Best Way to Deal with Baby Sleeping Problem



Some parents let a wakeful child cry after checking to make sure there’s nothing wrong. They say the crying becomes progres­sively shorter over a few nights, and eventually stops altogether. Check your clock rather than your gut feeling. It always feels as if children are crying longer than they actually are. If you can’t bear to do that, keep in mind that rubbing a child’s back or giv­ing reassurance from the door every five minutes will often do the trick. Avoid picking up or rocking your child after three to six months of age, or giving an unnecessary bottle. Children have to learn to calm themselves for sleep. If you choose to do it for them, they’ll continue to let you.

  • Give your child a bottle, if you wish. If your child has teeth, prevent tooth decay by giving water only or by brushing after milk or juice.
  • Keep your child near you at night. One “family bed” option is a king-size bed with a one-side-removed crib pushed up against it. Another is a guardrail on one side of the bed; the parents needn’t be separated with a child between them, yet there’s no worry about the child falling out of bed. For some, family sleeping equals comfort. Those who like the idea (not everyone does!) say it fulfills a basic human need for warmth, closeness, and security.

Baby Sleeping Problem Best Way to Deal with Baby Sleeping Problem

  • Use an incentive chart to encourage an older child to stay in bed. Draw stars on a calendar for each night your child doesn’t come to your bed. (Let your child choose the color.) Ten stars might earn a small present.
  • Put a crib mattress, futon, or a big pillow on the floor near your bed for the nighttime waker who needs to fall back to sleep near you.
  • Attach a car drink holder to the crib railing to hold a spill-proc cup of water. Your toddler won’t have to wake you for a drink.
  • Use a nightlight in your child’s bedroom, or let your child have a flashlight. Or try a lighted fish tank, which offers not only light but movement and soft bubbling sounds. A bed light with a dimmer switch allows an older child to read a little and then go back to sleep without getting out of bed.

Delaying the Early Riser

  • Put a few cloth books or soft toys in your toddler’s crib for morning play. But do it after your child is asleep.
  • Attach an unbreakable mirror to the inside of the crib so your baby or toddler can amuse himself for a few minutes in the morning.
  • Leave a “surprise bag” (never a plastic one) by the bed of an older child, or fasten a bicycle basket or plastic pail to the sic of the crib after your child is asleep. Fill the container with items for quiet play.
  • Add a snack for a child who wakes up hungry and who can handle eating without supervision. One healthy, time-consuming snack is a Cheerios snake: Tear two to three inches of waxed paper from a roll; fold lengthwise; place a few Cheerios in the fold at one end, twist the paper to hold in the Cheerios; place a few more pieces in the next section of paper; twist the paper to hold in the Cheerios; continue until you have a “snake” or “necklace” full of Cheerios. Your child must untwist each section to get at the next batch of Cheerios. (Some par­ents won’t put food out, feeling that it may attract undesirably animals or insects.)
  • set an alarm clock or clock radio for a child who always wakes early. When it goes off, the child may get up. Or set up two clocks for a preschooler (one running, the other not run­ning and set at getting-up time). When the hands of the sec­ond match those of the first, the child may get up.
  • Set up your TV’/VCR/DVD with a favorite video your child can turn on in the morning. (Preset the volume down if you can.) Or set a small TV or radio to go on in your child’s room when your child usually wakes up.
  • Give up! Accept your child’s body rhythms. Perhaps there’s a twenty-four-hour grocery nearby, so you can do some shop­ping during those early hours.
  • Naps
  • Try white noise in a little one’s room, if older children’s play­ing keeps your younger child from sleeping. Set up a small fan on a high dresser, direct the airflow away from your child, and let it hum away.
  • Make a naptime nook for a toddler by decorating a large card­board box with bright drawings or decals. Pad it comfortably.
  • Help slow your child down for a nap by placing a bird feeder near the bedroom window for your child to watch.
  • Let an older child nap in a sleeping bag on your bed, the family room couch, or the floor of your child’s room, just for variety.

Baby Sleeping Problem 1 Best Way to Deal with Baby Sleeping Problem

  • Call naptime something else, such as “rest time” or “quiet time,” for a child who resists sleeping. Sometimes the child will actu­ally fall asleep; but if not, the time will still be relaxing.
  • Set a clock radio to play quiet music for a resting child, or put on a soft audiotape or CD. The end of the music marks the end of rest time. Children usually drop off long before the music does.
  • Read a book or two to your child as part of a naptime routine.
  • Have a toy that can be played with only at naptime.
  • Wake a too-long napping child to the sound of favorite music.





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