{"id":13049,"date":"2016-01-18T21:26:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T19:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/responsive.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents\/?p=13049"},"modified":"2022-06-09T19:03:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T17:03:23","slug":"getting-babies-to-sleep-with-una-van-staden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/baby-to-teens\/baby-sleep\/getting-babies-to-sleep-with-una-van-staden\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting babies to sleep with Una Van Staden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are the best mother your child has ever had. Your best is good enough for your child.\u201d – Una Van Staden.<\/p>\n

I sat down with Sleep Coach Una Van Staden \u00a0and picked her brain about how best to get our little ones into good sleep routines.<\/p>\n

Sleep habits and issues tend to go far beyond the mechanics of just falling asleep and so we need to look deeper into things like our child\u2019s routine, diet and amount of stimulation they get during the day.<\/p>\n

Keep a log<\/h2>\n

The first step is to start keeping a day and evening log of your baby\u2019s sleep. You will be surprised to find that they sleep way more than you think they do even though it doesn\u2019t feel that way. As adults we are used to getting an uninterrupted 7 to 8 hours of sleep to feel well rested so we assume they must be suffering the way we are but for babies it\u2019s not broken sleep, it\u2019s just how they work.<\/p>\n

Everyone needs to work together<\/h2>\n

When you are working towards a good sleep routine, it\u2019s not just your baby that needs to be focused on. Everyone involved from siblings to nannies must be on board with turning your home environment into a peaceful, sleep conducive space for it to work. It\u2019s important that everyone be on the same page and use the same methods to put baby to sleep so that we don\u2019t end up with confused babies and frustrated caregivers.<\/p>\n

No less than 45 minutes or more than 3 hours<\/h2>\n

Anything more than 3 hours and they begin to mix up their days and nights but\u2026 they do need some time to process all the new information they come across and sleep is the time to do it. Anything less than 45 minutes and they can\u2019t process effectively. Now it doesn\u2019t matter if they get five 45 minute sleeps or two 3 hour sleeps as long as they are not awake for too long in between.<\/p>\n

Too much awake-time increases stress<\/h2>\n

Babies can only stay awake for a certain amount of time before their stress levels kick in. A 6 week old baby cannot be awake for more than 1 hour before he starts pumping adrenaline into his system to keep him awake. This means that if baby woke at 6am, he needs to be fed, burped, have had nappy changed, stimulated and made drowsy and asleep again by 7am. Now that seems almost impossible but remember that babies don\u2019t need to feed every time before they go to sleep.<\/p>\n

Overtired signs<\/h2>\n

Signs that babies are overtired are: rubbing eyes, losing eye contact, pushing you away and covering ears with their hands. They are saying they have had enough information and need time to process it. If these signs become elevated we have missed the cues and our babies become distressed. If you miss the cues (like we all do from time to time) take baby into a quiet room and give him sensory input like calm singing, humming and deep pressure.<\/p>\n

Sleep signal<\/h2>\n

Having a soft piece of fabric which is used ONLY at sleep time can become a sleep signal and association for your baby. You can even put some breastmilk on it to make it smell more like mom. It is important though to only use this \u2018taglet\u2019 for sleep time otherwise the magical sleep association will be broken.<\/p>\n

Combine bath and bedtime routines.<\/h2>\n

It should not take longer than 45 minutes from bath to bed because the warm water releases the feel good hormone melatonin but the effect is lost after 45 minutes. Baby should stay in the bedroom areas and not be exposed to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the house. Wait for dad to come home before you bath so that baby and he can have stimulating playtime before the routine of bath and then bed begins.<\/p>\n

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