Is your baby sleeping well at night? In this new ARC DocTalk video, Daniel T. Coelho, MD, Pediatrics at ARC Bastrop, shares the two rules about sleep he emphasizes to parents of babies.
- Consistent bedtime routine
- Naps
Dr. Coelho says, "At around six weeks old you'll begin to notice that your child will just naturally start giving you more consistent day and night cycles." He continues, saying, "This is really when I bring up all the different ways you can use at home to maximize that natural process to really get your child sleeping well at night."
Watch this video or read the transcript below to learn more detailed information about Dr. Coelho's sleep tips for babies.
Transcript
We've all been there as parents where you come home from the hospital your baby's feeding, they're really mellow, they wake up every three hours, everything is great and then all of a sudden two weeks hits and my really calm baby is now crying all the time. They're grunting, they're straining, and it's just getting worse. But the good news is that around six weeks that behavior starts to slowly change. You'll begin to notice that your child will just naturally start giving you more consistent day and night cycles.
This is really when I take advantage and I bring up all the different ways that you can use at home to maximize that natural process to really get your child sleeping well at night. There are two rules that I really emphasize during my well visits.
Keep a consistent bedtime routine
The first rule is you want to come up with a consistent bedtime routine. Early bedtime is the best way to get your child sleeping longer stretches and sleeping in a way that's healthy. The earlier you put your child to sleep, the likelihood that they will get over-tired drops a lot. It's a bit counterintuitive; if I go to bed earlier, won't I just wake up earlier? Actually, what happens is if you go to bed before you're over-tired, you're not only more likely to not wake up as often in the middle of the night, but you're also actually more likely to sleep until a little bit later. You want to put your child in a room that's quiet, in a room that's relatively dark, and in a place where the likelihood that you or someone else at home is going to interrupt that natural sleep process is dropped and minimized.
How long should your baby be awake between nap times?
The second rule that I really try to emphasize with the families I see at the two-month visit, it's more related to naps. It doesn't matter so much how long your baby is sleeping for, but they shouldn't be up for more than 90-minute increments. Every time your baby takes a nap, whether it's a really short nap or a long nap, it's just a reset in those adrenaline levels. It helps your child not get so over-tired, it ties into an easier transition to the nighttime sleep, and then it helps your baby sleep longer stretches at night and wake up a little bit later in the morning. Especially at two months, that's when we really start to encourage parents to establish these routines that are going to help your child sleep well.
If your baby isn't sleeping well, or you're just having questions about how to actually implement this with your newborn, I 100% encourage you to come in talk to me about it; talk to your pediatrician about it, we will go through it with you step-by-step and it's something that's absolutely doable.
Make an appointment today
Dr. Coelho is currently accepting new patients. To make an appointment, call ARC Bastrop at 512-308-4311 or do so online.