How to Get Baby to Sleep Longer Stretches at Night?
Even though you are aware that newborn sleep is irregular, it is normal to be frustrated by your baby’s inconsistent habits.
On rare occasions, your baby is going to eat every three hours like clockwork, allowing you to get a few hours of rest. Sometimes you can’t get him or her to sleep until after midnight, and the entire family is fatigued. Despite your best efforts, the lack of sleep at night is beginning to weigh on you.
It doesn’t help when you hear about children of their age sleeping for four to five hours between evening feedings. You have the impression that you are doing something incorrectly, or that you are missing out on a secret way that would work.
However, that is not the case. Read on to find out how you can solve this issue:
How to Get Baby to Sleep Longer Stretches at Night?
It might be difficult to get your little one to sleep longer stretches at night. We understand your peril because we know how fussy newborns can be.
However, it is not impossible (though it might look impossible to you right now). We have rounded up the best strategies for you to employ if you are interested in knowing how to get baby to sleep longer stretches at night.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Set an Earlier Bedtime or Bath time for Your Little One
If your current bedtime is later than 8:30 p.m., your infant may benefit from an earlier bedtime. The witching hour (or when babies become fussy after a long day) occurs in the early nights. So much so that by evening, they are too fatigued and overtired to sleep.
What is the solution? Make your bedtime sooner. For example, at 7:15 p.m., begin the bath, followed by sleepwear, reading, and music. Feed your kid right before bed, and by 8:30 p.m., it’s time for him or her to sleep for the first time that night.
Create a Proper Peaceful Sleeping Environment for Your Baby
As your baby approaches the 6-week mark, the right sleeping environment will become increasingly important. Make a sleeping area for your infant for naps and nighttime. The sooner your cute little bundle of joy starts linking darkness and white noise to sleeping, the simpler and easier life will be for him or her.
Parents constantly worry that their kids would get hooked or dependent on darkness and white noise and will be unable to sleep without it. However, adults, too, have sleeping preferences! I don’t like sleeping on flights, trains, or cars. Some people enjoy sleeping in their own bed, with their own pillow, and so forth. Many individuals believe they can sleep through any noise, but studies show that persistent pink (what we call white) noise helps the brain enter more stable phases of sleep. You might also try not using white noise or darkness and see how that goes.
Most (but not all) newborns sleep better with loud white noise and as much darkness as possible.
Related Read:Sleep Training Method
Take Your Little One Outside for a Stroll
Take your little bundle of joy outside in the sun to help him or her reset their Circadian cycle. You are sending them a strong daytime cue by exposing them to the sun. It will help them distinguish between day and night more quickly.
Do Not Let Your Little One Go For More Than 2 Hours at a Time When Sleeping From 7 AM to 7 PM
This has to be one of the most beneficial things you can do to encourage your child to sleep for extended periods of time at night. Granted, the majority of infants will be unable to achieve this until the age of 4 to 6 weeks. When those new babies desire to sleep, no matter what you do, they will not wake up. But, as soon as you notice that you can wake them up a little, do it! Remove their garments, expose them to cooler air, take them outside, and place them in a lukewarm baby tub. Plain and simple, if they’ve been sleeping for more than 2 hours, do everything you can to rouse them up.
Keep the Dream feed in Account
A dream feed is the final feeding given to a newborn before going to bed. In a nutshell, you breastfeed or bottle feed your kid without waking them up before going to bed. If your baby goes to bed at 8 p.m., a dream feed occurs around 10 p.m., when either parent finally falls asleep. It keeps the baby from waking up when you’re ready to sleep for the feeding. You can also dreamfeed them before your baby wakes up in the morning to keep him or her from waking up too early.
Keep the Wake Times to a Minimum
Wake times are less important after roughly 4 to 5 months, but they are everything to a baby. Keep your cute little munchkin awake for anywhere between 50 minutes to 60 minutes (this also entails their feeding time and diaper changing time if they’re up and active during the meal) before beginning to prepare them for their nap. Swaddle the infant, carry them to their room paired with darkness and white noise, and then actively try to get them to sleep.
The best time to wake your newborn depends on his or her age and the time of day. In a word, the younger they are, the less time they will have to stay awake pleasantly. And as they get older, their awake time can last up to 90 minutes.
Make Sure That Your Swaddle Technique Is Perfect
There is a surprising percentage of parents who struggle with swaddling their kid and believe that their kid despises the swaddle. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. While there are a handful of babies who actually despise the swaddle, most parents misinterpret their child’s fussing as hatred. Try using the swaddle for naps and at bedtime. Before dismissing it, give it a try for many weeks during each sleep cycle.
Establish a Bedtime Routine and Continue With It Every Night
It may not appear so, but your little one is picking up on signals throughout the day, particularly those that are repeated. While he or she may not be able to understand your words, he or she may begin to realize that certain actions repeat themselves.
Your baby is obviously not literally going over this in his or her thoughts. Rather, he or she just starts to expect them as a component of the flow and rhythm of their daily routine.
That is why having an established bedtime ritual every night can be quite beneficial. This enables the baby to oppose the activities less and accept what happens next more readily. In other words, a bedtime routine will help you keep you and your baby on track and avoid having to think too hard about what to do next. Everything will feel natural.
Feed Your Kid Every 2.5 to 3.5 Hours Throughout the Day
If feasible, attempt to develop a cycle in which your infant wakes up and eats right away (while remaining as awake as possible). The baby would then stay awake for the remaining 60 minutes of wake time. Following that, they need to sleep for a while. Then, of course, waking up and eating. This is a terrific approach to ensure your child gets as many calories as possible during the day and, hopefully, sleeps for longer stretches at night.
Put Your Little One Down to Sleep When He or She Is Drowsy
Rather than waiting for the time your baby is completely asleep, put him or her down while he or she is nearly asleep. Learning to fall asleep on their own is critical for helping children sleep for extended periods of time. That’s because when they wake up and realize things aren’t the same as when they fell asleep (for example, they’re no longer cuddled in your arms), they’re likely to become confused and agitated.
Don’t Assume That Your Baby Is Hungry
Babies like to sleep in 40-minute cycles, meaning that they wake up frequently throughout the night. Allow your baby some time to settle on their own. If that doesn’t prove effective and you need to respond to him or her, try another means of consolation instead of immediately presenting the bottle. Soft singing or massaging the baby’s belly may be all that is required to lull him or her back to sleep.
How Long Will Your Little One Sleep?
Because babies at this stage are more active, observant, and aware of their surroundings during the day, they are more inclined to sleep during the night. However, the usual range is still quite broad.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, babies up to 3 months old should obtain 14 to 17 hours of sleep every day. Many people will have developed a daily sleep regimen that includes 2-3 naps during the day, which is followed by a longer sleeping throughout the night stretch following a late-night feeding.
Wrapping It Up
During the early stages of raising a newborn, sleep deprivation is common and expected. But that does not imply you can’t gradually assist your infant in sleeping longer stretches at night.
An earlier bedtime aids the baby in avoiding being fussy, especially if he or she is already sleeping late. Balance his or her wake windows, ensuring that your baby is awake long enough to appreciate sleep but not so long that he or she becomes overtired.
Feed your little one whenever you want during the day and as often as you can before bedtime (in fact, an extra dream feed might also help). Maintain a consistent nighttime schedule, and you’ll notice that your kid will wake up to feed at the same predictable times.
Lastly, keep the room in which your baby is sleeping dark throughout the night, and play some white noise. Both will aid in extending his or her sleep in situations where light and startling noises may wake him or her sooner rather than later. Using these methods may result in longer stretches of sleep instead of unpredictable and frequent awakenings.
