Why Is Getting Baby To Sleep So Hard?
It always concerns me to hear that there are parents using sleep medications for getting baby to sleep Not just for baby’s welfare but for the parents as well. Sleeping pills are completely unsuitable for babies and can do them a lot of harm in later life.
A sleeping babyis a priority when the whole family’s exhausted and so some parents resort to sleep medication as a last resort. By doing this you could be exposing your baby to a life of being addicted to medication. When he becomes an adult, he may never be able to develop a healthy sleep routine.
No chemical sleep aid has ever been tested on a baby or toddler. In fact some over the counter (OTC) sleep medicines contain histamines which can actually act as a stimulant in some infants. As you can imagine, getting baby to sleep using over the counter meds would be counter productive.
Parents who give their babies sleeping drugs are usually at their wits end and deserve a bit of understanding Every parent with a restless baby is incessantly searching for ways to help that baby sleep. They will spend hundreds of dollars to find out just one thing – getting baby to sleep.
These are the main problem areas:
• Their baby sleeps most of the day but is awake most of the night.
• Baby goes to sleep quickly but wakes up several times a night.
• Baby becomes very distraught when put to bed at night and cries loudly.
If you’re a stay at home mom, you may be able to catch up with some sleep during the day. However if you’re trying to hold down a full time job, you may find the situation unbearable.
If you can identify with this, then take heart! There are better ways to get your baby to sleep and it’s not difficult at all.
Try these baby sleep tips, they really work…
The”cry it out” method Now this will not appeal to the soft hearted parent! This method requires you to ignore your baby’s crying for an arranged amount of time before attending to him. After a few days, wait a little longer before going in to reassure him. Many parents disagree strongly with this approach, but it has a good success rate.
Now I realize that’s probably not everyone’s idea of good parenting . But in the long term you will be giving your baby the gift of being able to put himself to sleep.
Create a sleep schedule – Even a simple one works well. Give baby a bath, a cuddle and a bedtime story and he will associate this with sleep. Don’t include stimulating activities like games into the schedule and do everything in the same order at the same time of night.
Herbal or homeopathic remedies – If you’re a busy mom or dad this can be the best option. Homeopathic or herbal remedies are a much healthier and safer option to chemical sleep medications for getting baby to sleep.