Names and Trends -

 by: Chase Winters

If you are able to get your baby right to bed at night and have them sleep for a few hours at a time, it can feel like a wonderful victory. But, if your baby fusses about going to bed and then reawakens every few hours, it can be very frustrating (unless it’s a new baby and then it’s to be expected). If your baby isn’t cooperating with bedtime on a nightly basis, you might want to think about what you’re doing during the day with your baby that could be affecting how they are sleeping at night.

Babies need routine and if you don’t follow one at all, it could be messing up their internal clock. We have to be the ones to help our children understand when it’s time to play and when it’s time to sleep. When they are very young, we do this by setting up a routine that we stick to whenever possible. A bath first thing in the morning followed by a feeding and playtime is a great example of a morning routine, while a bedtime story, a feeding and a lullaby is a perfect nighttime routine. After you have followed the same pattern for awhile, your baby will begin to remember what comes next.

If you haven’t started a routine, begin one now. Be sure to set one for the morning, afternoon and nighttime and you might notice a difference in your baby. The fussiness about going to sleep might disappear once they are able to recognize on their own that it is time to sleep. It’s when bedtime comes to them as a surprise that they get fussy.   (continued...)

Baby Bedtime Fussiness
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