How to change baby sleeping pattern

How to Set Good Sleep Patterns for Your Baby

Written by Steven Jerome Parker, MD

The good news is that by 3 to 6 months babies typically develop regular sleep patterns and can slumber until dawn. As your baby’s brain matures over these first few months, you’ll probably see a sleep pattern start to emerge -- though it may not be the pattern you want. Help your newborn establish the sleep patterns of your dreams by following these simple steps now.

1. Recognize the Signs That Your Baby Is Tired

Your baby will let you know if they need sleep. Watch for these common signs of tiredness:

Rubbing eyes
Yawning
Looking away from you
Fussing

Don’t wait until your baby is overtired to put them to bed. An overtired baby has more trouble falling and staying asleep. Try to stay a step ahead by looking for the signs that they are getting sleepy before they are fussy and cranky.

2. Set Your Baby’s Day-Night Sleep Cycle

Starting when your baby is 2 weeks old, try to teach them that “nighttime is when we sleep, and daytime is when we have fun.”

During daylight hours, keep things stimulating and active for your baby. Play with them a lot. Try to keep them awake after they feed, although don't worry if they conk out for a nap.

When it's dark, become a more low-key parent for your baby. Feed them in a semi-darkened room. Cut down on all stimulation. For instance, keep lights low and noise soft. Gradually, they'll learn that daytime is fun time and nighttime isn't, so they might as well sleep when it's dark outside.

3. Separate Eating From Sleeping

After the first month, you don’t want to let your baby fall asleep while you’re feeding or rocking them, because you want them to figure out how to put themselves to sleep.

They may eat a little, doze a little, and eat some more, a couple of times. If they go to sleep and keep sleeping when you’re feeding them, stop and put them to bed.

Some parents try to push more formula, breast milk, or baby food to try to make a baby sleep on schedule or sleep longer. This isn’t good for your baby. Just like you when you’ve eaten too much, your overfed baby won’t be comfortable enough to rest well.

Note: Never prop a baby bottle in your infant's mouth when you put them to bed. It can lead to choking, ear infections, and cavities.

4. Don’t Wake Your Baby to Feed After 2 Months

If your baby is gaining weight properly, you don’t have to wake them at night for feedings. Your baby needs to find them own sleep schedule. Once they are eating more in the daytime, they don’t need to wake and eat at night.

Here are some instances where you should wake your baby:

They are sleeping more in the day than the night and missing their daytime feeds.
Don’t let them go more than 4 hours without eating during the day. You may need to wake the baby up to feed at night, but it is probably better to try to change your baby’s daytime habits rather than continuing to wake them every 4 hours at night.

Your baby’s pediatrician will give you advice for your baby. For premature or special-needs babies, you may need to adjust feedings.

Be a Patient Parent

Remember to keep your expectations realistic. For the first few months of your baby’s life, plan for unpredictable, sporadic sleep. Try to sleep when the baby sleeps, because that may be the only rest you will be getting for some time!

If your baby's sleep pattern changes suddenly, check for symptoms of illness. It could be a warning sign of an ear infection. Or it may simply be a new turn in their development.

How to Change Baby Sleep Pattern From Day to Night – Happiest Baby

By Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP

If you think sleeping all day and staying up all night is solely a teenager (or vampire) trait, you are sadly mistaken! Day-night confusion (or day-night reversal) is a common newborn quirk where your little one spends most of their day in dreamland…and their evenings wide awake. If your little one has mixed up their days and nights, never fear, I can help flip this upside-down sleep schedule around. Hint: What you do with your infant during the day can help your baby sleep at night. So, let’s set your baby up for nighttime success by starting when the sun comes up, shall we?

Why Babies Get Their Days and Nights Confused

In the womb there are no clocks, but babies do start to form a sense of time. The problem is, they’re mixed up from the beginning! Babies are lulled to sleep by movement. When the womb is nice jiggly from, say, taking strolls or doing an exercise class, that’s when they like to doze off. But when the womb is still and boring (you’re at your desk working or asleep in bed), that’s when they like to play! Right away, a baby might get used to being active at night and drowsy during the day…the opposite of our schedule! Once a baby is born, these patterns continue…and we perpetuate them. By letting a baby sleep all day, naturally, they’ll need to wake to feed several times at night.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #1: Recreate the womb at sleep-time.

You can shift a baby’s schedule by mimicking the sleep cues they loved so much in the womb. Snug surroundings, motion, and whooshing noise of the womb helps babies sleep while they were inside of you, so once they’re born, use tight swaddling, white noise, and motion at night to signal to your little one that it’s time to nod off. (Learn more about using the 5 S’s to boost sleep.)

Day-Night Confusion Fix #2: Get outdoors during the day.

Get your babe outside for a daily dose of sunlight—especially before noon. If your bub has days and nights mixed up for sleeping, this will help reset Baby’s circadian rhythm (or inner clock). In fact, a study in the Journal of Sleep Research found that the babies who slept well at night spent twice as much time in the sunshine than little ones who slept poorly at night. It turns out that exposure to early afternoon sunlight helps babies’ brains better identify when they should sleep and when they should wake. Just be sure to protect your baby from the sun with a rimmed and a long-sleeve bodysuit. (Learn more ways babies benefit from outside time.)

Day-Night Confusion Fix #3: Use a sling.

Carry your baby in a sling or a baby carrier for long periods of the day (or use a baby swing) to help reinforce the idea that the daytime is a fun, active time! The rhythms throughout the day also set a calming tone. Bonus: Babywearing for three hours a day has been shown to reduce infant crying by up to 51%.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #4: Improve nighttime sleep with your daytime schedule.

Create a flexible baby schedule to keep your infant from getting overtired during the day… and to keep them on track for your evening bedtime target. (Babies are ready to respond well to a schedule once they are 1 month old.) To help set your little one up for scheduling success, it’s important that you learn all about Baby wake windows and your bub’s tell-tale sleepytime cues.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #5: Avoid stimulants.

If you’re breastfeeding, avoid “uppers” like dark chocolate and coffee as much as you can, since caffeine may disrupt your baby’s sleep pattern. But there’s no need to kick your habit completely. Simply limit your coffee intake to just a morning cup. Keep in mind that caffeine lingers in your body for over 12 hours, which can keep you from being able to sink into deep sleep.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #6: Encourage daytime pooping.

For a while, lots of babies poop after each feeding. So, if they’re eating a lot in the evening, the chances of them waking up at night with a dirty diaper is high. Encouraging Baby to poop more during the day is a two-fold proposition. First, you want to feed your baby frequently during the day. Breastfeed newborns eat every one to three hours and formula-fed newborns may take between 1 to 3 ounces every two to three hours. (Learn more about Baby’s first year feeding schedule. ) Second, give your little one a nice belly massage and have them do some knee-to-tummy exercises to help your baby poop during the day, so nighttime sleep isn’t disturbed by pooping and grunting. (Speak to your doctor if your infant is having firm or hard stools. Your baby may be constipated.)

Day-Night Confusion Fix #7: Make nighttime boring.

Whenever your precious bub wakes at night, make sure you make your interactions sooooo boring. That means boring feeds, boring burps, boring diaper changes, and boring (yet gentle and comforting) soothing when needed. What’s boring, you ask? Keep the room dark, use a soft voice if you need to talk, keep the room quiet (besides the white noise), and try your darndest to keep from extended eye contact and smiles! You don’t want Baby’s night-wakings to be entertaining or something Baby looks forward to. Keep the excitement to your during-the-day interactions.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #8: Do some gentle ignoring.

If your baby is wailing, of course go to their aid! But if your baby is whimpering, crying, or just making standard baby noises, give your little one a few moments to soothe themselves back to sleep at night. If your baby is swaddled and listening to rough and rumbly white noise—two key components of the 5 S’s—they may very well settle themselves within 30 seconds. (Baby sleep cycles are under an hour, so they frequently wiggle, squawk, and cry because they’re transitioning to another sleep cycle.) By the way, if your baby is in my award-winning SNOO, its responsive sound and motion—and built-in safe swaddle—will help soothe your baby through these sleep bumps.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #9: Cap naps.

Is your little one logging marathon naps during the day? As much as you might want to let your bub snooze, too-long naps sometimes lead to too-short sleep—especially if they’re interfering with your baby’s feeding schedule. That’s why I recommend limiting naps to no more 2 hours.

Day-Night Confusion Fix #10: Try a dream feed.

Consider introducing a dream feed to your nighttime schedule. Before you go to bed gently take your baby out of bed and feed them while they’re not fully awake. This will help prevent hunger from rousing your lovebug in the wee hours of the morning!

For more information on how to help your baby sleep more at night, check out these articles:

Why Rocking Bassinets Soothe Babies
Golden Moment for Putting Your Baby to Bed
What to Do When Baby Wakes Every Hour
Help! My Baby Won't Sleep Unless Held
Your 3- to 4-Month Sleep Regression Need-to-Know

About Dr. Harvey Karp

Dr. Harvey Karp, one of America’s most trusted pediatricians, is the founder of Happiest Baby and the inventor of the groundbreaking SNOO Smart Sleeper. After years of treating patients in Los Angeles, Dr. Karp vaulted to global prominence with the release of the bestselling Happiest Baby on the Block and Happiest Toddler on the Block. His celebrated books and videos have since become standard pediatric practice, translated into more than 20 languages and have helped millions of parents. Dr. Karp’s landmark methods, including the 5 S’s for soothing babies, guide parents to understand and nurture their children and relieve stressful issues, like new-parent exhaustion, infant crying, and toddler tantrums.

View more posts tagged, sleep

Have questions about a Happiest Baby product? Our consultants would be happy to help! Connect with us at [email protected].

Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider.

90,000 how to change the infantry regime

04/28/2011

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Child mode

Article

Elena Muradova

Head of the BabySleep Center, First Snow Consultant

Mother of three children

Does the child sleep well, but goes to bed too late, and, as a result, wakes up late? Or vice versa - the baby gets up too early - at 5:00 in the morning, the mother does not get enough sleep and wants to sleep "at least" until 6-7! It is not easy to shift a child's biological clock, but sometimes it is necessary. It is important to control the process and act consistently.

Child's crisis calendar

How to transfer a child to a new mode (we shift the mode back and forth in time)

In this article, I do not consider situations when the mode “flies” due to illness, teething, flights, etc. In such situations, the mother helps the child to comfortably survive the difficult period. The main thing is to stick to the regime as much as possible, minimize the number of dependencies, and if you introduce such, be aware that you will have to get rid of them later. When the “problem period” is over, help the child return to the routine.

But what to do when the baby sleeps well, gets adequate sleep, but gets up too early or stays up too late. I want to note that we are not talking about newborns: up to 8 weeks, they usually go to bed late. Also remember that shifting the regime to 7–8 months is very difficult. Babies often really need to wake up early in order to set up their optimal sleep schedule. But for children older than 8 months, it is quite possible to modify the regimen, if necessary.

Our internal clock regulates the process of falling asleep, waking up, as well as diet and other body systems. The meaning of "movement" of the regime is to move our biological clock forward or backward in small intervals of time.

It looks quite simple, but most parents often make one of the main mistakes - they only shift the time of going to bed.

Shifting the child's regimen forward

Choosing the best moment during the day when the baby has enough strength (the child is not overtired) to endure a slight change in regimen. Usually, the last daytime nap or bedtime is suitable for this. Put your baby to bed 15 minutes later than usual. Move all subsequent dreams forward by 15 minutes as well (sometimes meals, if necessary).

There is one tricky part here. Most likely the baby will not wake up 15 minutes later. Our internal clock is fairly stable (some more, some less). Therefore, the baby can wake up at the usual time, only now he has a lack of sleep in 15 minutes. Important — do not let him make up for this lack of sleep in other dreams . In order for you to succeed, it is important to keep a record of sleep all week before changing the regimen and to know how much and when the baby sleeps, to know his norm and sleep habits. Then you can easily control the time of daytime sleep and wake up when it's time.

Unfortunately, babies may not get enough sleep during this process, they may get tired. It may take you up to 2 weeks to do this work - moving the biological clock forward (depending on the time of the changes - by 30 minutes, an hour, two). Every day or two, you shift the mode by 15 minutes until you reach the desired time.

Example 1. Move mode forward:

Target: Get up at 6:30 am
Current mode: 5:00 am (wake up) - 7:00 am (1st sleep) - 11:00 am (2nd dream) - 2:00 pm (3rd dream) - 5:45 pm (night sleep ). Each nap lasts 1 hour.

Day 1: 5:00 am (up) - 7:00 am (1st nap) - 11:00 am (2nd nap) - 2:15 pm (3rd nap) - 5:45 pm (night sleep)
Day 2: 5:00 AM (wake up) - 7:15 AM (1st nap) - 11:15 AM (2nd nap) - 2:30 PM (3rd nap) - 6:00 PM (nap at night), daytime dreams last 1 hour.
Day 3: 5:15 - 7:30 - 11:30 - 14:45 - 18:30, daytime naps last 1 hour
Day 4: 5:30 - 7:45 - 11:45 - 15:00 - 18:45, daytime naps last 1 hour
Day 5: 5:30 - 7:45 - 11:45 - 15:00 - 18:45, daytime naps last 1 hour - 1 day fix result
Day 6: 5:45 - 8:00 - 12:00 - 15:15 - 19:00, daytime naps last 1 hour
Day 7: 6:00 am - 8:15 am - 12:15 pm - 3:30 pm - 7:15 pm, daytime naps last 1 hour

And so on. I can't tell you exactly how things will develop for you, but you get the basic idea.

Move the baby back

You can't control when the baby falls asleep, but you can control how the baby wakes up. Therefore, if you want to move the child's mode back to earlier sleep (let's say the child goes to bed at 22:00 and gets up at 9:00 am), you can do this by adjusting the wake-up time.

If every day you "struggle" to get to bed early from 20:00 to 22:00 pm, or try to start at 21:00 instead of 20:00 the next day, the child will still maintain his usual schedule 2 -h hour struggle before going to bed. I understand that you really want your baby to go to bed earlier, and I offer the following plan.

Put your child to bed at his usual time. And now I'm going to say something that will probably cause a storm of protest and may seem strange, but try to hear me. Wake the child 15-30 minutes before his usual awakening (put to daytime sleep the same 15-30 minutes earlier). Go to bed at your usual time for the night. The next morning, move the morning awakening and afternoon nap again by 15-30 minutes. One of your goals at this stage is to make going to bed easier and falling asleep faster. If this works out, then falling asleep itself can be perceived by the child in a different way (I really want to sleep - I sleep).
Keep lifting the baby a little earlier until you reach your goal. And most importantly — do not let him make up for the missing 15 minutes in other dreams, keep a plan for the duration of dreams.

When baby starts to fall asleep faster, and by this point he may be quite tired, start to gradually shift the bedtime by 15 minutes back every day, until the extreme comfort limit when the child falls asleep willingly and quickly. When it takes 10-15 minutes to fall asleep, you have found the very “right” time to go to bed.

Example 2. Shifting the child's mode back...

Purpose: Going to bed at 20:00 pm, getting up at 7:00 am.
Current mode: 9:00 (wake up) - 15:00 (daytime sleep) - 20.30 (to bed; falls asleep at 22:00). Daytime sleep: 1.5 hours.

Day 1: 9:00 am (wake up) - 3:00 pm (nap) - 10:00 pm (to bed)
Day 2: 8:30 a.m. (wake up) - 2:30 p.m. (nap) - 10:00 p.m. (bed), no more than 1.5 hours of daytime sleep.
Day 3: 8:00 - 14:00 - 21:30, daytime sleep no more than 1.5 hours.
Day 4: 7:45 - 13:45 - 21:15
Day 5: 7:30 - 13:30 - 21:00
Day 6: 7:15 - 13:15 - 20:45
Day 6: 7:00 - 13:00 - 20:30
Day 7: 7:00 am - 1:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Continue with your plan until the child is clearly awake at 8:00 pm. Or until you find a time that suits everyone, that is comfortable to live with.

I can't say exactly how your regime change will occur, but you get the gist of it.

I wish you a good routine that will ensure comfort for you and your child!

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How to restore a child's sleep pattern - MEDSI-DIALINE clinic in Volgograd

The importance of a normal routine

The main rest of a child is healthy sleep. Even during the holidays, it is recommended to follow the routine and avoid uncontrolled time for falling asleep and waking up the baby. A shift of 1 hour is possible, but observance of the total sleep time that the child needs is mandatory. Usually it is at least 9-11 hours for children under 12 and 8-10 for teenagers. With an increase in time, a headache and lethargy may appear. Daytime sleep for a student should be an exception, otherwise it will be difficult to rebuild after the holidays.

In order to restore the sleep pattern as soon as possible, it is recommended to keep the child busy during the day with something useful. He does not have to spend all his time playing on a computer or smartphone. You can offer interesting joint entertainment, for example, a trip or a walk. During the holidays, you should try to be outdoors more often. You can also interest the child in the creative process of drawing, modeling and other activities.

Nutrition plays an important role in the normalization of sleep. Evening meals should not be heavy, otherwise the body will be busy digesting food, instead of providing healthy sleep. It is also important to exclude outdoor games, a TV or a computer, it is better to replace such activities with reading a book, a walk. Lack or poor sleep leads to a deterioration in attention, memory, and even to a decrease in immunity and growth retardation.

Tips for restoring sleep patterns

Late falling asleep, which the child is used to, needs to be corrected in advance, it is best to start doing this a couple of weeks before school. Each bedtime should be done 15-20 minutes earlier than the previous one, until the mode necessary for study is restored. It is important to explain to the child why he should go to bed and get up at a certain time.

Exercise is a great way to increase energy expenditure during the day and thus get into normal sleep patterns. Every day you need to make time for exercise or sports exercises. In the evening, it is best to read a book or do something quiet. Before going to bed, remove gadgets from the child's room, turn off all electronic devices and ensure sufficient darkness.

Recommendations for the normalization of the routine:

Getting up at the right time can be ensured by a planned pleasant activity with the child. In the evening, the baby will be more willing to go to bed early and will also get up if he has good motivation.
Interesting activities, physical activity will ensure fatigue and pleasant impressions. In the evening, the child will go to bed at the right time. A few days of such classes, and he will be able to enter the learning rhythm.
Together with the sleep regimen, it is necessary to enter the general regimen of the routine (games, walks at strictly limited times). Such limits need to be established gradually.
It is important to organize proper nutrition, which implies eating evenly throughout the day. Ideally, this habit of eating on time should be maintained for many years, this is the key to good health.
In a properly drawn up daily routine of a child, one action is replaced by another, activity alternates with rest.
It is useful to accustom babies to hygienic procedures before bedtime and in the morning at the same time.
Discipline and daily routine of children will provide parents with free time.

There are no downsides to keeping a strict schedule for your child. Proper diet, sleep and general routine are important for good health, good mood, emotional stability of children and social adaptation.