Are you a parent to a newborn? Do you find it hard to put them asleep and get better sleep? Do you worry about their safety while they sleep?
Most of the time, many parents find it challenging to put their notorious child asleep and find some peaceful time for themselves.
Newborns spend the maximum time of their days sleeping, anywhere and in any position. However, this might create a severe problem for their health and body posture.
Well, whether you are a parent for the first time or second, worrying about your baby’s safety and sleep quality is natural.
So, let’s look at 5 simple yet effective preventive tips to help your baby sleep better and safer.
Comfortable clothing and Swaddling
Clothing
The first point that you need to ensure is the baby’s clothes. It must be
- Breathable: to keep body temperature at average, avoid overheating, sweating, and discomfort in sleeping condition
- Soft and functional: the material should be smooth and must not be prickly. Also, avoid clothes with complicated zippers and buttons to make it easy for you to change baby’s diapers and also prevent any injuries due to metal or plastic material of zippers or buttons.
- Fitting: the clothes shouldn’t be too loose or too tight. Loose clothes may cover their face and create huddles in breathing, while tight-fitting clothes may block their free movements and make them uncomfortable.
Swaddling
Swaddling means wrapping your baby in a blanket or a cloth in a certain way. Swaddling gives them a feeling of a mother’s womb, making them calmer and inducing a secure feeling in them.
There is a specific method of swaddling a newborn
- Use a thin, soft, and breathable material such as cotton, or muslin for their flexibility and lightweight
- Spread it across the bed and fold one corner
- Put baby on it facing upward and only cover their body and not head
- Hold their body, hands, and feet straight but in a gentle way
- Turn the cloth around them by tucking corners under their arms and then tying a knot at the end
Feed them well and adequate
Sleep and hunger go hand in hand. Therefore whether it’s a newborn or an adult, if you feed them well, sleep comes naturally.
When it comes to newborns, they generally are breastfed and require an adequate amount of feedings at intervals throughout the day. If due, for some reason, the mother can not breastfeed the baby, then try special formula milk for newborns. Also, don’t forget to make them burp after feeding to avoid any gastronomical problems.
To make them burp
- Hold them vertically on the shoulder by putting one hand on their lower back and one behind their neck to support it.
- Support their head with the help of your shoulder
- Tap or rub their back slowly with one hand until they burp
Keep them and their sleeping place clean
Newborns can’t clean themselves when they get dirty. Also, they tend to dirty their diapers during sleep and wake up when they feel wet. Also, dirty diapers can cause rashes or bacteria formation if not removed. Keeping them cleaned always becomes the priority of parents to help their baby sleep without any issues.
It is also essential to maintain cleanliness around the place where babies sleep. Cleaning the bedroom with cleansers, changing their bedsheets regularly, and cleaning their clothes with disinfectants become necessary to make babies sleep better and safer.
Use soothing methods
Sometimes it becomes challenging to put newborns to sleep, and mothers get tired of trying. Newborns must adjust to their surroundings after birth, and many things can prevent them from sleeping.
Therefore, using some techniques to put them asleep or at least lead them to a sleeping state turns out very helpful.
Methods one can try to help a baby sleep such as:
- Singing lullaby in a slow and soothing voice
- Playing silent music or lullaby on a music player at a very low, buzzing volume
- Rock baby slowly by hand, in your lap, or uses a rocker
- Swing babies from side to side, either in a cradle or the in the hands
- Tap on their head slowly until they sleep
Use safety methods
Babies tend to roll around in sleep and fall from the bed. It can seriously harm them due to their delicate physique. Parents’ priority is to ensure babies’ safety first, whether awake or asleep.
Certain things can help parents to keep their babies safe when not in their hands. Such as,
Use baby cam
Parents often have to keep their children in another room or home while they work. In such cases, keeping an eye on the baby becomes difficult. Also, when parents are not in the same room as the child, they can’t hear their baby crying if he wakes up.
Nowadays, the best solution for these types of scenarios is using a baby cam. Baby cam helps parents monitor their child while sleeping and keep an eye on other things like their nanny or surroundings.
Bottom Line:
Babies need more attention and care in the first few months until their sleep pattern becomes more organized and regular. During this time, check on them from time to time to correct their position, change diapers or feed them if they are awake and hungry, even at night. All in all, ensure that your babies sleep better in a secure and risk-free environment.