"By doing a little each day, you can get a lot accomplished"
These last weeks, I've been working on a webinar for new parents where the main objective is to help parents understand their baby's sleep cycles in the first months of life. The truth is that it is not much you can do, or at least not big actions you can take to improve your baby's sleep, you just have to be VERY VERY patient and wait for your little one to be ready.
I recently started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I love reading so I try to read something just for fun and something work-related, not that I don't find my job fun, but... you know what I'm talking about, sometimes you just need to put your mind onto something else.
The thing is that right now I'm completely invested in sleep coaching and parenting, both topics apply to my life right now, being a mom. So, I sometimes find myself always going back to parenting, and that happened while I was reading The Happiness Project. This quote stayed in my mind: "By doing a little each day, you can get a lot accomplished"; I actually read it several times thinking how can this quote be applied to a sleep coaching process.
With babies 0 to 4 months (or sometimes 5 months), there is no sleep training method you can apply to see big changes or improvements. We wait until 6 months because that is when babies have the skill to self regulate.
But this doesn't mean there aren't little things you can do each day since they are born to get a lot accomplished. Yes, literally since they are born! Here are some small actions you can take each month to get better sleep for you and your whole family:
Newborn
Swaddle
Be responsive to your baby's needs
Expose your baby to natural light during the day and completely dark during the night
White noise
Month 2
Swaddle
Be responsive to your baby's needs
Expose your baby to natural light during the day and completely dark during the night
Consistent bedtime routine
Month 3
Swaddle
Be responsive to your baby's needs
Expose your baby to natural light during the day and completely dark during the night
Consistent bedtime routine
Establish a regular bedtime and wake up time
Help him eat enough during the day (at least every 3 hrs).
Month 4
Be responsive to your baby's needs
Blackouts for naps
Consistent bedtime routine
Establish a regular bedtime and wake up time
Help him eat enough during the day (at least every 3 hrs).
Try drowsy but awake at least 1 time during the day
Month 5
Be responsive to your baby's needs
Blackouts for naps
Try to extend naps
Consistent bedtime routine
Establish a regular bedtime and wake up time
Help him eat enough during the day (at least every 3 hrs).
Keep trying drowsy but awake
Don't get overwhelmed about getting your baby to sleep by himself when he is younger than 6 months, just start working every month on some small things.
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