Stick With a Bedtime Routine
Provided by Huggies Baby Network
Leading up to baby's first birthday, your baby probably has given up the morning nap, and some babies may want to skip the afternoon nap as well, but even when your baby is sleeping less in the daytime, you may find bedtime becoming more difficult to manage.
A Restless Stage
Babies of this age often resist going to bed even when they’re tired and need to sleep. Their new level of energy and activity may leave them too keyed up to relax easily. And if they’re just learning to stand they may hate to lie down even to rest. Teething troubles can also interfere with sleep at this age, and many babies dislike bedtime because they don’t want to separate from their parents at the end of the day.
Stick With A Sleep Routine
By establishing a regular routine and sticking to it, you can help your baby learn to accept bedtime. Instead of simply putting your baby in the crib and turning out the light, it's much more reassuring to say goodnight with a familiar ritual. This creates a quiet time, a time that allows your baby to settle down.
Read a book together, sing a lullaby, rub your baby’s back, rock and cuddle, whichever activities are most comfortable for you and your child. Then, before you leave, make some final gesture that signals the end of the routine. For instance, you could wind up the music box, switch on the night-light, and then say night-night together to a favorite stuffed animal. A soothing bedtime routine like this will help your baby give in to sleep, and even sleep longer and better. It’s also a good idea if your sitters know the special nighttime routine you use with your baby so they too can put baby to bed with ease.
Water Works When You Leave
However well-planned the bedtime routine, you may find that crying begins as soon as you leave the room. It may help to let your baby cry for a short time before falling asleep. But often a baby will not stop after a few minutes. While many parents have heard that the "cure" for bedtime crying is to let the child cry until the baby learns that no one will come, this procedure is hard on babies and parents. Many parents just can’t bring themselves to carry it through even when they are convinced that it's the right thing to do. A better alternative to the cold turkey approach is to come in and comfort a crying baby briefly every once in a while. Short visits let babies know they’re not forgotten. As long as you keep visits to the point and don’t offer food or take your baby out of the crib, you will reinforce the message that bedtime is for sleeping, not socializing.
Three a.m. Wake Up Call
This same spot check routine can work for a baby who begins to wake in the night. Often the waking is due to discomfort or a dream and leaving a baby to cry it out alone seems unnecessarily harsh. At the same time, you don't want your baby to learn that you are available for play in the middle of the night. Therefore, go in and comfort your baby briefly and make sure that everything is all right. If the crying keeps up, return to say a few reassuring words, but leave again. Your attitude should be like to stay with you too, but we both need our rest now. Parents who show sympathy for their babies’ feelings, even while setting firm limits on behavior, make it easier for babies to accept necessary limits. And eventually a wakeful baby will find a way to comfort him/herself and fall asleep again.
