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Sleep plays an important role in the development of the nervous system and emotions in infants. Moreover, infants with short naps may significantly affect the mother’s health. Therefore, sleep train is essential for all mothers and fathers. It is a safe and useful tool to teach babies to ease themselves at night. Different methods of sleep training will be presented in the article on TrueRemedies.
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Baby Sleep Training: How To Sleep Train And When To Begin It
I. Reasons Why Babies Always Cry Before And During Sleep?
Children are very sensitive and often have periods of incessant crying. Understanding its common causes may help parents have strategies to assist their children in a night of better sleep. Possible causes can be:
- Independence: A manifestation of independence gradually formed in children is when they cry and do not want to sleep. Parents need to comfort their babies by giving them some options, such as sleeping with bears or dolls, which depends on the children’ favorite.
- Fear: Some kids are afraid of the dark, so they often fuss and cry at midnight when they wake up. At this time, holding and comforting will create a sense of security for children, which may make them feel warm, safe and help eradicate their fear of darkness.
- Fatigue: Too much or too little sleep during the daytime may make your baby tired or hyperactive at night.
- Children with health problems: Common ones include teething, hunger, thirst, allergy, sickness or insect bites. Parents should check these problems on their children to get a deeper night’s sleep.
II. When Do We Should Sleep Train Our Babies?
The first 3-4 months of life is a great time to teach children to form good sleep patterns. When children can sleep by themselves, it will also reduce the difficulty of coaxing them to sleep or waking them up.
Most babies in their first two years sleep more than they stay awake. They sleep from sixteen to eighteen hours per day. Because of their small stomachs, children are often interrupted every 2-3 hours for suckling.
III. Methods To Sleep Train
The following methods may assist in creating an ideal environment for training babies’ independent sleeping habits.
- Differentiate the day and the night
- Put the child to bed when he is sleepy but still awake
- Start the cycle of eating, playing and sleeping
1. Clarify Between Day And Night Rhythms
Infants are unable to distinguish the difference between day and night clearly. Some children may sleep during the day and wake up at night. Mothers can help children adjust their sleep at night more than during the daytime by several following ways:
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- Only turn a soft light in the room when your child sleeps
- Respond to their needs as soon as possible when they cry. You can soothe or breastfeed them.
2. Put The Child To Bed When They Are Sleepy But Still Awake
In the first 3-4 months of a child’s life, this method should be used to help him form a habit of not waiting for his mother to comfort at night. Sleeping habits also increase the feeling of sleepiness and help children fall asleep easily when they suddenly wake up at night. Letting your child sleeping on your arms may make him familiar with the habit that he only sleeps when being comforted and held. Moreover, the child will not be likely to sleep again if not held when he wakes up at midnight.
3. Start The Cycle Of Eating, Playing And Sleeping
When things are going well, keep the same order every day: feed, play and sleep. This consistent cycle will help babies program their sleep. However, some bad habits may cause it difficult for night sleeping in children.
Not understanding the importance of day-to-day sleep: Some parents prevent their children from sleeping during the day because they want their children to sleep more at night. However, it is counterproductive as it may make babies tired and cannot sleep more.
Feed at night: From 6 months onwards, most children do not need a night meal to supplement nutrition. Nonetheless, others still need. It depends on each child. Parents should pay attention to their children’ reactions to know whether they should skip night meals.
You are busy parents. You do not have much time. Let’s try a sleep train on your babies. Sleep train not only benefits parents but also help their children sleep better and deeper. You can visit our page Parenting to explore other articles relating to this topic. If you have any questions or would like to share any other ways on how to sleep train your baby, please leave them in the comment box. We are very happy to respond to you.
