. I have used it personally and can vouch for its quality. It is also very portable and sleek and really helps while travelling. You don’t have to tell your friends and relatives to be quiet while making baby sleep. 

You can also place a table fan on medium in the infant’s room. Ensure it’s not straightforwardly close to the baby and it doesn’t blow on him/her or sit excessively near his delicate ears. 

Tip #5 – Feed, Wake, Sleep

This is known as Feed, Wake and Sleep cycle. The newborn wakes up from sleep and takes a feed. Then it plays for a while and has that energy as well. After sometime newborn again returns to sleep…

This cycle is very helpful.

• It energizes the newborn once he/she is awake.
• Baby generally takes a full feed before getting fully awake as there are no other distractions.
• It helps baby not to associate feed with the sleep and only night feed can be associated with sleep.

Obviously, there were times where I fed Aveer before him getting to bed. He required it and you get to know, but generally, I tried not to make it a habit and give a feed before sleep.

Note: Babies require frequent feedings and sleep to ensure good development and growth in the initial months. I would suggest to feed your newborn as and when he/she needs it to ensure solid weight gain.

Along with this cycle, it is always advisable to make a routine. They are an excellent tool to help newborns. Routine can be anything from taking baby to his/her cot, reading bed time stories, a few cuddles, turning on the white noise to a gentle massage. Following the same routine will help your baby to respond and get used to it.

Bonus Tip – Diaper Change Strategy

The strategy is to always change the diaper before giving feed specifically at midnight. This is to ensure that child doesn’t come out of his/her sleep and is not too awake. Actually baby is partially awake while taking a feed and if you change the diaper post that, there are chances he/she may become too awake, making it difficult for you to make him/her sleep again. 

There might be chances of baby pooping right after taking feed but do understand, it happens mostly with under 4 weeks babies. With the time baby’s gut matures and he/she is able to digest the feed. That’s when you will not see any poop post the feed and you definitely know that it’s the time to ahead and change the diaper before the feed.

Also, try not to rush in if the baby crying in the night to soothe him/her after the first 6 weeks. It’s a bad habit to start with. Generally, when baby rustles at night, it often goes back to sleep all by himself/herself. Give your baby some time to adjust and settle.

I hope with these tips you will be able to ensure your baby sleeps longer at a stretch and you will also get sufficient sleep to recharge your batteries.

Let me know if it works for you or there is something else that you tried and helped you. It might help others reading this blog.