30 Day Baby & Child Sleep Challenge
Day 1-Early Days
How to get more sleep with a new baby or toddler
How do you know if your baby will be a good or bad sleeper and not keep you up all night long? Answer is you don’t, you can only hope this will be the case or is there anything that you can do to improve your chances of having a baby that sleeps and settles well in the first few weeks after leaving hospital? There is and in fact you can do this ideally before your baby is born. It’s all about bonding which can start whilst in the womb.
You and your partner or husband can get to know your baby by talking gently, singing or touching your belly. This will help your baby get used to your voice and know that he/she is loved before they come into the world. A baby’s most developed sense is of touch and this starts in the womb, so don’t be shy, start chatting away and tell them what you are looking forward to most!
The practical items you will need are a cot/crib/moses basket, it is best to borrow if you can as they grow out of them within a few weeks and now babies seem to be bigger these days some are out of them within a month. You will need a new mattress and bedding of course, buy cotton sheets and only use light or thin blankets.
Warning
Do not put your new born baby in a sleep sac they are too young, besides this you will be up all night changing and feeding them and will need easy ‘access’ to your child’s nappy. The best and what old fashioned families used for children is a night gown with an open bottom. They are amazing, you can of course get the modern day version in cotton or with a drawstring bottom which is a godsend in the middle of the night.
The other thing you can do is to sit down and work out what kind of parents do you want to be and what’s important to you both? It is easy to get carried away with the notion of becoming first or second time parents but if you have a new partner things may be different. It is things like this that can really help you before your baby arrives or early on. In my New Baby Sleep Success Package I offer parents a very special session where we take a deep look at your childhood, work out what was great and what you definitely don’t want. It is often a lot of fun and sometimes however it can be painful and heartbreaking but this is a fabulous opportunity to explore things in a ‘safe environment’ and put your minds at rest before your new baby arrives.
Please get in touch if you have any questions or wish to book a pre-baby session, tomorrow I have some more baby sleep tips for you so come back soon.