Ways to get your little one to sleep

Hello, everyone! So, baby sleep is like magic - really cool but with no proof of existence. When I was pregnant, I read an article that said that babies sleep 15-16 hours a day. I thought to myself: "Well, this is great! I don't know what is everybody whining about." Little did I know...
Now, my daughter is three months old and I feel like I'm finally figuring everything out. The most helpful advice I can give you is try different things. Babies are constantly changing. Believe me, the thing that worked one day might completely fail the other day, but don’t give up. Since your baby doesn’t have any habits yet, you have to give them time to develop one.
Here are a few things that helped our baby to sleep better. I hope you find it helpful.

1.      Make sure your baby had a good meal. When I was starting to breastfeed, my doctor told me to feed my daughter on demand, so I have more milk. She used to fall asleep a lot, therefore I had to feed her every 15 minutes. It was exhausting. After about a week or so of doing this another doctor told me to try and feed her every 2-3 hours. And since then my daughter started sleeping regularly between her feedings. Also, thanks to that advice she started sleeping through the night.

2.      Change your child’s diapers between feedings. This is mostly for those parents that use cloth diapers like us. Since your baby can feel wet from peeing, it gets very uncomfortable. Also, for the night I would suggest using disposable diapers if you want your baby to sleep through the night.

3.      Music, movies. Babies sleep way better while listening to something. We found it helpful to put some music on or even watch movies a bit louder. Try different things, though. Like I said, babies are constantly changing. At first our daughter loved sleeping with “All of our stars” by Ed Sheeran. Later on she started liking piano music. Now she likes listening to Coldplay. Action movies have always been helpful as well.

Singing is also a good option. Nothing is more soothing than a mother’s voice.

4.      Movement. So far rocking movements have been proven one of the most effective ways to get your little one to sleep. I would suggest trying out different things, especially if you child is already too big to be carried around. Anything will work: from walking and dancing to walking around with the stroller or driving around in a car. Even putting the car seat on a shopping trolley will calm them down.
 

5.      This is going to sound silly, but make sure your baby sleeps enough. Basically, if your baby is tired, it is harder for him to go to sleep. If you put him down for a nap after every feeding I guarantee you that he will sleep better and settle easier.

6.      Cosleeping. If you don’t get enough sleep at night you can try to sleep together with your baby. I know that a lot of people strongly suggest against cosleeping, but I think it is a wonderful opportunity to cuddle your baby and really bond with him. My daughter slept with me until she was 1,5 month old. The only reason we stopped cosleeping is because she developed a reflux.
 

7.      Swaddling. Swaddling is not going to put your baby to sleep, but is going to make it a lot easier. First month or two babies are still adjusting to the world and might feel insecure if they are not hugged or swaddled. Later as they gain control over their body they might get bothered by their own hands. Every time I put my daughter to sleep I either swaddle her or hold her arms in place while rocking her so she doesn’t wake herself up.

8.      Put some covers around the baby, so they feel hugged. If your baby sleeps in your arms, but wakes up as soon as you put him to bed, this advice might help. Just put a bunch of covers on each side of your baby, so that they feel safe.
 

9.      Get a swing. Sometimes babies pass out and don’t wake up no matter what you do. But sometimes they wake up as soon as you slow down after hours of rocking them. In this case baby swing might be a life savior. For us swing doesn’t make much of a difference: my daughter sleeps for 30 minutes in bed as well as in a swing, but there are days when she’ll get extra sensitive to everything and absolutely will not sleep in bed.

10.  Cuddle. If your baby falls asleep in your arms you can actually lie down with him and snooze together. I found hugging and petting very useful to keep my daughter asleep.

11.  Burp them. Believe me, gas is your worst enemy when it comes to baby sleep. If you don’t burp your baby well enough, a tiny bubble of gas might ruin half an hour of rocking and singing, so make sure your baby burps all the gas out before you put him to sleep.

12.  Bath. Bath is definitely something you can use to prolong your baby’s sleep. Just think how relaxing it is to go to bed after a nice hot shower. Everybody likes a hot bath and babies are no exception.
 

13.  Adjust the temperature. Babies are just like us. They get as uncomfortable as we sometimes do, but can’t tell us about it. If your baby doesn’t sleep no matter what, maybe he is too cold or too hot. The way I check it: if his chest and back is very hot and sweaty I take something off, if the hands and feet are cold I put something on. As simple as that.

This is everything that has been working for me so far. I hope it was helpful.