How to put your baby to sleep in 5 minutes: rules and tips

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Undoubtedly, for the emotional and physical he alth of the child, it is very important to have a good sound sleep. A newborn sleeps for a large amount of time, so his body adapts to new conditions. Over time, the baby is awake more and more and it becomes more difficult for him to fall asleep. The reason for this lies in the work of the nervous system. The child still does not know how to turn off attention from internal and external stimuli, as well as relax. Therefore, to help parents, a lot of both traditional and author's methods have been developed that will help them in the fight against wakefulness at night.

How easy is it to put your baby to sleep in 5 minutes?

Getting ready for bed should start at the same time each day. In addition, there are some points to consider:

• Good indoor climate. The optimum temperature during the day is 22-23ºC, and at night 18-20ºC. Humidity approximately 70%.
• Compliance with the regime of the day, while, between the last hour of daytime sleep and the beginningpreparation for the night should take about four hours.
• Soft pajamas made from natural materials without coarse seams.
• No strangers, familiar room, familiar environment and same bed.
• 3 an hour and a half before bedtime, you need to turn off the TV and stop noisy games. It is best to take a quiet walk in the fresh air at this time.
• Child should not go to bed overfed or hungry.
• Soothing treatments: take a warm bath, light massage, sing a lullaby or read a fairy tale, etc.

Traditional methods

Sickness, lullaby, pacifier, swaddling, gentle touches of mom and a comfortable bed will help your baby fall asleep quickly.

1. Sickness. There are various conflicting opinions associated with this method. For example, Dr. Komarovsky believes that intense shaking can lead to dizziness and loss of consciousness due to a weak vestibular apparatus. Other experts say that as a result of motion sickness, calm comes, and the vestibular apparatus is strengthened.
2. Comfortable bed made of natural wood, with a comfortable, moderately hard and resilient mattress, as well as bedding with cheerful patterns, ensure a he althy and sound sleep.
3. Tactile sensations. Thanks to the touch of the mother, the child relaxes as much as possible and falls asleep. The main thing is to gently influence certain points of the body. It can be the back, back of the hands, areas behind the ears, hair, eyebrows, feet. The doctorsit is advised to press the baby to the chest so that his head touches the mother’s neck, namely with the location of her carotid artery, where a pulsating rhythm is observed. This has a beneficial effect on the process of falling asleep. After completing the above steps, put the baby to bed and turn off the light.
4. Dummy. Even in the womb, the child sucks his finger, which is an unconditioned reflex and a protective reaction to various stimuli, both external and internal. After birth, an alternative option is a pacifier, which is best taken out during sound sleep. Thanks to her, the baby is not distracted by anything and quickly falls asleep. However, doctors say that such a nipple can cause malocclusion and nasal breathing.
5. Lullaby songs for children. The melodious melody has a calming effect on the nervous system, and also relieves anxiety. It is necessary to sing, even if you do not have an ear for music. What is important is the steady pace, the calm melody and the mother's voice.
6. Swaddling. How to put a month old baby to sleep? You need to swaddle him. This method reduces motor activity and promotes rapid falling asleep. The fact is that a baby who is not three months old is frightened by a large space, he begins to involuntarily wave his arms. Cramped conditions resemble the mother's womb, in connection with this, the child feels safe and comfortable, postpartum stress is overcome. However, a lot of clothes and tight swaddling have the opposite effect.

Creating a sleep ritual

This method is designed for children older than six months and consists in performing special actions that lead to calmness, as well as the desire to see a sweet dream. So, how to put the child to sleep in 5 minutes? Examples of some rituals to help you do this:

• Good bedtime story for kids. Many psychologists compare this method with a lullaby, as the words are pronounced quietly and a little in a singsong voice. For example, the words from the famous fairy tale "Turnip" must be pronounced like this: "Grandma called her granddaughter. Granddaughter for grandmother, grandmother for grandfather, grandfather for turnip, pull-pull, pull-pull, pull-pull, pull-pull, pull-pull …". According to some parents, the child laughs at first, but after a few minutes sleeps sweetly.
• Say goodbye to the sun. We take the baby in our arms, look out the window with him and wave the pen. Thus, we wish good night to the sun, tree, flower, cloud. And we say that the baby also goes to bed.
• Listening to nature. We turn on the music disc with recordings of various soothing sounds. It could be the babbling of a stream, the chirping of birds, or the rustle of leaves.
• Say goodnight to the toys. We offer the child to put his favorite doll or car to bed.

Lullabies

The smooth tune that mom sings is the best sleeping pill. Anxiety, excitement quickly disappear, the capricious person calms down and enters a state of half-asleep. At this point, he is at his mostrelaxed and focused only on the adult's voice. From the lullaby, the baby receives the initial knowledge of universal human values and certain moral principles, he absorbs ideas about the world around him with pleasure. In such songs it is sung:

• about kindness, love for the world;
• about the wonderful character of the child;
• about a good future;
• that he is protected by relatives and nature, animals and plants.

This is the first music in the life of the crumbs, through which there is a spiritual unity between him and his mother. There are many both folk and modern lullabies for children. Here are some of them:

• "Bayu-Bayu-Bayu".
• "The Green Carriage".
• "Tired toys sleep".
• From the movie "Long road in the dunes".
• "The moon shines on our roof".
• "Lullaby of the Bear".
• "It's time to sleep! The bull has fallen asleep."
• "Snub noses".
• "Sleep, my joy, sleep."
• "Walking around the shop like a dream".
• "A cat, a cat has a good cradle".
• "Ay, tu-tu, tu-tu, tu-tu, don't cook porridge."

A book of fairy tales

Reading before bed brings the baby and his parents together. Stories related to battles and fights, evil heroes, deceit are best postponed for a day time period. At night, it is recommended to read fairy tales in poetic form or containing repetitions. Such booksshould be saturated with positive emotions, omnipotent love and kindness. Examples of good bedtime stories for children:

1. Bruno Haechler, "Good night, bear." A story about a bear who does not want to go to sleep, but for this he comes up with various excuses. But I don't want to get up in the morning. "Bear, I'll catch you!" talks about a girl following her favorite toy to find out what he's up to when no one is watching.
2. Carolyn Curtis and Alison Jay, Moonwalk. A simple story about a boy who walks, and the moon lights his way.
3. Samuil Marshak, "The Tale of the Stupid Mouse", where the hero was eaten by a nanny-cat. A "quiet tale" in which wolves attack a family of hedgehogs, but everything ends well. Such stories are not at all scary, but even meditative.
4. Jillian Lobel, "For you and for me". About how a little mouse wakes up and goes to explore the world around.
5. Rotraut Berner, "Good night, Carlchen". The bunny does not want to go to bed every day. But his resourceful dad quickly solves this problem by inventing a special game.
6. Galina Lebedeva, "How Masha quarreled with a pillow". A story about a girl who was so offended by a blanket and a pillow that she began to try to sleep in very unusual places: a chicken coop, a doghouse, an attic. Of course, nothing worked out for her, and, she realized that her bed was the best option.
7. Karl-Johan Forssen Erlin, "The Sleepy Rabbit". Hero with insomniagoes with his mother in search of a magician to get rid of this problem. Along the way, they meet an owl and a snail who give their advice.

Advice from abroad

Pediatricians, sleepologists and even parents come up with their own unusual methods on the topic "How to put a child to bed in 5 minutes".

• Tracey Hogg, who specializes in newborn care, has developed an interesting way. When the baby cannot sleep and tries to get up in his crib, the mother should gently hug him and repeat a certain soothing phrase several times, for example, "Katya needs to rest."
• Nathan Dylo, a young Australian dad, became famous due to the video published on the Internet, in which he shows how to put a child to sleep in 5 minutes. A few times he runs a soft napkin over the baby's face, and he closes his eyes, his brain gives the appropriate command, and after a few minutes the baby sees a sweet dream.
• Harvey Karp, a pediatrician from the United States, suggested that with quiet and monotonous sounds, the baby can fall asleep faster. This happens as a result of the fact that the child, when he was in the womb, got used to hearing various sounds: the beating of the mother's heart or the sound of amniotic fluid. So he feels calmer than in complete silence. For example, a two-month-old toddler will fall asleep in just a few minutes to the sound of a running hair dryer, but it is worth noting that this item should blow in the opposite direction.

Elizabeth Pantley Tips

How to put a baby to sleep without crying? Mother of four children and author of a wonderful book offers very effective techniques. It is worth noting that both one and two awakenings per night for a baby less than three years old are a normal situation. Here are just a few of the tips published in Elizabeth Pantley's bestselling book How to Get Your Baby to Sleep Without Tears:

• Baby should consume most of the calories in the daytime, when only wholesome foods should be given. And in the evening you should feed with proteins and carbohydrates, for example, it can be: various cereals, yogurt, oats, cheese, some fruit, brown rice, a small amount of meat. Avoid foods containing sugar at night.
• Both bed and pajamas should be cozy, comfortable and soft. Be sure to follow the daily routine. So, for example, some time before a night's sleep, the sequence of activities might be the following: a walk in the fresh air, dinner, taking a bath, reading a book, quiet calm music, bottle or breastfeeding, subdued lights and bed.
• From 18:30 you need to watch the mischievous one. As soon as signs of fatigue begin to appear, he should be put to bed. This should be done before he completely clears up and runs around the house. While laying, you can turn on calm music, the room should be twilight.
• Night sleep also depends on daytime sleep. If during the "quiet hour" the baby slept less than 60 minutes, then this is not a good rest. The child rubs his eyes, gets irritated, asks for hands, yawns and morenot interested in games - all these are sure signs of fatigue. Therefore, it is recommended to quickly put him to bed.
• If the little one woke up in the middle of the night, he needs to be helped to fall asleep again. Do not make eye contact with him, and do not change diapers unless absolutely necessary. You can repeat a soothing phrase several times, for example: "Shhh." At the same time, it does not need to be used in other situations, the baby should have an association with a night's sleep. Lights must not be turned on, windows must be darkened.
• How to put your baby to sleep in 5 minutes? The kid just needs to have some soft object next to him, to which he feels great affection. For example, it can be a soft toy. But it should not be something sharp, prickly, with buttons or ropes. Only one favorite toy should be kept near the bed.

Teaching self-reliance

Sooner or later, the baby must learn to sleep alone without disturbing his parents. There are several recommendations regarding this. So how do you get your baby to sleep on their own?

1. Don't be manipulated. You need to stock up on great patience to withstand the loud screaming and crying of the baby. You should not immediately run and calm him down, it is better to wait at least two minutes. Then go up to him, thereby showing that everything is in order and mom is nearby. Exit again. This time, wait a little longer, for example, four minutes.
2. Daily essentialgo to bed at a fixed time. The child must develop a habit. You will not be able to use the first method without observing the second. After all, if you put the baby in the crib and go out, he will not be able to sleep, as he will be at the mercy of his own fear.
3. In bed - only to sleep. It is not recommended to play or eat in it. The bed should be associated only with sleep.
4. Liquidate fears. You need to ask the baby why he does not want to sleep alone. For example, he may have fears related to watching a cartoon or some thing in the room scares him.
5. Turn on the night light. It doesn't interfere with sleep. Over time, the lamp should be dimmer until the child gets used to being in total darkness.

If there are twins in the house

Regardless of the number of babies, the algorithm of actions remains the same. But how do you get two kids to sleep at once? This question has been raised more than once.

• Two kids need to be put to bed at the same time. It is necessary to synchronize their sleep. And if one cries to be fed, then the other should be awakened as well.
• It is best to have two separate cribs. At the same time, it is recommended to install them at close range so that the kids can see each other.
• Create a simple bedtime ritual and do it daily. For example, take a warm bath, read a story, or sing a lullaby.
• Put the calmer baby to bed first. At the same time, there is no need to be afraid that a noisy brother orlittle sister.
• Swaddle babies until they can roll over, about two months old.

Duration of baby sleep up to a year

A newborn sleeps approximately 16-20 hours a day. He does not distinguish between day and night, often wakes up and falls asleep without difficulty. Moreover, sleep periods vary from 40 minutes to 120.

A month old baby may suffer from colic, resulting in insomnia. The norm of sleep in the daytime is 7 hours, at night - 8-10.

A child between the ages of four months and six months has increased periods of wakefulness. The duration of the "quiet hour" is 3-5 hours, night dreams take 10-11.

A baby from 6 to 12 months sleeps for about three hours during the daytime, with a three-time sleep turning into a two-time one. And at night - 11-12 hours and wakes up once or twice in order to feed him.

How much sleep should a child a year or older?

By the age of 12 months, the child already falls asleep without problems at any time of the day. His daily routine has become habitual. If he notices nervous breakdowns, excessive excitability, whims for no reason, a bad mood in the morning, or he tries to fall asleep earlier than the due time, then the baby does not rest enough. The daily routine should be adjusted.

Quite often, many parents have questions about how much a child should sleep per year. For a good rest, a one-year-old baby needs 13 hours. Of these, three hours are devoted to two daytime naps, and ten hoursmeant for night dreams.

Normal "quiet time" for children aged 2-3 years - about 2.5 hours, 3-7 years - 2 hours. After the age of seven, it is not necessary to sleep during the day.