Good sleep habits

The hours you sleep, awakenings in the middle of the night, daytime naps, crying before falling asleep... There are many issues surrounding one of the basic needs of you and your baby.

If you want to avoid problems from the start, set up this "sleeping plan".

The first thing you must remember is that there are more sleepy babies than other babies, like the need to eat or move more than others, and all are absolutely normal.

On this basis, the fact is that sleep is also a need, a habit, and therefore requires a certain ritual to establish it successfully.

Some basic rules:

The environment in which your baby sleeps should be quite and dark.

The room temperature should be moderate.

Set a time to put him/her to bed and another to wake the baby, not very wide variations are allowed.

Keep baby active during the day, allow baby to have short sleep naps during the day and at night follow a pattern. Short naps during the day will keep baby calm and relaxed at night.

Small feeds during the day will keep baby’s tummy full by night and this will help baby to sleep better. Over feeding at night may cause tummy irritation and can affect baby’s sleep.

For babies above 6 months, give a night feed made of cereal, yogurt and banana or cereal with milk and banana or peach, will keep baby calm and full for longer time, helping him to sleep better.

Make a routine: bath, night feed, time to relax and sleep and repeat daily. Gradually, your baby will be familiar with all the above actions indicating that bedtime comes.

Avoid exciting activities before putting him/her in the crib. Do not turn on the television or perform games that require a lot of physical activity. You'd better read a story quietly and dimly lit in the room.

If your baby cries to put him/her to bed, try to calm with words of affection or give gentle pats on the back. When falling asleep, let him/her gently in the crib to initiate sleep.

Try not to sleep a very long daytime naps or very late hours because they interfere with night time sleep.

In the night sleep, the room should be dark and silent, and daytime naps must be someway with slight light and not get obsessed by noises. It is important to know the difference between day and night.