Getting your baby to sleep in a crib can prove to be difficult in the beginning. Read on to for tips on how to make infants sleep in a crib.
Getting Baby to Sleep In Crib
Patting them, swaddling them, singing lullaby to them, taking them for a walk, and many more things just to make the little babies get some proper sleep. However, it is not an easy task. Babies are very choosy and restless when it comes to sleeping. During the first few days, you prefer making your baby sleep next to you. This is good for the baby as well, since he/she will need you around. The problem arises when you are planning to shift your baby to a nursery in a crib. Babies are very particular about their surroundings. They get used to a particular surrounding and then hate it later, when there are any changes in the setting. Sleeping beside their mother makes them feel safe and secure, a feeling they can�t experience in a big crib. This is what makes them uncomfortable and they make a fuss about sleeping in a crib alone. This process of making them shift to a crib will take a persistent and patient trial on your part. Here are few tips using which you can get infants to sleep in crib, without them crying.
How to Make Babies Sleep in a Crib
- Relax and don’t get anxious. Take your own time, if you are not ready to shift your baby to a crib. Your baby might also be afraid of sleeping alone. It may take some time for this shift to happen.
- Babies don’t usually prefer changes because they get used to a particular pattern and feel secured in the same pattern. So, any changes in the new room will make them uncomfortable. Try and keep the setting similar to the room in which the baby was previously sleeping. For example, if a ceiling fan was used in the previous room, run the fan.
- Use the same kind of bedding and swaddle the baby in the same blanket, in which he/she was sleeping before. This will make him/her have the same feeling and he/she will not get affected by the change of the place.
- Keep the bedtime routine same. Whatever you used to do before going to sleep with your baby, continue the same routine. If you used to play with the baby before going to bed, continue doing the same even now. If at all there was no routine as such in the past, then start a routine like this weeks before the transition to the crib.
- All babies are different from one another. They might take their own time to get comfortable with the crib. Don’t get angry with the baby, if they are crying or refusing to sleep in a crib. You should seek some advice from mothers who were successful in shifting their babies to the crib.
- Make the crib a perfect place to sleep in. Make it cozy by putting rolled blankets in a circle; this will make the bed smaller. Newborn babies like having something close to their head. Crib can be a scary place for them to sleep, make sure you don’t put anything in the bed that can fall over their face.
- Babies are very sensitive to the change of temperature. It is advisable to make the temperature of the room, where the baby is going to sleep, warm and cozy enough for your baby to be comfortable. Before putting the baby in the crib, make sure the crib is not cold. You can use a warm bottle and place it on the crib for it to get warm, but make sure it does not become too warm. Make sure to remove the bottle before putting the baby in the crib. You can even use a sleeping bag, which is more comfortable for your baby. Your baby can enjoy the same kind of temperature throughout.
- Roll down one of your top or any other clot in the crib where the baby is sleeping. Babies love to get their mother’s smell. If the bed will smell of mom, they will feel much better and safer.
- You can also swaddle your newborn baby. Swaddling the baby will make him/her feel relaxed and cozy. In the beginning you can swaddle the baby completely, but when the baby turns 6 weeks old, your baby’s arms should be left free. Babies may use their hands for self soothing or for communicating hunger by sucking their hand.
- Make it a routine to put your baby in a crib to sleep. You need to be patient enough to continue trying. To make your baby shift to sleep in a crib will take time; you need to be persistent in implementing all the methods to make this happen.
