Is the sleep of your baby being the cause of the concern for you? Don’t worry, each new mom has this in her motherhood journey.

Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development. It relaxes muscle, leads in tissues growth and improves attention and concentration.

New born babies upto 3 months, generally sleep between 9-10 hours in day time and about 8 hours at night. But they do not sleep at a stretch for more than 1 to 2 hours. As your baby gets older, she will stay awake longer during the day and sleep for longer stretches at night.

We are noting down some simple yet effective techniques for better sleep:

• Give enough playtime – Even adults fall asleep very quickly when they are tired after a long day either working out or engaged in any physical and mental activity. So are kids. Hence making kids play through the day makes them tired and then fall asleep quickly. But please be aware they should never be overtired as it may lead to difficulty in sleeping ultimately. Playtime includes any activity from having the babies explore the things around, crawling on the floor, reaching out to the objects, or even cuddling with the parents.

• Read books: This obviously is a great habit which if instilled in kids not only aids in brain, but overall development. For infants this habit can be started with the help of sensory cards which are actually black and white, cause infants upto a certain age can not figure out the colors . As they grow , alphabets , objects , colors , shapes and sizes can be introduced to them followed by rhymes and story books. So reading to babies is actually great way to put them to sleep.

• Talk: At a very early age, kids starts making sounds like ga gaa, agoo etc. Do not think it is too early to talk to them . Their brain is developing at a much faster rate than we think. Make an eye contact and talk to them. They will respond in the best way they could. Once an infant grows into a toddler, parents can talk about various other meaningful topics. Getting engaged in a conversation makes babies sleep well.

• Give tummy time: Well, this is another way of engaging your babies into physical activity. Make them lie down on their stomach. This will make them hold their head and shoulder if they are infants, eventually making them asleep. A toddler reaches out to things put around him. Also, tummy time engages his whole body from head to toe, which again results in getting tired and finally falling asleep.

• Feed well: Not even adults can sleep an empty stomach, forget about babies. So, feed well. Having said that, a parent should know the difference between well-fed and over-fed kid. Do not force feed your babies. They will show the signs like pushing you out or moving their head sideways when they are full.

•  Keeping babies dry: It’s important to keep the babies dry, as a wet baby will develop the rashes over his body and will never sleep well. Change his diaper at a regular interval and pat dry the baby with a soft towel after each bath.

• Set up a Routine: When it comes to setting up routines with babies, it’s fairly a difficult task. Try to be consistent but flexible in your approach. A simple sleep routine for babies may consist of some things before sleep and sticking to it so that they know it’s time to sleep like
  • Sponging: Wipe them with a sponge or a wet towel (cold or hot depending upon the weather   to give them a fresh feel
  • Massage: Give them a light massage to relax them before sleep
  • Bathing: If the weather suits , bathe them.
  • Dim lights: As soon as the time arrives to sleep, dim the lights so that they understand the difference between night and day.
  • Music :White noise is a great way to put babies to sleep. You can play it on your phone or there are various white noise gadgets in the market easily available on e-commerce sites.
  • Temperature: Sometimes we keep the room temperature as per our needs. Please keep in mind the baby might need a completely different temperature than an adult. Adjust the temperature accordingly. This includes baby’s body temperature too as we sometimes make them wear too many or too less clothes that makes them uncomfortable and unable to sleep.
  • Self soothing: Babies are born with amazing qualities. One of them is self soothing. This means babies are able to calm and put themselves down to sleep if they rouse during the night.

Hope these tips makes your baby sleep well. If not, please remember, every baby is different so follow what works best for your baby.