Q "I am having a baby next month and have many books
but am confused. How do I establish a good bedtime
routine and when should I start?"
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A Glad that you are thinking of this now as many parents get
themselves into trouble with sleep issues that are easy to fix
early on. You can start as soon as baby comes home from
hospital!
I was just speaking at the American Baby Faire in Houston
about this subject so can relay the information I gave there.
The baby will be awake for about 45 minutes to an hour
feeding every 2-3. During the daytime hours carry on as
normal when baby is sleeping, meaning leave the dishwasher
running, phone ringing etc. At night time start a routine of
bath/book/bed, while your baby is very young you may want
to supplement a book with a massage for baby. Massage is a
good time to bond and Dad can get involved too!
You can go online or take a class for infant massage but the
main thing is to feel comfortable doing it. Create a warm,
quiet, environment. Place towels in dryer for 15 minutes or so
and make sure that you massage baby in a safe place. Then
straight to bed, place baby on their backs and make sure the
baby is not asleep but drowsy and ready to fall asleep.
Imaging the shock waking up in a crib alone when you weren’t
expecting it.
After 6-8 weeks you will notice that baby will sleep longer at
night and should be sleeping through the night at about 3-4
months even though you’ll still have the early morning
feeding. By establishing a good bedtime early you save the
potential problems toddlers have with sleep issues and
parents getting them out of their beds!
Johnson and Johnson have a sleep profile questionnaire on
their website that can give you different solutions to help with
sleep issues and they have a great new massage product
which is water based!