Congratulations! You’ve brought a new bundle of joy home. Now starts one of the most exciting- and terrifying- life experiences anyone can have. While Team Snorble can’t help soothe all those concerns you have as you hold your newest family member, today we’re tackling five common sleep questions parents have. We hope they’ll help you feel more secure as you take these exciting first steps in your relationship with your little one.
Being a New Parent: An Overview
As a new parent, it can be very hard to sort out rumor, superstition, and bad advice from genuine advice you can trust. That’s why Team Snorble has taken the time to round up five frequently asked new parent questions around sleep and new babies, and present them in a friendly way to help you. We’ve provided extra evidence to the science if you’d like to double-check.
Question #1 - Should I wake the baby for a feed?
This is a surprisingly complex question to answer, and you’ll need to consider a lot of factors, including their weight, age, and the overall health markers you’ve discussed with your health care team. It is important that baby takes in enough nutrition in these early days, but sleep also matters. Babies lose weight at birth and will need to regain it, so expect to wake them a few times to meet the feeding schedule you’ve decided on. Once you see a pattern of weight gain forming that meets your pediatrician's health markers, you can leave them to sleep for longer.
Question #2 - Our baby is waking for comfort, not feeding. What can we do?
By about the five-month marker, your baby should be sleeping for about five hours back-to-back, so things will get better. However, it’s common for some little ones to wake periodically, and it’s not always linked to hunger. Soothing sounds like lullabies, waterfalls, or the sounds from their Snorble® can help comfort little ones and encourage sleep. Using blackout curtains so dawn doesn’t wake them, and nursing right before bed, can help stretch sleeping hours.
But remember, it’s a little early to expect big things from your new little one. Forcing a child to self-soothe to sleep can undermine trust when done so early, and may stop you all from finding the right routine, or prevent you from noticing developing medical issues. Parenting is tough, but it will get better. Hang in there.
Question #3 - My baby flails a lot when sleeping, help!
It’s OK! Babies can have restless sleeping patterns without it being a problem. Sucking noises, limb movement, and twitching aren’t always a big worry. We think this could be their REM sleep aiding brain development. It should calm down by six months or so.
Question #4 - Do babies think day is night?
Sometimes, but it’s very normal, so don’t worry! You will simply need to work on ‘setting their internal clock.’ Letting them see sunlight during the morning, and talking energetically to them during the day, will help let them know that it's time to be awake. For nighttime, dim the lights, speak softly, and start to move towards the sleep routine you intend to implement.
Question #5 - My baby wakes up far too early, help!
Some babies have a very early wake cycle. Even if they sleep well, you can’t deal with the 5 a.m. (or 3 a.m.) uptime. While it seems counter-intuitive, this can be linked to being more active, often too late in the day, and not going to bed early. Naps are an important part of early childhood development, and skipping them won’t make for better sleep later on. Being ‘overtired’ hinders sleep, and even when the body forces itself to shut down, it’s not a nice or productive sleep. Pay attention to your baby’s sleep cues to help ensure they get enough rest. Combined with the tips in question four, this should help adjust their wake time to something more sociable.
Introduction to Snorble
It’s Snorble’s mission to help your little one establish lifelong healthy sleep habits through fun and play. If you want a Snorble for your new family member, they’ll be a touch young to learn the healthy habits Snorble helps to create, but they will find the lights and sounds soothing. As they age, Snorble will become their special sleep buddy, encouraging them- and you- to learn more about great sleep. Plus, they can help you understand more about your child as an individual, and the sleep patterns that matter the most to them. With an emphasis on mindfulness techniques and teaching self-soothing techniques, Snorble could be the secret weapon you need to help your little one have happy, healthy sleep throughout their life. We also have some helpful articles on this important area of childhood development for you, too, so feel free to explore the site some more!
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Photo by David Veksler on Unsplash
