Ten sleep solutions for my baby....(and therefore me!)
If you’re feeling exhausted and you’re running out of ideas on how to get a better night’s sleep, then this blog may just be the thing for you. Jackie Heffer-Cooke, ZenMuma’s founder and baby yoga teacher and trainer for over 10 years, reveals her wisdom to help you get some sleep!
Swaddle. Swaddling little newbies stops their arms and legs from flailing about, which keeps them awake, and can even scare them as they don’t actually know what the objects thrashing around in front of them are. They have no idea it’s their own arms and legs! They have been used to being snug in your belly. They like being snug. Swaddle!
2. Always finish one breast before you go onto the next, otherwise they will be getting the fore ‘gassy’ milk, rather than the hind more fatty, filling milk. If they just keep snacking on front milk they won’t fill up and will have gassy bellies. Not conducive to a good night’s sleep!
3. Get a co-sleeping cot. Fundamentally a cot with one side omitted, which is pushed up to the side of your bed, so the cot becomes an extension of your bed. It’s a way of co-sleeping really safely. The idea is when your baby wakes for a feed in the early weeks you can simply roll over, pick your baby up and feed, roll back and place him back to sleep, without waking yourself up too much, making it easier for you to drift back off… zzzzzz
4. Be aware of ‘hungry baby formula’. Not all babies like hungry formula milk. For some babies it can be way too rich and can keep them awake at night with tummy troubles. I introduced a little combination feeding after four months, and always used first milk (a nutritional therapist recommended Aptamil to me because it has really easy protein to digest).
5. Go with a black out blind, and make it BLACK OUT. Even the smallest chink of light in the summer months at 5am can wake them up. Use blu-tac, be pedantic, get rid of even the smallest glimmer of daylight with military precision.
6. Once you feel they are at an age where they are able to see themselves through the night without feeding, you could use your hand to settle them rather than your breast. Simply rest your hand on their belly until they fall asleep, then sneak out of their room without making a sound. Escape quietly!
7. When weaning never try new food at the teatime feed. Always try new food in the morning or lunchtime to see how their bellies react, it’s hard having a gassy grumpy baby during the day, but more difficult at night!
8. Use a lullaby. Start in pregnancy! Sing your baby the same song every time you put them to bed at night, this will become a conditioned response that will indicate the end of the day, and the start of sleep time. It won’t work at day one, or month one, but persist and it may at year one! and that would be worth it.
9. Don’t over-stimulate your baby in the evening. Sounds/ music/ lights/ tv – it’s all too much after a heavy day of experiencing new things since 7am. Lots of issues, like colic, are sometimes mistaken for a baby who is simply over-stimulated and has simply done too much in one day. From 6pm your baby needs quiet and dark to shift into the right frame of mind for sleep.
10. An idea that worked for me with older babies... Wait until your baby is saying “dadadadadada” as an experimentation sound, poke your husband gently in the ribs in the middle of the night when you hear a rendition coming and play with his heart strings “oh sweetie, he is calling you”…
And there is one more bonus tip…
… Do it your way! It doesn’t matter how other mums do it, we can only parent according to who we are, what are own experiences are, and what makes sense to us. Don’t judge yourself against others. Do what you need to do, and what you believe is right for you and your baby, and that will be the answer for you both. Make sure you do some proper self-care, learn some meditation and breathwork techniques, use some relaxation time to deeply restore mind and body, and remember, it doesn’t last forever!....
To join our ZenMuma tribe, join our online or local classes, or become a baby yoga and massage teacher yourself go to zenmuma.co.uk