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Baby and Sleep
Q
My 6-month old baby
seems to sleep when she
wants; sometimes all night
sometimes not at all. How do
I get her into a solid routine?
Dr. Manjunath M. Nagalli, a
specialist pediatrician responds:
“It is estimated that one-third of infants
suffer from some sort of sleep problem.
This can be frustrating and at times
could be one of themost daunting tasks
of parenthood. In part, that’s because
parents feel so helpless to fix them.
Babies have different sleep patterns
than adults and these differences limit
what we can do. For instance, we can’t
make a new-born sleep for eight hours
at a stretch. Babies have their own
special physiological needs. But that
doesn’t mean there is nothing you
can do. For younger babies, there are
many safe, gentle tactics for improving
sleep. And as babies mature, your
options increase. Common infant
sleep problems include the following:
frequent,
prolonged
night-time
awakenings, awakening too early in
the morning, difficulty falling asleep
at bed-time and/or a lack of sleep-
awake cyclical rhythm. The majority
of infant sleep problems are caused
by environmental factors, while only
few are caused by underlying medical
conditions which need assessment by
a pediatrician.
To tackle infant sleep
problems, try these
safe and gentle tactics:
Establish regular day-time
cues.
Make sure baby is ex-
posed to daylight and daytime
activity. Include your baby in
the daily hustle and bustle.
Establish regular night-
time cues.
As bedtime ap-
proaches, shift down from
stimulating activities to more
passive, sleepy, sedate activities.
Dim the lights and introduce
special bedtime rituals such as
singing lullabies.
Massage therapy:
Limited
evidence suggests that day time
infant massage may help babies
adapt to sleep cycle.
Bathe baby before bed-
time.
This may calm the baby
and a warm bath signals the
body to cool down, which aids
sleep.
Late night feed before bed-
time may stretch the night
phase.
Keep your night-time
soothing techniques calm.
Keep lights out, avoid making
loud noise, avoid moving the
baby around, and avoid eye
contact.
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Sep/Oct 2015