Good sleeping habits in a baby are important to both
you and your baby’s well-being. Often new parents
can feel sleep deprived for the first year of their
baby’s life or even longer. Creating a safe and
secure sleep environment for your baby goes a long way
to ensuring such good sleeping habits. The safest place
at night for the first 6 months of life is for your
baby to sleep on his back, in a crib in your room. If
you have a nursery for your baby with a cot set up,
then it is a good idea to put the crib in the cot for
your baby’s daytime sleeps so that when he comes
to move into the cot at 6 months or before, he is already
used to the cot and to the room itself. You can use
the nursery for changing nappies, dressing, reading
books etc from an early age.
Of much concern to parents of a new baby are Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and these steps can help
to reduce the risk:
When putting your baby to sleep on his back, ensure
the feet are at the foot of the cot so he cannot wriggle
down under the covers.
Ensure your baby is not too hot or too cold.
Don’t use quilts or pillows for babies younger
than a year.
Please stop smoking as soon as you are pregnant and
don’t let anyone smoke near your baby.
If your baby is unwell, seek medical advice.
Don’t let your baby fall asleep with you on
the sofa or an adult bed – this can be very
unsafe.
Newborn babies sleep as much as they need, and fall
asleep when they need to. If your baby wakes up happy
and alert, whether he has been asleep for a few minutes
or a few hours, he has had enough sleep. Your baby’s
sleep pattern will change rapidly over the first 6
months. Even at a very young age, you can help your
baby learn the difference between being asleep and
being awake but putting him into a crib or pram when
asleep and moving him into another room with company
when he wakes. This will help him to begin to associate
“bed” with sleep – a useful lesson
for the future.
Start a bedtime routine from an early age so that
he comes to learn that bath, feed, cuddle (and later
a story) come before sleep. Be careful what you start
in a routine as whatever you do to encourage your
baby to sleep in the evening, he will expect the same
thing if and when he wakes in the night. If he learns
to drift off to sleep alone, he will do the same if
he wakes in the night. However, in the early months,
babies need feeding during the night for the sake
of nutrition and they enjoy the comfort and closeness
they get by being with you. But you should make the
night time feed as calm and quiet as possible with
the lights dimmed, speaking very softly and only changing
a nappy if necessary. He will learn the difference
between day and night feeding. Sometimes babies can
find it too quiet to fall asleep so something like
a ticking clock can make a good background sound.
