If your baby isn’t a great sleeper, this post might help! It’s filled with lots of great tips to help your baby sleep better at night, written by a mama of three!
This post is sponsored by Pampers. I am a proud member of the Pampers Baby Board
Even before becoming a mom, I have always valued my sleep. I’m an early-to-bed, late-to-rise kind of girl, and having kids has not changed that one bit. Ever since our three kids were newborns, we’ve done our part to help them sleep better at night, and when everyone is sleeping well at night, the days are a lot more fun! Luckily, helping your baby sleep better at night is actually pretty easy! Here are nine things you can do to help your baby sleep better at night:
1. Have a consistent bedtime routine. Even babies thrive when there’s a good routine in place, and having a special bedtime routine can help them recognize that bedtime is on the way and it’s time to go to wind down and go to sleep. As a baby, my firstborn would sometimes fall asleep before we had even finished our nightly routine because he associated it with sleep! Our youngest, Little R, is 10-months-old, and our current bedtime routine consists of a bath, lotion, a fresh Pampers Baby Dry diaper, clean pajamas, and his bedtime feeding. He goes to bed right after that!
2. Use a sound machine. Little R’s room is right next to ours, and since we definitely don’t go to bed at 7pm like he does, we use a sound machine app on our iPad in his room to help block out any extra noise we make before we go to sleep. We only have the sound on when he sleeps so he associates it with sleep, and it helps him fall asleep and go back to sleep when he wakes up at night.
3. Don’t let them sleep too much during the day, or too close to bed time. If your baby is getting too much sleep during the day, he’s not going to want to sleep during the night! Check with your pediatrician to see how much sleep your baby needs (it varies by age). Also make sure your baby isn’t napping an hour before bedtime, because he’s not going to go down easy if he just woke up from a nap!
4. Use Pampers Baby Dry diapers to help your baby stay dry at night. Research shows that babies’ skin can sense wetness, which can potentially wake them up in the middle of the night. Pampers Baby Dry provides up to 12 hours of protection! I’ve tried other brands of diapers and none of them have fit as well or kept my babies drier than Pampers.
Pampers recently introduced Extra Absorb Channels on their Baby Dry diapers, which basically means they’re thinner and drier than before. It’s the same diaper you trust but even better! The Extra Absorb Channels on the Baby Dry diapers have a rolling launch, so sizes 5 and 6 have been on shelves since early summer, sizes 3 and 4 are coming out now, and smaller sizes will be available in January 2018. You’ll notice the little Extra Absorb Channels picture on the corner of the packages that have it.
We’ve been using Pampers Baby Dry diapers since Little J was a baby, and I can actually tell that with the new Extra Absorb Channels, Little R’s diaper really is less bulky in the morning when he wakes up. And what’s even cooler is that the channel innovation already exists on Swaddlers and Cruisers, so now that it’s on the Baby Dry diapers, Pampers is the first and only brand to offer channels across its entire line of diapers! Go Pampers!
I have recommended Pampers on my blog over and over again, and I always gift Pampers to new mama friends. I really do think they’re the best diapers, and using Pampers Baby Dry will definitely help your baby sleep better at night and wake up happy, too!
5. When you feed your baby at night, just feed him. Don’t go in and talk to him or play with him while you’re feeding. Keep the lights low using a dimmer switch, or just keep the lights off, and after you feed him, put him right back in bed and leave. Nighttime is for sleeping, not for playing, and when you keep things very calm and quiet, it will help your baby sleep better at night!
6. Use a swaddle, sleep sack, or nothing. Until your baby can roll, keep them in a swaddle at night to help them sleep better. Swaddles help prevent them from waking up due to their startle reflex, and they also keep them feeling snug, safe, and secure. Once they can roll, transition them to a sleep sack. The one Little R uses is thin, sleeveless, and provides comfort and warmth like a blanket, but without the danger of suffocation. Don’t ever use loose blankets or pillows in your baby’s crib (again, important for preventing SIDS).
7. Dress them in comfortable pajamas. Obviously, if your baby isn’t wearing something comfortable, they aren’t going to sleep as well. My kids have always slept well in one-piece sleepers that either zip or button.
8. Use room darkening curtains. My kids have always slept better when they are somewhere dark, so using curtains that help block light out is something I always recommend. Especially if it’s Daylight Savings Time and you’re trying to get your baby to go to sleep before the sun sets!
9. Keep the nursery at a comfortable temperature. You don’t want your baby’s room to be too hot or too cold. Experts recommend keeping the nursery between 68 and 72 degrees. Do you ever wake up because you’re too hot or too cold at night, because I do. Babies are the same way. Make sure their nursery is a comfortable temperature so they can sleep well (this is also an important tip for preventing SIDS).
We’ve done all nine of those things with all three of our kids, and they’ve always slept great at night. Yes, they’ve inherited a little bit of their love of sleep from their parents, but doing these things has helped train them to sleep at night. Even if your baby is still waking up to eat at night (who else can relate?), you can use these tips to help them quickly go back to sleep after they’re done. When you do your part to help your baby sleep better at night, your baby will do his part, too!
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