7 Tips to Get Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Posted by Medavie Blue Cross on April 19, 2023
7 Tips to Get Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Posted by Medavie Blue Cross on April 19, 2023
Note: "Slept like a baby" are four words commonly used to describe a good night's rest. However, as many overtired parents will tell you, settling an infant down to drift off into dreamland is much easier said than done. We invited Catherine Gallant, Certified Sleep Consultant specializing in sleep solutions for infants, toddlers and young children, to share her top tips to help babies – and their moms and dads – get more of those healthy zzzs.*
1. Establish a routine – Consistency and predictability are key. Putting your child to bed in the same familiar place at the same hour each night cues the baby's mind and body that it's time to settle down and get ready to sleep. Start a bedtime routine at a very early age. Studies show that sleep problems in infancy are likely to persist 3 to 5 years later and sometimes longer.
2. Choose an early bedtime – The best time to put your baby or toddler to bed is between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. This will ensure your child can get a solid 11 to 13 hours of slumber — and yes, that's the number of hours of uninterrupted sleep children should get every night up until the age of 10.
3. Create an atmosphere – Set the mood for sleep by reading a short story, brushing their hair, changing them into comfortable clothes, zipping them up in a wearable blanket and turning out the lights. Begin the nightly routine between 20 minutes to a half hour before shuteye. No bedtime routine should last longer than 45 minutes.
4. No props needed – Babies can learn to sleep on their own. Put your baby to bed awake. Common props to avoid are bottle feeding, nursing, rocking, or using a pacifier to get them to sleep. Only by letting your baby fall asleep without your help at bedtime can they learn the skills necessary to stay asleep through the night.
1. Establish a routine – Consistency and predictability are key. Putting your child to bed in the same familiar place at the same hour each night cues the baby's mind and body that it's time to settle down and get ready to sleep. Start a bedtime routine at a very early age. Studies show that sleep problems in infancy are likely to persist 3 to 5 years later and sometimes longer.
2. Choose an early bedtime – The best time to put your baby or toddler to bed is between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. This will ensure your child can get a solid 11 to 13 hours of slumber — and yes, that's the number of hours of uninterrupted sleep children should get every night up until the age of 10.
3. Create an atmosphere – Set the mood for sleep by reading a short story, brushing their hair, changing them into comfortable clothes, zipping them up in a wearable blanket and turning out the lights. Begin the nightly routine between 20 minutes to a half hour before shuteye. No bedtime routine should last longer than 45 minutes.
4. No props needed – Babies can learn to sleep on their own. Put your baby to bed awake. Common props to avoid are bottle feeding, nursing, rocking, or using a pacifier to get them to sleep. Only by letting your baby fall asleep without your help at bedtime can they learn the skills necessary to stay asleep through the night.
5. Don’t intervene – If your baby wakes up at night, wait a few minutes before entering the bedroom. Everyone - babies and adults alike - will actually wake up several times every night. However, many babies will immediately start to fuss or cry when they wake up. This is simply because they have yet to learn to fall asleep independently.
6. Let them fall back to sleep – If your child continues to fuss or cry for more than a few minutes, you'll want to go in and offer some comfort, but it's important to let your child do the work of falling back to sleep. You can speak softly to your child and gently rub or pat them, but you should avoid picking them up and rocking or nursing them back to sleep.
7. Avoid overtiredness – Give your child the gift of sleep, even during the day. Naps are fine. In fact, the combination of skipping naps and a late bedtime will cause your child to be overtired. A baby wears fatigue like a suit of itchy, ill-fitting clothing. Putting them to bed with authority and affection is like helping them out of an unbearably uncomfortable outfit and putting them into a pair of warm, snuggly pyjamas.
Overtiredness produces cortisol, which has the reverse effect on sleeping, making the baby alert and irritable — the last thing overtired parents want.
5. Don’t intervene – If your baby wakes up at night, wait a few minutes before entering the bedroom. Everyone - babies and adults alike - will actually wake up several times every night. However, many babies will immediately start to fuss or cry when they wake up. This is simply because they have yet to learn to fall asleep independently.
6. Let them fall back to sleep – If your child continues to fuss or cry for more than a few minutes, you'll want to go in and offer some comfort, but it's important to let your child do the work of falling back to sleep. You can speak softly to your child and gently rub or pat them, but you should avoid picking them up and rocking or nursing them back to sleep.
7. Avoid overtiredness – Give your child the gift of sleep, even during the day. Naps are fine. In fact, the combination of skipping naps and a late bedtime will cause your child to be overtired. A baby wears fatigue like a suit of itchy, ill-fitting clothing. Putting them to bed with authority and affection is like helping them out of an unbearably uncomfortable outfit and putting them into a pair of warm, snuggly pyjamas.
Overtiredness produces cortisol, which has the reverse effect on sleeping, making the baby alert and irritable — the last thing overtired parents want.
Health benefits for babies
Sleep is crucial for our physical and mental health. Here’s how sleep affects the mind and body from infancy through adulthood.
The development of a baby’s brain
During sleep, the brain processes and consolidates information, helping to create new neural connections and pathways, which leads to better retention of learned skills and abilities. In other words, during sleep, we take all the information we learned during the day and transfer it to our long-term memory. Babies who take regular daytime naps show an increased ability to recall language, develop skills, and think creatively over those who don't, which applies to children and adults.
Physical growth
While we sleep, our body produces growth hormones which stimulate tissue growth and repair. Even though your baby's body appears relaxed when sleeping, a whole lot is going on inside. Cells in the cartilage and the bones receive signals from the growth hormones to increase replication, which is a fancy way of explaining how bones grow longer, thicker, and stronger.
Emotional wellbeing
Inadequate sleep causes everyone to have problems regulating the ups and downs in their moods, leading to wider and more rapid reactions to relatively minor events.
Illness prevention
Sleep also helps our cardiovascular system by lowering our blood pressure and heart rate. During deep sleep, we also improve our immune systems by creating more natural killer cells that discover and eliminate dangerous unwanted elements like viruses and infections. So, you can think of sleep as the best health insurance policy that you could ever wish for.
Health benefits for babies
Sleep is crucial for our physical and mental health. Here’s how sleep affects the mind and body from infancy through adulthood.
The development of a baby’s brain
During sleep, the brain processes and consolidates information, helping to create new neural connections and pathways, which leads to better retention of learned skills and abilities. In other words, during sleep, we take all the information we learned during the day and transfer it to our long-term memory. Babies who take regular daytime naps show an increased ability to recall language, develop skills, and think creatively over those who don't, which applies to children and adults.
Physical growth
While we sleep, our body produces growth hormones which stimulate tissue growth and repair. Even though your baby's body appears relaxed when sleeping, a whole lot is going on inside. Cells in the cartilage and the bones receive signals from the growth hormones to increase replication, which is a fancy way of explaining how bones grow longer, thicker, and stronger.
Emotional wellbeing
Inadequate sleep causes everyone to have problems regulating the ups and downs in their moods, leading to wider and more rapid reactions to relatively minor events.
Illness prevention
Sleep also helps our cardiovascular system by lowering our blood pressure and heart rate. During deep sleep, we also improve our immune systems by creating more natural killer cells that discover and eliminate dangerous unwanted elements like viruses and infections. So, you can think of sleep as the best health insurance policy that you could ever wish for.
View Recorded Session
Catherine recently sat down with Melanie Pare for a conversation on sleep – and the first session in our Health & Wellness series live from our new Medavie Benefits+ Moncton location, located on the main floor of the Blue Cross Centre at 644 Main Street. Click here to view a recording of their conversation via Facebook Live.
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