The goal is to put the child to sleep for 3 seconds. How to help a child fall asleep or personal experience

Young parents sooner or later have to deal with the fact that the baby does not want to fall asleep. There are different reasons for this: teeth are cutting, a tummy hurts, or maybe the baby is hungry or thirsty, he is cold or hot, or he has a cold.

From about two weeks of age, for 3 to 4 months, babies experience colic in the abdomen. This is the most problematic time for both parents and the child, who suffers greatly and cannot sleep peacefully from night to night. From 6 to 7 months, babies begin to cut their teeth. For some children, this process is less painful, but for some, teething is not easy. Today we will consider the question of how to lull a child in such difficult situations.

Your baby needs to develop his own daily routine.. Not a planned day by the hour, but simply to ensure that a certain sequence of actions is followed. For example, we walked, ate, washed and went to bed. How you plan your day is up to you, but there should be some kind of signal that the day is over and you need to go to bed. You can’t explain this to a child in words, and therefore everything must be shown through a sequence of certain actions.

Sometimes the baby just runs wild, captivated by the attention of adults or some new toy. Then it is advisable to calm the child down a little and put him in a lyrical mood. You can turn off the bright light in the room and light a small lamp, because bright light is very annoying. You can sing your baby a song or play some quiet music. It’s very good if the baby falls asleep to one song, then he will use this song as a signal, upon hearing which he will be ready to go to bed.

If the baby starts to fall asleep, there is no need to rush to put him in the crib. You need to wait a little until the baby's breathing is even, deep and slow. Once you are sure that the baby is asleep, you can move him to the crib.

To help your baby fall asleep, you need to read books to him, tell him stories, and you can lightly stroke his back or hair.

Nothing bothers or upsets a young mother as much as the nightly crying of a baby who often wakes up or cannot fall asleep for a long time.

Here are 20 ways that will help you lull your baby to sleep.

1. The baby must be rocked in a cradle. If you swing it on your hands, then rock it back and forth.

2. You can take your baby on a car trip. Wrap the baby in a blanket, put him in a chair and fasten him in, then start the engine. Running the engine and moving the car is a great way to help your baby fall asleep. It should be noted that it is not at all necessary to ride far - sometimes a few laps around the parking lot can be enough - and the little miracle will begin to snort sweetly.

3. Before going to bed, it is advisable to bathe the baby in warm water. Warm water helps relax the muscles of the body, which makes you want to sleep.

4. Before bedtime, you can breastfeed your baby, and if he is bottle-fed, you can give warm milk just before bedtime. Warm milk contains the natural soothing substance tryptophan.

5. You can also pick up your baby and put him on your shoulder so that his head lies next to your neck under his chin, and you can hum something softly to him or whisper soft words to him. The quiet voice and vibrations that he will hear will also lull him to sleep.

6. It is necessary that the children's room be dark, otherwise, if there is light, the baby will be capricious and will not be able to fall asleep for a long time. It is advisable that the room have dark curtains that will not allow light to pass through.

7. You can also use a sound machine to lull you to sleep, which creates low-level noise. Such sounds are also very good at helping to distract from external sounds. Such sound machines can be humidifiers, air conditioners, and air purifiers.

8. You can fill the children's room with the scents of lavender. Lavender has a calming effect.

9. It is necessary to change a baby’s wet diaper or diaper - this will relieve irritation and calm the child. You should always put your baby to bed swaddled in a clean, dry diaper or diaper.

10. Before putting your baby to bed, you need to make sure that his room is neither hot nor cold. Little children are very sensitive to temperature changes, and therefore it is very important to determine whether your little one is overheated or frozen.

eleven . To ensure that no noise disturbs your child's sleep, you need to make sure that the children's room is as quiet as possible. Or you can turn on the sound machine, it will drown out all other sounds with its quiet hum.

12. You can play a light, pleasant melody. Now many supermarkets sell discs with melodies for every taste, and there are discs with a specially selected repertoire of melodies that are good for helping you calm down and relax before bed.

13. It is necessary to make sure that the baby does not have anxiety or nervous tension. According to experts, if the baby had a happy day, then he will have a good sleep, which means that the parents will also sleep normally. A baby, like an adult, can suffer from nervous overstrain, which he may experience before he has time to fall asleep.

14. If your child tries to take off or unbutton his clothes, help him and create a level of comfort so that he can sleep peacefully. Perhaps something is rubbing against him or something has touched him somewhere.

15. Pay attention to how long the child sleeps during the day. You need to adjust your child's sleep during the day so that he is willing to fall asleep at night. However, this does not apply to newborns.

16. If a child is naughty, he needs to be calmed down and can be put to sleep in his own bed. And when he falls asleep, take him to his own crib. This method can be very effective, but you should not use it constantly.

17. It is necessary to develop the habit of going to bed on time in your child, following the established daily routine.

18. In order for the child to fall asleep peacefully, you can use pacifier nipples. But you should not overuse pacifiers, as the baby will become addicted to it and in the future it will be very difficult to get rid of it.

19. If your baby is starting to teethe and it really irritates him, you can use a special anesthetic gel before bed that soothes the gums.

20. You can lightly massage or stroke the baby. This will help the baby calm down and relax before bed. Such touches can calm if the child is irritated. At the same time, listening to a song or a fairy tale told, the baby will fall asleep faster.

The baby falls asleep during breastfeeding - this problem worries many mothers. The scary thing is that young parents do not know how to properly put their baby to sleep without breastfeeding. Various methods are used that are harmful to the health of the baby.

Before weaning your child from falling asleep at the breast, you should first familiarize yourself with all the methods, rules and features of the process. And only after that should attempts be made.

In the first months of life, the baby falls asleep while breastfeeding. This is due to the fact that the baby feels psychologically comfortable. Over time, this becomes a habit, without which the baby has problems falling asleep. The longer this goes on, the more dependent the baby becomes on breastfeeding. This turns into emotional dependence for reassurance. The baby demands the mother's breast when he is hungry and excited. There are several reasons for this:

1. Meeting new people when visiting guests, going out.
2. Change of diet, sleep.
3. Feeling of pain (teething).
4. Disputes, disagreements in the family. The baby is sensitive to the emotional state of the mother and responds with concern if the woman is worried.
5. A lack of maternal attention is usually associated with the mother's early departure to work.
6. Increased fatigue in the baby. It occurs if parents did not notice the signs of the baby’s fatigue in time and did not put the baby to bed.
7. Discomfort. Characterized by extraneous sounds and bright objects within the baby's visibility.

When a baby suckles at the breast in his sleep, he calms down faster and falls asleep, which allows the mother to rest.

Who is it for?

Weaning a baby to fall asleep without breastfeeding is suitable if the mother is in no hurry to wean. An important factor is the age of the baby. The older the baby, the easier it is to do this. If the child is already 1-2 years old, weaning him off from sleeping without a breast will not be difficult. Until this age, in order for the baby to fall asleep, he needs to suck something.

The baby will not be able to give up his mother’s breast until he reaches 1.5 years of age. Until this age, the child is strongly attached to his mother.

Weaning a baby from breastfeeding is due to the fact that the baby begins to constantly wake up at night and demand the mother's breast. Because mother and baby wake up regularly during the night, they both don't get enough sleep. This causes the development of many diseases.

How to teach a child to fall asleep without breastfeeding

It is important to eliminate external stimuli that prevent the baby from falling asleep normally. For a baby, breastfeeding is mother's presence, calmness, protection. Abrupt weaning will provoke the development of stress, which will have serious consequences.

Mother's milk contains sedative components. These substances help calm the baby's nervous system. These elements also have an analgesic effect, which is very important during the period of baby’s teeth growth.

The age of children when it is allowed to wean from breastfeeding should be more than 1.5 years. Until this time, the child is not ready.

To put your newborn baby to sleep without breastfeeding, you need to follow these tips:

1. Ask relatives to put the baby to bed. This factor will wean the baby from regularly staying near his mother.
2. It is recommended to read fairy tales to children before going to bed. However, you need to do this in a calm and measured voice. Instead of fairy tales, you can sing lullabies or turn on a calm, light melody. This way the baby falls asleep faster.
3. To speed up the process of falling asleep, the baby is given a relaxing massage. The procedure includes stroking from top to bottom.

By following these simple rules, you can put your baby to sleep without any problems.

It is necessary to put the baby to bed without breastfeeding not only at night, but also during the day and during night awakenings.

First stage

To teach your baby to sleep without breastfeeding, you can distract your baby with some activity. However, it is forbidden to combine entertainment and breastfeeding.

If a child falls asleep while breastfeeding, you can distract the baby by reading, talking, stroking and similar actions. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that after being distracted by reading, talking and other distractions, the baby will still fall asleep with the breast in his mouth. Be patient. Sooner or later, the baby will fall asleep while listening to reading or conversation.

Second phase

When your baby has learned to fall asleep while reading, you should gradually stop offering the breast before bed. Instead of feeding, you should immediately distract the baby using other studied methods. However, if your child asks for food, you should not refuse. You just need to limit your time a little.

A few key points

The mother is prohibited from using the breast during the daytime to soothe the baby. During the day, it is recommended to only breastfeed your baby. And to calm down, use distractions.

In the first few days, it is recommended to use the “timer” method. To do this, you need to turn on the timer for 10 minutes at the moment when the child is about to sleep. You should explain to your baby that as soon as the time is up, you need to stop suckling and go to bed. This will be difficult at first, be patient. After a few days, reduce the time to 4 minutes. At the same time, practice reading fairy tales and talking.

And after a couple of days, it will become quite easy to stop breastfeeding before bed and at night.

Why does my baby wake up at night?

Before the age of 15 months, the baby wakes regularly at night. This is due to several factors:

1. Toothaches and other illnesses.
2. Development stage. During this period, the baby learns to stand up and walk, so he can wake up and jump up at night, practicing this skill.
3. Regime change. Usually during this period of life the child begins to sleep less at night.

When the baby has weaned and sleeps peacefully, it is necessary to limit nighttime breastfeeding. The timer method will also help for this. When reducing the feeding period, it is important to distract the baby with conversations and fairy tales.

A competent daytime feeding regimen helps reduce night feedings. To make sure your baby wakes up less often at night, you should feed him half an hour before bedtime.

You also need to follow several rules:

1. As soon as the baby wakes up, you should not give him the breast. If you give children breastfeeding on demand, in the future the child will cry for everything he wants. In this case, it is recommended to talk to the baby, stroke, and press. Usually, children only need to feel their mother's presence to calm down.
2. You should not scold the baby, because babies sense intonation. Raising your voice will make the situation worse.
3. It is forbidden to lie to children, because in the future the baby will also begin to lie.

Basic mistakes

There are several options for putting a baby to bed without breastfeeding, but psychologists do not approve of them:

1. You should not put your child to sleep in the crib, and then go into the next room and wait for the baby to cry and fall asleep. This method works, but it is dangerous because it leads to a nervous breakdown. Against the background of nervous disorders, various diseases develop, including those of a psychological nature.
2. It is not recommended to be nearby and ignore the baby’s crying. He doesn’t understand why his mother doesn’t come to him anymore, it scares him, which becomes a serious test for his nervous system.
3. You should also not use pacifiers, as they spoil your bite.
4. Smear your breasts with substances with unpleasant odors. This method is harmful to the health of the baby.
5. Draw scary images on your chest. The baby will begin to be afraid of her, and nervous shocks are dangerous for babies.

You can teach your baby to fall asleep with his mother's breast, but this requires patience. The procedure should be carried out gradually, sequentially. If your baby is used to falling asleep on his own, you can begin the weaning process.

It would be great if we could sleep like this ourselves, right?

But it turns out that infant sleep is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. In the first three months, it is very different from the sleep a person will sleep for the rest of his life. Newborns sleep anywhere and sleep between twelve and eighteen hours a day. But it is not continuous. The rhythm of a newborn’s life is determined by the small capacity of the stomach and the constant need for nutrients that ensure rapid growth. Therefore, the baby’s life will consist of three to four hour cycles of feeding, wakefulness and sleep. Like it or not, in the first few weeks two or three feedings will occur at night.

The way a newborn's brain works during sleep is unique. Our sleep consists of two alternating phases - fast (active) and slow (deep). During the fast phase, we dream, as evidenced by movements of the eyes and often other parts of the body. In addition, if the bed is cold, if the bladder is full, if there is noise around us, we may startle, roll over, jostle, and wake up. NREM sleep, during which we dream almost nothing, sequentially passes through light, deep and very deep phases. At the same time, we move much less, breathe deeper and slower, our muscles are as relaxed as possible. Adults spend about one-fourth of their total sleep time in active sleep and the remainder in deep sleep.

Newborns also sleep in two types of sleep, but each of them equally - different phases replace each other after about thirty minutes. During slow-wave sleep, they are relaxed, breathe evenly, and move very little. When REM sleep sets in, babies seem to “come to life” because they begin to move their arms and legs, change their facial expressions, breathe less evenly, and make different sounds. They may be having the first dreams of their lives.

In adults and children older than three months, the onset of the REM sleep phase is preceded by slow sleep, which gradually becomes deeper. But for newborns, everything is different: first, active sleep occurs, which is replaced by deep sleep. As a result, a child who has just fallen asleep can be easily awakened.

This is why parents sometimes feel like they are dealing with a bomb with a short fuse. A fed, dry and clearly tired child, for unknown reasons, is awake, nervous and deigns to fall asleep only after being carried for a long time and rocked to sleep. But when he is carefully placed in his crib, he suddenly opens his eyes and starts screaming like a fire siren. And this is repeated again and again until everyone, including the child, is filled with despair. The problem here is that the child did not go through the initial rapid phase of sleep: the baby woke up during it, since his sleep was shallow. Usually by the age of three months, when the order of the phases changes, this problem resolves itself.

How to help your child fall asleep

For parents who do not want to wait twelve whole weeks for a change in the alternation of sleep phases, two ways to help their child fall asleep are acceptable. These methods vary greatly, and each of them has its own defenders, who are inclined to believe that their beliefs are vital for both children and parents, and the ideas of opponents are harmful and lead to children becoming restless. In reality, both have something to offer the world, but neither method will make absolutely all children and parents happy.

According to the first approach, parents should be in direct contact with the child during the different phases of his sleep. The child must be fed, carried in his arms, rocked to sleep and be nearby until he falls asleep and sleeps for at least twenty minutes. Then he should be quietly placed where he usually sleeps, say, on mom or dad's bed. The main advantage of this method is that it helps the baby move through naps and REM sleep comfortably and safely with one or both parents nearby. Proponents of this approach claim that it is useful for the baby to feel the warmth emanating from the mother’s body, from which he recently left.

Opponents object: a child may become so accustomed to activities that help him fall asleep that he then does not fall asleep on his own for several months, or even years. And then the child’s sleep at night and during the day will become a problem, and parents (or those people who will sit with the baby) are in danger of continuing the fuss with feedings and rocking, even when the baby begins to walk.

Adherents of the second approach believe that a child can and should be taught to calm down on his own and fall asleep without anyone’s help. You should not feed him immediately before bed: breastfeed or bottle should be given 30-60 minutes before bedtime, and then put the baby in his crib. He will lie awake for 15-20 minutes and may even start roaring, but then he will calm down and, left alone, will eventually fall asleep. Advocates of the self-soothing approach say it will save the mother and father from having to spend a lot of time trying to soothe the baby and allow the baby to become calmer and less dependent on someone else being around. Critics counter that leaving such a young child alone in a crib is cruel and unnatural. Some even believe that a child deprived of parental closeness will then suffer from sleep disorders (or even worse).

You may be relieved to know that none of these approaches are legislated. So you can choose either one, adapting to your child’s unique temperament, behavioral style, and your (and your family’s) needs and requirements. No matter what you do now, everything will be different in the future. What worked well with your first child may not work well with your second, and what works so well this month may not work the next. When dealing with a newborn or very young child, a fair amount of “adaptation” and pragmatism is not only reasonable, but necessary. “Let's see if this will help us” - this approach is much more justified than “we definitely need to do this.” The only exceptions are the most basic rules that ensure the safety of the child.

Most babies let you know they are ready to sleep. Different children do this in different ways: they yawn, they become capricious, their eyes become sleepy... And you, of course, will want to know which means your child prefers. If you notice these signs in him, put your baby to bed, making sure it is quiet and dimming the lights in the room. If after 15-20 minutes you realize that the child does not feel happy and content, go up to him and check what’s wrong. Knowing that he is full and has dry diapers, stay with him for a while and then try leaving him again. If your baby doesn't want to be left alone, especially in the first few weeks of life, don't try to "educate" him by letting him cry for a long time. During the first few months, for a variety of reasons, it is unwise to let your child cry for a long time (even if you think everything is fine with him) and not approach him. Children of this age cannot be “spoiled” by attention to their needs.

If you need to help your child fall asleep quietly, try these time-tested methods:

• Breastfeeding (or bottle feeding if you're giving your baby formula) can help induce sleep, especially at the end of the day. However, do not overdo it with formula or, worse, do not introduce solid food at this age, say, porridge, hoping that the child will sleep longer. An overloaded stomach will interfere with sleep just as much as an empty one. Solid foods are not suitable at this age and do not prolong sleep; Never put your baby to bed with a bottle. Not only could he choke, but he could also get an ear infection if the milk gets into the eustachian tube (which leads to the middle ear).
• Carrying it in your arms and quietly rocking it will calm both of you. If it helps, relax and enjoy the activity. A very good tool is a rocking chair in which you can sit with your baby.
• An alternative to a rocking chair is a cradle (a rocking crib) or a cradle (a “nest” suspended on special holders), but they should be selected specifically for children of this age.
• Many young children calm down more easily if they are snuggled up in a light blanket.
• Quiet sounds, such as the whirring of a small fan (not directed at the baby), a white noise machine, or the sound of the ocean recorded on a tape or disk can calm your baby and drown out other sounds in your home. For “music lovers,” there are special collections of lullabies, quiet classical music, or church chants, which often calm an excited baby.
• Gentle touches, patting, or massage will calm a baby who seems sleepy in your arms but becomes fussy in the crib.
• Many children fall asleep if they get carsick. Sometimes a desperate parent, having been tormented with a restless baby for a good part of the night, picks him up and goes on a car ride at three o'clock in the morning, but this does not guarantee that the child will not wake up as soon as the car stops. Since traveling at night is not much fun, especially in deep winter, some companies offer a special device that simulates the movement of a car, which is attached to the crib. You yourself understand that you can resort to these methods only as a last resort, if you are dealing with an ardent opponent of sleep.

All of the above, with the possible exception of organizing quiet sounds and wrapping in a blanket, requires some effort from parents. It should also be borne in mind that sometimes prolonged rocking, stroking, patting and singing have the opposite effect and prevent the child from falling asleep, because all that was required to fall asleep was to be left alone. If several weeks of your heroic behavior aimed at getting your child to sleep normally does not give the expected result, then it may make sense to turn to the “soothe yourself” theory. If you decide to put it into practice, the following steps may help you (they should be taken when you have put your baby to bed, but he has not yet fallen asleep).

• Bring your baby's hand to his mouth. Many children quickly calm down when they suck their fingers.
• Observe what objects attract the child's eye and place them in his field of vision. This could be a one-color toy, a small unbreakable mirror in his crib, a nearby window, or a night light. Complex visual objects, say, “mobiles” (bright hanging moving toys), are not suitable for this purpose in the first weeks, especially if the child is very tired.
• Make sure your baby is lying on his back when he falls asleep.

There is a chance to sleep all night

Newborns usually do not sleep for long periods of time in the first weeks of life. In addition, they do not distinguish between night and day. But by two months, babies can already exist without food longer than in the first days. And most parents are destined to know how hard the heart beats when, waking up at dawn, you suddenly realize that the baby has not once reminded you of its presence all night. "What about him?" - the first thing that comes to mind. and then the breathless fear gives way to relief and quiet delight: “He slept all night long!”

By three months, to the great delight of parents, most children begin to sleep seven to eight hours every night without interruption. But for some this achievement is not given so quickly. Some people initially move in the wrong direction: they sleep peacefully almost all day, and then suddenly open their eyes and begin to actively live and worry just when tired parents passionately dream of a break. If your baby is determined to walk all the wee hours, then you will want to carefully but decisively set him on the right path.

• Try to ensure that your child does not sleep too long during the day. Don't let him fall asleep during or immediately after eating, but rather wake him up. Talk to him, sing a song, change his clothes, play with his arms and legs, stroke his back, or let his grandmother coo with him. Do not make loud noises and do not shake the baby under any circumstances. (Sharp and sudden movements of the head can damage the brain.) Let him stay awake for a while after feeding before allowing him to fall asleep. This will also prevent him from falling asleep only after eating.
• If a child sleeps for a long time during the day, and sleeps little and restlessly at night, think: if he has already slept during the day for a total of more than three to four hours, then maybe it’s worth waking him up during the daytime in the active sleep phase?
• Do this. so that the night time, when the child is not sleeping, turns out to be as boring as possible for him. This is especially true for feedings. Dim the lights, keep conversations to a minimum, and change diapers (if necessary) in a businesslike manner. Night is not the time for fun.
• Remember that during REM sleep, young babies often fidget, grunt, and even seem to wake up momentarily. Try with all your might not to disturb the baby at this time, because, without knowing it, you can wake him up exactly at the moment when sleep enters the deep phase. This will require you to make some changes in your own sleep pattern.
• If your baby tends to wake up at the crack of dawn and you don't feel like keeping him company; Try hanging blinds or blackout curtains that block out the sun's rays. Don’t think that fussing in the crib necessarily means that the baby has finally woken up. Wait a little before you pay attention to him, because he may fall asleep again. But if, despite all your efforts, the baby still wakes up with the first roosters, then you may want to adapt to his regime for several months, building your daily routine in accordance with the advice of the poet Samuil Marshak: “Early to bed - get up early".

You will need:

Night light

Sometimes the process of babies falling asleep quickly depends on the correctly created atmosphere in the room. This is where they come to the rescue all kinds of night lights. Modern industry allows you to choose the most suitable option.

For example, after feeding, we put the baby in the crib, turn it on and observe his reaction.

In 99% of cases, the result is positive, and within a minute the baby begins to slowly fall asleep. In this version of the night light, it is possible to add your favorite melody, because soporific music has an equally beneficial effect.

Lamp in the form of an animal

From birth, children intuitively trust animals and are drawn to them. That is why most lamps look like animals, looking at which the child calms down and plunges into the kingdom of sleep.

Particularly popular are butterfly night lights and fruits. They are not only bright and beautiful, but also easy to use.

Mobile

The mobile is one of the things that also helps put the little one to sleep quickly. It may not always happen instantly, but you don’t have to wait long for results.

The main thing is that from the first days the baby gets used to lying on the sofa on his own, then he will be able to close his eyes and sleep soundly to his favorite melody and the dancing movements of beautiful animals.

Order the fun you like and make your baby happy.

Electric swings, sun loungers

It's much easier for modern mothers. Previously, women did not know and could not imagine that such lifesavers would appear that would put a crying child to sleep in a couple of minutes. It is enough to put a child in a chair, smile, stay next to him so that he understands the safety of this wonder and that’s it.

The rocking chair will slowly rock, at this time a quiet melody plays, soft toys sway in front of the child’s eyes, and the eyelids become heavier and heavier, the baby falls asleep sweetly...

You don’t even need to leave your home to purchase them. You can order a swing at , selected according to individual requirements. The cost varies, which allows every family with a child to have such a lifesaver at home.

Some models even have a remote control, which makes mom’s life much easier :)

Rocking bed

This bed is the best way to put your baby to sleep. Parents come up with all sorts of tricks to make the swinging process easier: using their hands, their feet, and tying ropes. These things work great and help put an overexcited child to sleep faster.

Kangaroos, slings, backpacks

Products in this category are truly presented in a huge range. Many colors, shapes, and purposes make them very popular and useful for modern mothers.

A baby's ideal sleep is when he is pressed to his mother's breast. If you have pain in your arms, back, and are desperately short of time, slings are ideal. They “untie” women’s hands, worry about their health and greatly facilitate the process of motion sickness.

Fitball

This is a big fitness ball. When you are tired of songs, noise, and your arms and legs are incredibly tired, sit down with your baby on a fitball and swing. You will not only lull your baby to sleep, but also pump up your gluteal muscles. This is another reason to order yourself a ball.

Such movements will be no worse than a swing, the baby will immediately feel the right rhythm, and you will simply adapt to it. At this time, you can watch your favorite movie, listen to an interesting program or audiobook on headphones.

Music

The most unusual repertoire can become a soothing melody. Children are great connoisseurs of art, even more than their parents.

Try to experiment with genres, discover new directions, and then you will be able to say with accuracy which melody pleasantly excites the baby, leads to hysterics or lulls you to sleep.

You can even buy a children's tape recorder in the shape of an animal, for example. Then the child will become very interested in the “singing” bear or rabbit.

Dictaphone

With the arrival of the baby, it would be nice to buy a good voice recorder, or, in extreme cases, a telephone will do. After all, you can always make a copy of your favorite melody, voice, birdsong, the ringing of bells, the cute purring of cats, the sound of a waterfall, and so on.

Water

In a situation where there is a small child in the family, and the neighbors are doing renovations or like to listen to rock music, experts advise putting the child to sleep in the bathroom with the door closed and the water tap open.

This sound will help put the baby to sleep in a few minutes, and the increased humidity will improve the condition of the nasal passages, and sleep will become much deeper.

Monotonous humming sounds

This will seem strange to many, but it is the third-party sound that helps to bring the child out of hysteria, to distract him, and the monotony perfectly lulls him to sleep: a hairdryer, a vacuum cleaner, an inhaler. These products should definitely become your friends, but unless the baby is afraid of such sounds, otherwise the situation can seriously worsen.

Automobile

An exciting trip will help you take your mind off the hustle and bustle and problems. Slowly, leisurely, with a quiet melody behind the wheel of your favorite car, you will not even notice how you will put your child to sleep, relax mentally, physically and look at the world with a smile. You just need to choose a quieter and calmer route. It is advisable to take a ride somewhere outside the city so that a large number of cars, pedestrians, signs and traffic lights do not distract you.

Sometimes it is enough to put the car seat in the back seat, start the engine and very soon you will hear the baby sniffling.

If your family has a car, you should definitely buy a child seat for the car. You can't skimp on safety!

Walk in the fresh air

Even if you don’t have the strength, it’s better to spend 15 minutes walking with a stroller than spending several hours lulling to sleep.

Fresh air, the noise of leaves, and the movement of the stroller have a beneficial effect on the child’s nervous system, promoting quick sleep and sound sleep.

Having barely had time to experience the joyful event of the birth of a baby, young parents begin to comprehend in practice the difficult science of putting a little man to sleep. This science requires not only remarkable patience and nerves of steel, as many people think, but also an appropriate attitude, caring attention, and a creative approach.

So how can you put your baby to sleep with minimal loss and maximum benefit for both parties? Let's start with the philosophical side of the issue.

For a long time, the science of raising children has placed the interests of parents at the forefront. The main goal of pedagogical efforts was a “comfortable” child who would not cause much trouble. Hence the emphasis on regime, discipline and many prohibitive norms: do not allow, do not indulge, do not teach, etc. However, over time, it turned out that “comfortable” children have a difficult time in adulthood, an abundance of prohibitions leads to a low level of emotional well-being of the child, and the lack of empathy, trust and acceptance among educators gives rise to a lot of problems in parent-child relationships at an older age.

Currently, an approach focused on the interests of the child is gaining more and more supporters in pedagogy, psychology and even medicine. This is confirmed, in particular, by such examples as the “legalized” latching of a child to the breast immediately after birth, the refusal to feed by the hour in favor of breastfeeding, the increasingly widespread use of “kangaroos” and slings instead of barred cribs and playpens... In general, individualized relationship to the child, not as an object of educational influences, but as an active subject, starting from pregnancy.

If this child-centered approach is closer to you, then feel free to throw away all the “dos” and “don’ts” - let’s think together.

Mom's bed or crib

Mothers generally put forward two arguments against co-sleeping: it is not hygienic and the mother can accidentally crush the baby.

Not being a doctor, it is difficult to imagine what kind of terrible microbes that the baby did not have the chance to meet during pregnancy and childbirth are waiting for the child in the mother’s bed.

Can a mother sleeping next to her pose a threat to her baby? According to the theory of probability, such a possibility cannot be completely excluded. At the same time, immediately after giving birth, a woman’s maternal instinct is so strong that even in her sleep she hears the slightest sob or sigh of her child, not to mention his cry. Many mothers wake up with numb arms and legs - they cannot move even in their sleep, not forgetting for a second about the presence of the baby.

What's good about this, you ask? Those who choose to sleep with their baby from the very first days will tell you many advantages:

• you don’t need to get up to see your baby at night; when he is nearby, it is easy to feed him, easy to care for him;
• after eating, the child immediately falls asleep, and there is no risk that he will wake up if you try to put him in the crib;
• the mother does not worry in vain: as soon as you open your eyes, you can immediately see how the baby is feeling (by the way, those who are just expecting a baby should take care of a night light in advance - it will be very useful).

But the most important thing is that a baby who has just been born and is just beginning to adapt to the world around him is much calmer next to his mother. He feels his mother's smell, breath and warmth and does not feel lonely and abandoned. Mother's presence, her emotional participation in the baby's experiences allow him to avoid the destructive effects of fear associated with his own helplessness.

If mom doesn’t want to be separated at night not only from the baby, but also from dad (who would like to get some sleep), a compromise option is also possible. It requires a separate room with a children's bed that can accommodate not only the baby, but also the mother. Of course, the bed must have a reliable fence that would allow the baby to be left alone. For the first month or two, mom can sleep with the baby, and then gradually move to dad. You can start with the natural occurrence of a night break in food lasting 5-6 hours. Having put the baby to bed in the evening, mom can fall asleep with dad, and at the baby’s first call, come to him and stay until the morning. If the baby sleeps peacefully, then the mother can come to him at night only for feeding, and if he falls asleep next to him, then no one will be offended.

So, whether or not to take your baby into your bed is up to you to decide. Do as your maternal instinct tells you. In the end, the calmer the mother will be, the better it will be for her baby.

"Nest"

In the last months of pregnancy, the baby has become accustomed to the cramped space of the uterus. We can say that this was his first cradle, in which it was very cozy and calm. This is why newborns are afraid of open spaces, demonstrating a protective reflex to loss of support and signs of discomfort. But they feel good in your arms - you hug and protect them, just like recently the walls of the uterus. Given this feature, it is worth placing the baby in a small cradle, stroller or wicker basket.

Such a simple device as a “nest” has also proven itself well. A small towel should be rolled along the long side and wrapped in a diaper. The resulting tourniquet is laid out around the baby like a horseshoe, so that it fits tightly around his body and ends on both sides at neck level. In the "nest" babies sleep more peacefully even on a wide bed.

About rocking and motion sickness

It is generally accepted that rocking has a calming effect on children. It reminds them of that blessed time when their mother carried them in her tummy and rocked them rhythmically as she walked. One way or another, this feature was actively used by our distant ancestors, making rocking cribs or hanging cradles from the ceiling of the home. Moreover, even some monkeys rock their babies. And what is curious is that this behavior is not innate, but is learned during the first days of motherhood.

However, putting babies to sleep with the help of rocking has not only supporters, but also ardent opponents, who claim that rocking has an adverse effect on the child’s fragile vestibular apparatus, intoxicates and leads to heavy sleep. Although in this case, apparently, we are talking about motion sickness. For example, I know of a case where a family constantly practiced rocking a baby in a stroller, and with such intensity that the straps that provided rocking simply frayed and required replacement.

When deciding for yourself the question of the acceptability of swinging, it would not be amiss to remember common sense again: during pregnancy, women usually walk rather than jump on a trampoline, and therefore it is clearly not worth abusing swinging. Walk around the apartment with your restless baby, rock him slightly, but do not try to reproduce sea motion or the effect of air pockets.

How to know when it's time

In the first weeks of life, the baby smoothly transitions to sleep during the feeding process. But gradually, a gap begins to appear between feeding and falling asleep - a period of wakefulness. Don't be afraid of the first minutes of silent contemplation - your child has just grown up a little. And instead of desperately trying to put him to sleep right away, better use this time to communicate. Very soon the baby will begin to smile and make funny sounds, at such moments it is even more strange to complain that the child is not sleeping.

Rest assured, there are no children who do not sleep. This means that your child will definitely fall asleep when he has spent enough energy and feels that it is time to replenish his strength. How can you understand that the right moment has already arrived?

Over time, you will learn to identify this accurately, but for now, take into account the following possible signs: the child rubs his eyes, lays his head down, whimpers, or suddenly starts crying. It doesn’t matter if you rush once or twice - a baby who doesn’t want to sleep is unlikely to fall asleep quickly. So if while listening lullaby he will suddenly open his eyes and start smiling at you joyfully, it’s better to put off trying to lull him to sleep and come up with a more interesting activity.

Note the time it usually takes from feeding to the time your baby falls asleep. This can also be a good guideline for starting the styling procedure. Of course, it doesn’t happen every time, but you will set the approximate period of your baby’s wakefulness for yourself.

Internal mood

The process of a baby falling asleep is greatly influenced by the internal mood and emotional state of the parents, and especially the mother. For example, a child’s falling asleep in the evening may be upset because the mother is worried about something or, on the contrary, is joyfully excited, say, due to the arrival of guests (even if the guests are behind a closed door in the next room). So don’t be surprised if, despite all your efforts to lull your baby to sleep, you can’t join the general feast. It’s better to take your baby with you - having been saturated with impressions and positive emotions, he will soon get tired, and then he will probably fall asleep. It doesn’t matter if this happens half an hour later than usual.

What makes up the optimal internal mood?

• First of all, don't panic! Even if the baby screams in the middle of the night, and you can’t calm him down. Since God gave you a child, it means he also gave you the strength to cope with him.

In the psychology of motherhood, there is such a thing as “adequate style of emotional support.” It implies a mother’s behavior in which she fully shares the positive emotions of her child. If the baby experiences fear, pain or anger, the mother’s task is completely opposite - to try not to fall into exactly the same state. Only his mother’s compassion, pity, and self-confidence will help him survive the discomfort and instill confidence that difficulties can be overcome.

So, the more serious the reason why the baby does not sleep, the more emotional support he needs. He's counting on you a lot.

• Don't rush things. As a rule, the speed at which your baby falls asleep is inversely proportional to the strength of your desire to lull him to sleep. How can one not recall the apt English proverb: the pot you stand over never boils. However, this folk wisdom also has scientific confirmation: psychologists have long proven that excess motivation only interferes with any business. Therefore, try to distract yourself from the main goal - to immediately put the baby to sleep - and switch to some related processes.

For example, immediately set aside plenty of time for everything and convince yourself that you don’t expect the baby to fall asleep earlier.

Come up with an intricate trajectory of passages around the apartment with a child in your arms and focus on its implementation.

Learn a few lullabies in advance and be sure to perform the entire repertoire. It’s very good if you manage to include a couple of folk songs in it - it will be an excellent occasion to simultaneously reflect on the continuity of generations, feel the breath of time and introduce the child to folk art.

And do not rush to give up singing lullabies due to lack of hearing or voice. Firstly, lullabies are performed quietly; secondly, the motive can be arbitrary (the main thing is quite monotonous); and thirdly, after repeated daily rehearsals, you will simply be surprised at your suddenly discovered singing talents. And one more weighty argument. Not long ago, scientists found that singing improves immunity and helps prevent respiratory diseases. So, don’t be upset if, despite all your efforts, your child doesn’t want to sleep, rejoice in the fact that he is making you healthier!

• Love the process of putting your baby to sleep. After all, if you think about it, it brings you closer to him and awakens maternal feelings no less than breastfeeding, which is talked about so much. Children grow up quickly. Not only strangers, but also our own. Before you have time to look back, you will remember with surprise and nostalgia that your child was once just a baby. Enjoy it now. It’s so wonderful when a little person falls asleep in your arms, and it seems that the whole world is quiet...

Ingenuity and flexibility

It's no secret what to lay infant it is not so easy to sleep, even though all the signs of his sleepy state are evident. If the patience and perseverance of parents is not enough, then a creative approach is needed.

For example, the mother and father of one restless baby successfully practiced this method of night sleep: they lay down on the bed, put a large pillow on their laps, and the baby on the pillow, and dozed off, rocking the child with their legs at the first sob. I don’t think that this option is acceptable for everyone, but I am sure that any parent can find a reasonable compromise with their own baby.

Try experimenting with the baby's position first. For example, take him in your arms sideways so that his tummy is pressed against your stomach and his head rests on your arm bent at the elbow. Perhaps he will fall asleep faster this way. If you have problems putting your sleeping baby down, try placing him on his side, so you can walk outside. From three months onwards, you can place your baby in a stroller on his stomach, if you can provide him with sufficient visibility. Tired of looking at everything around and holding his head, he will eventually put it down and, most likely, fall asleep in this position. If the baby sleeps restlessly in the morning and moves his arms in his sleep, try also turning him onto his stomach.

Closer to six months, the baby may like to sleep lying on the chest of his father or mother. In this position, the parents rest, and the child can be stroked on the back, and, if necessary, slightly rocked. And when the baby falls asleep more soundly, it’s easy enough to put him next to you, first lowering his legs and then his upper body.

Sometimes children prefer to fall asleep on their mother's arm or a soft pile of blankets.

Discussion

03/15/2018 19:45:43, lampstorys

I don’t understand something: so what’s the problem with sleeping in three people, “mom-dad-masya”? we practiced this event for up to 3.5 months. Until Masya became very big and began to take up more space than mom and dad :) And even now (we are 5 months old) the three of us sometimes fall asleep together. And the scary stories about being “crushed”, “strangled”... I don’t know: I have a very light sleep, and we get along warmly without blankets.
I was also amused by the phrase that by the time they are six months old, babies love to sleep on their chest :) We practiced this until they were 3 months old... well, that is. while we could. And then with an 8-9 kg baby you won’t get much sleep on yourself (you can’t breathe there :))

Thank you for the article. With my eldest daughter, everything was almost the same: both in my arms and on demand - after a year she gave up breastfeeding and went to sleep in her own crib. We also didn’t bother too much with the regime - if you hang out a little longer, you’ll get tired. But now, when the second child (1.2 years old) has become more difficult: the older one’s schedule is tied to kindergarten, which means she has to go to bed on time and get up early (I myself have difficulty getting up at 7, especially after a sleepless night - the younger one sleeps poorly - wakes up 4 to 10 times a night). Therefore, the option “put the older one to bed and play with the younger one until she gets tired” does not work - at 21 I myself am falling off my feet: I have only one thought - to put her to bed as quickly as possible. During the day I try to play, and cuddle as much as possible, and feed and drink so that I don’t wake up from thirst or hunger, but... she goes to bed quickly, 15 minutes and sleeps, half an hour or an hour passes - she suddenly wakes up with tears - I take her in my arms , after a while he falls asleep again, an hour later everything repeats itself, if only a couple of times - God bless him! but not 10 times a night..! So I’m looking for reasons, maybe someone has a similar situation?

The child is 2 years 4 months old. I am raising her alone, she rocked her not in her arms, but always in a stroller. She would fall asleep and then be transferred to the children's bed. In the middle of the night, constant waking up after 2-3 hours of sleep, he himself is almost asleep or with his eyes closed, and points to the stroller, rock again, rock for an hour, he sleeps again, back to bed. It’s so exhausting during the night, I have no strength during the day. How to wean yourself off the stroller? Can anyone share their experience in this situation? [email protected]

In general, it’s also, of course, easier for me to keep my little son by my side and give him breasts at the first squeak. He doesn't wake up, and I almost don't either. It’s especially convenient when there are four of you in one room, two of whom have to get up to work and to the garden. I only sleep, curled up in a ball, at the feet of my men, because otherwise we disturb each other:((Yesterday I slept sitting up. I looked longingly at the clock and waited in the morning for my husband to wake up and for me to lie down in his place. We are thinking about a bed on the floor. And it became completely impossible to put him in the crib - for a maximum of 2 minutes:((((I learned to roll over:)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND RATINGS! :-)

My mother's co-worker's three-month-old baby girl died. Slept with my parents, suffocated under the covers. Before this, I had nothing against sleeping together and was also confident in my maternal instinct. My oldest child (2.5 years old) and I still sleep together. But the youngest - NO WAY!
By the way, no problems falling asleep - ttt.

We are almost three already, but I remember the old days well.
Yes, the child slept with me until he was almost 2 years old (we were fed until he was 2.4). Oh God!" - For the first month she slept on me, covered with pillows. No problems whatsoever. We had a wonderful night's sleep - although I've heard a lot about the struggles of friends whose babies slept in a crib: feeding, moving, rocking to sleep. In our case, it was to feed and continue to sleep, well, after 6 months. Take the wet diaper out from under your butt and put in a dry one. Moreover, I couldn’t sleep without it. She went to her bed without any problems. My daughter often fell asleep in her arms, was carried, rocked (there was a period) - we can sit on the swing for an hour - she won’t throw up, with carousels too, at 2 years old she walked along the curb alone with her arms outstretched and did not fall, incl. vestibule the apparatus is like that of an astronaut.
We fed on demand, hung out from the first day, already a month old, in my mother’s arms, even when I was preparing dinner, the crib turned out to be a waste of money, we didn’t have a playpen (it didn’t even occur to me to buy one). True, we didn’t sit in kangaroos either - we still preferred hands, we were always present in the community on someone’s hands (but now my hands are very strong). At 4 months crawled on the laid out sofa, at 6 they slid to the floor. We still go to bed with my mother, but it doesn’t bother me: we read and sing lullabies (now together), hug and sleep. The whole process takes from 15 to 30 minutes.
In general, we are strange parents: we didn’t swaddle, we didn’t take off our cap at home, we walked in any weather, we allowed (and do allow) to mess around in the mud and puddles, at 1.4 we moved from the stroller to my mother’s bike (into a special seat) - so it’s much easier to walk It’s more interesting, you can go to many places for a walk, and again breathe fresh air.
Maybe, of course, we are wrong somewhere, but I think when the second baby is born, I will do everything the same.
and the article is good, I think it will help many young mothers make their decision.

But we didn’t have such a problem at all. Since birth, the baby sleeps all night without waking up. And when on GW, and now. Somehow, of course, they put her in the crib (I don’t know, for some reason the idea of ​​putting her with me didn’t occur to me, and it was too close for the three of us) and she felt comfortable there. (Before bed, I rock her in my arms, and I know for sure that I taught her to do this myself, because at first this was not required, they calmly fell asleep with her boobs) And in the morning I take her to bed with me to sleep “like dad” (in the sense - in his place). Here, of course, the dream ended: I need to touch my mother’s face, explore the surroundings, etc. But, of course, if something bothers you and you have a sleepless night, then dad goes to the living room on the sofa.

I couldn't sleep without the baby. I couldn’t put Sasha in a crib. We still sleep together (we are 14 months old) and breastfeed. Everything is easy and without fatigue. This suited us, but all mothers and children are different. The main thing is to know that you can sleep together or separately, and find what suits a particular family best.

Just like it’s written about us))) We don’t sleep in a crib - we don’t want to, I can’t get my head around the fact that the process of falling asleep will be long, I want to do it quickly, and as a result, the process is delayed. But during the day, when I’m busy, Dasha can play around in her stroller or crib (after feeding, of course) and fall asleep!! It's about 1.5 hours!!...Maybe I should also find something to do at night?)) In any case, the article helped me at least see the problems that I consider problems)) Thank you.

I just can't sleep with the baby. In the evening I put him in his crib, and in the morning I took him to my place. And this morning I practically didn’t sleep, I looked at him all the time, I was afraid to turn around, to move. It was worse for me to go to him at night than to keep him at home.

“Many mothers wake up with numb arms and legs - they cannot move even in their sleep, not forgetting for a second about the presence of the baby” - that’s for sure. When we sleep together, my arms and neck really suffer.
And also, even when the child sleeps separately, I am always “on the alert.” Once my husband quickly turned over in bed, so I started screaming that he would crush the child! The poor husband almost had a heart attack... And the child is in this spent time snoring peacefully in his crib :)))