Sleep Tip: Wait a few minutes when your baby wakes during the night before intervening.

One of the most common comments that parents say to me is “I always rush in to the baby when they wake and never thought to wait a few minutes to let her try and resettle”

Adults and babies will wake several times each night.  For some adults, these wakings will not often be remembered the next morning as they are so brief and the transition into the next sleep cycle is easy for most.  For babies, this is not as easy and is a learned behavior.  If your little one has never learnt how to fall asleep on their own and has always been rocked or fed to sleep for naps and bedtime, it is likely they will wake through the night and need assistance to get back to sleep.  Once your baby has learnt how to independently transition into the next sleep cycle, they still may cry out however, in a few minutes they will be back to sleep without you needing to intervene.  For some children, going in to assist them back to sleep straight away can often cause them to wake up completely and cause habitual wake ups in the future.

If your little one continues to cry out for more than a few minutes, you will want to go in and offer some comfort however, its important to encourage your little on to do the work of falling back to sleep.  You can use your voice to give reassurance and speak softly, gently pat or rub your little one’s back or head to remind them you are there however, you will want to wean off full patting once they are older than 16 weeks as this is more of a disturbance than effective at this age.  Try and avoid picking your child up, rocking or nursing back to sleep every time unless they are due for a feed.

Keep an eye out for some more sleep tips coming soon!!

If you would like further help in teaching your child to resettle back to sleep throughout the night, call me today +1 (206) 747-1710 for a FREE no obligation consultation and I can help you on your way to a full night sleep!