The first months after the birth of the baby sleeps most of the day. As a rule, there are no problems with falling asleep during this period. The little one wakes up to eat, gawk a little at the world and again falls asleep sweetly, sucking his mother's breast. Gradually, sleep time is reduced, and wakefulness, respectively, increases. Most parents of children from 6 months to 2 years old (sometimes younger, or vice versa older) ask questions on women's forums on the Internet or ask their more experienced friends or grandmothers “How to put a child to sleep without tears, moods and hassle?”.
We put the baby to sleep without tears and whims
Problems with falling asleep in newborns are not associated with a capricious character, not with the spoiling of the child, but with the peculiarities of the nervous system of young children. Unlike adults, babies in their first year of life simply do not knowingly relax and disconnect from extraneous stimuli at a time when the body needs rest and it is time to fall asleep. But if parents act correctly, then tears and vagaries can be, if not completely avoided, then minimized.
Detailed article about the vagaries of a child up to a year
How to put your baby to sleep: simple tips for young parents
- According to modern pediatricians, babies up to a year should not strictly observe the regime. Careful observation of the baby will allow you to understand its biorhythms and correctly organize the time of rest and feeding. A sleepy child begins to yawn, rubs his eyes, becomes lethargic or moody. Noticed these signs - urgently stackso as not to miss the moment of falling asleep.
- The baby is lucky if the mother breastfeeds on demand: in early childhood, the kids, having had enough of plenty, easily fall asleep at the breast. Breastfeed for at least one year, so you can put your baby to bed without tears until the time comes when weaning the baby from the breast.
- It is very important before going to bed to create a small comfortable relaxing environment. A warm bath is suitable for this (be careful, for some children the bath is exciting, in this case the baby should be bathed 2 hours before bedtime), relaxation massage (many children fall asleep if they are gently stroked on the back or tummy), aromatherapy with lavender oils , nutmeg, sandalwood, jasmine.
- Pay attention to the crumbs clothes: these should be soft and pleasant to the touch little things.
- Mom’s lullaby, not loud, relaxing music with the sounds of nature (the murmur of water, the sound of rain) helps some children fall asleep.
- Many children are helped to fall asleep by motion sickness in a crib or in their arms. If your baby is one of these children, do not neglect this method that has been tested for centuries (See article about motion sickness in the arms).
- Do not forget about maintaining a comfortable temperature and humidity in the child’s room. The best option: 20-22 degrees. Do not confuse the baby, children do not sleep well if they are hot.
- Before going to bed at least an hour exclude watching cartoons and noisy games.
- Create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in your family. Tiny on an emotional level perceives a tense situation and painfully reacts to it.
VIDEO: 8 ways to put a baby to sleep
Rituals for falling asleep
Young parents, whose children are already 6-7 months old, can be advised to develop a system of "sleepy" rituals. 20-30 minutes before bedtime, parents perform the same actions every day, which the baby will soon begin to associate with falling asleep.
In the "sleepy" rituals, you can advise to include:
- "Farewell to the sun." The baby is picked up, brought to the window and told that the sun, birds and animals fell asleep. Stars are lit in the sky - it means it's time for all the kids to sleep. After these words, the curtains twitch, the light turns off, and the baby is put to bed.
- Reading books (viewing pictures with children under one year old) before bedtime.
- Bedding your favorite toy.
- Singing a lullaby.
- You can make a tradition every evening in a calm voice telling the crumb about how the day went, how your baby is tired and will now fall asleep sweetly, etc.
- A similar way is 3-4 daily repeating phrases like: “Our little angel is tired. Mom and dad are nearby. We will sleep sweetly now. ”
“Sleepy” rituals, with the right approach, facilitate the work of parents, the little ones quickly enough begin to understand the meaning of these actions and go to bed without problems. The exception is cases when the baby is unhealthy (fever, teeth are cut, etc.).
Video: Rituals before bedtime
Self-falling asleep techniques
According to somnologists (specialists in the field of sleep), a child needs to be trained to fall asleep on his own in the same way as you teach him to eat, wash, and dress on his own. Special techniques have been developed, using which parents will be able to put the child to bed without tears and tantrums.
The methods are applied to children 9-15 months old and are aimed at changing associations to falling asleep. If the baby is breastfed and the mother feeds on demand, then the child has a stable idea: DREAM = FOOD. The purpose of these methods is to break (change) this association, spreading the time of feeding and sleep. Consider the most popular ones.
Timer Method (by Tracy Hogg)
- Before going to bed, the baby is given a tasty meal. After this, the little ones are shown a timer and they say that the milk will end when the bell rings. The timer is set for 10 minutes. At the call of a child, they are weaned and affectionately put into bed. Probably, the baby will cry and require a chest for 20-40 minutes. Be patient. Calm the baby. Lay in a bed and pat on the back until the baby falls asleep.
- For several consecutive days, the timer is set for 10 minutes. Whims can not be avoided, but on the 3-4th day, the children let go of their breasts and fall asleep on a call.
- The next 3-4 days, the timer is set for 4 minutes. During feeding, the mother reads to the little one familiar nursery rhymes or a fairy tale. After the bell the baby is weaned and reading continues for another 5-10 minutes. After which the baby is laid to sleep. So gradually one habit is replaced by another.
- After another 3-4 days, feeding for daytime sleep is canceled. Instead of a chest, a baby is reading a book. And at the last stage, evening feeding is removed.
The Fading Method
The longest and mildest way to wean a child to fall asleep with breast. It can take 1.5-2 months to study.
Its essence is that the mother does not refuse to suckle her baby before bedtime, but she tries to interest the little one with an interesting book, conversation.Sometimes a child can fall asleep without sucking, and this is the first success. So gradually mom finds other ways of calming (rituals) for the baby, falling asleep without a chest will turn out more often, and, finally, the baby will begin to fall asleep without a “sissy”.
At the next stage, nightly feeding (how and when to wean from night feeding?): instead of the chest, the baby, of course, does not need to read books at night, just pat him on the back, give him a drink of water or say the traditional phrase: “Mom is nearby - sleep peacefully”. Over time, the little one, waking up at night, will stop looking for the chest, and the number of awakenings will decrease.
On this topic: When does a baby start to sleep all night without waking up at night feedings? and another important article: why a child up to a year does not sleep well at night: how to establish a baby’s sleep?
Explanation Method
This method is practiced with children one and a half to two years old.
It is suitable for both infants and artificers.
For the baby, they come up with a simple story about why milk will not be available at night (a cow will not bring milk anymore at night, because ... or the “sissy” milk runs out, it’s only one time left).
This story is told to the peanut 10-15 times during the day. During evening feeding, the baby is given the breast (milk from the bottle) for the last time and is reminded once again that there will be no milk at night, because ... After that, the baby or bottle is not given to the baby at all. Thus, breastfeeding is stopped (in detail about How to wean a baby from breastfeeding?), and the association DREAM = FOOD replaced by other rituals.
The implementation of this method takes from 3 days to a week.
Logout Log In Method
In my opinion, the most painful method for a child.
The essence of the technique is that mom puts the baby to bed and, without waiting for the baby to fall asleep, leaves the room for 5-7 minutes. If during this time the child does not calm down, the mother returns, calms the baby and leaves again, giving the baby the opportunity to fall asleep on her own.
Soon (this method takes about 7-12 days), the little one should understand that he will have to fall asleep on his own.
And in conclusion, it must be said: in order to put the child to sleep without tears, first of all, it is necessary to focus on the individual characteristics of the character and temperament of the baby.
Experiment, this will allow you to find the method that is right for your little one. Be consistent, calm and confident in your actions - your mood will be transferred to a little one. Show patience and love for the baby at this time.
We also read:
- 6 things to help the baby fall asleep
- 5 secret ways to put your baby to sleep (LIFE HACKS for MOM)
- How to teach a child to sleep separately from parents
VIDEO: How to quickly put your baby to sleep in 1 minute 🙂
Nathan Dailo's method: it's just brilliant!
Together you can do it!
Thank! The book How to put a child to sleep without tears is excellent!
A very necessary and useful article. And then already tired of laying with tears and cries of our Kiryushu. My wife and I tried a lot of things, listened to the advice of mother-in-law and acquaintances, but there was little use. Now we will try your methods.
Thank! We have a boy (1.5 months) and we just did not know what to do! He did not want to sleep at all! But taking advantage of your advice, we began to go to bed calmly. By the way, there is a time for personal life :). All in all a very good article.
At first, my child fell asleep near my chest, this is about a year and a half, then the baton passed to her husband. He sings very beautifully and he sang songs not only lullabies, but from different directions. Now the child is 4 years old and he remembers all these songs by heart, and sings with his dad. But now we can’t get our son to sleep in a separate room - he comes to us all night.
I can advise as the father of 3 children
1. Lie down in bed and read fairy tales to the child. Impressed, the child falls asleep very quickly.
2. If there is no time or effort. Put an audio fairy tale of which a lot on the Internet.
I can recommend, for example, a good channel on YouTube - a huge number of fairy tales and lullabies in one place and you don’t need to download ...
I cut it either on my computer or on the phone. Children lie listening and fall asleep nicely ... fairy tales are added every day ...
It seems that the article is called “how to lay a child without tears,” but they talk about what you need to leave and go out, cry and fall asleep. but about the timer, I generally got eyes on my forehead, those parents who practice this, monsters got out. eat and fall asleep on a call! in my opinion, the baby will feel that they will soon take away his “food” and mother and will be even more worried and eat faster, which will negatively affect him.
and in my opinion, the baby should be weaned at the moment when he himself is ready for this, and not when his mother wants to ... and only so physiologically will be to his advantage.
children are generally energetically connected with their mother under 7 years old and be with her wherever possible in a year, two or even three are considered the norm. and if mothers say “but I can’t even get away from him” - so you wanted a child, not a doll)) ... so enjoy a joint sleep is the best way to put a child) because 1) the children of the repeat mother are sleeping and he also, 2) it’s warm, safe, satisfying with mom (if with GV), 3) it is proved that mother’s milk (not in mixtures) contains opioids, in short, calming components, which helps the baby fall asleep while mom’s milk is digested)). It is interesting that during breastfeeding, the mother’s body also produces hormones that inhibit and soothe the mother! It’s so conceived by nature that mothers relax with their children and don’t run to wash-wash-clean 😀 own strengths, milk and nerves are the guarantee of a happy mother, which means and a child, and pat .... yes, all my life ahead, I have time!
My husband and I just had a baby sleeping together on the HB, there is not enough opiate in my milk, if only :-) an interesting article, we are just looking for a way to euthanize a beloved monster :-)
Some tips did not help us, a multicube to help us and the problem was solved on its own!