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Early to bed and early to rise is a dictum that doesn’t apply to babies for sure. And especially those, who love to be the night owls, much to the distress of their parents. The fairly prevalent problem is seen among the infants, small babies, toddlers as well as some pre-school children.
It is believed that after weaning, when children are fed solids, their night time sleep is much better, as they sleep feeling fuller and satiated.
Ideally, if a child sleeps on time, he or she should get up to the morning light of the sun, barring the winter months. But if the child keeps waking up regularly in the middle of the night or too early in the morning, then it becomes necessary to identify the reasons behind it so that a bedtime routine is established, keeping in mind, the baby’s individual needs and habits.
More than for anybody else, it is required for the betterment of the child’s well-being because they need a lot of sleep for their brains and body to develop properly.
So, what can a parent do in case their child sleeps less through the night? Let us read on and find out more about it.
1. Investigate the cause
There can be many reasons to why a child might be waking up earlier than usual. Is the house located near a street where early morning traffic rush is audible? Or do birds chirp near the window? Any such sound can be effectively drowned using a machine that produces soothing white noise to calm the baby to sleep. If the problem is daylight streaming through the curtains, consider using darker curtains or blinds that save the light.
2. Adjust bedtime schedule
Contrary to what common sense suggests, pushing the sleep time earlier than usual may actually help the child to sleep through the night better. When children are overtired, they are cranky and fidgety. By putting them to sleep about 30 minutes before the normal time could give adequate rest to their mind, bodies and limbs and make them sleep peacefully.
3. Proper naps
It is widespread among parents that cutting down on nap times can make the baby sleep better, but that is not the case. If the baby doesn’t have adequate rest throughout the day, their bodies and minds can be over-worked and prevent them from having a good sleep in the night. Naps during the day and their timings are equally important. As the child grows older, it is better to cut down on naps in the late afternoon or too close to the bed-time.
4. Using a baby alarm
If the child is a toddler or a pre-schooler, one could invest on alarm clocks that are specially designed for the purpose. They are visually crafted to tell them if it’s day or night, and the time they can wake up. It has talking features that congratulate a child on following the sleep timetable and the parents can back it up with reward stickers. It encourages a child to adapt to routines much more willingly.
5. Give them a subtle cue
In case a baby wakes up earlier than usual, do not rush to wish them or start talking. Remain quiet and go about doing your work signaling that it is not the time to wake up yet. It will also allow them some time to soothe themselves back to sleep.
Establishing a bedtime routine is all about understanding the baby, do some guess-work about what works best for both- the parent and the child, go through some trials and errors and balance out the schedule. It may seem a bit difficult, but children are quick to adapt and follow routines. So, apply the above tips to make sure that you get maximum possible night-rests.
