Remember when you used to get 8 and 9 hours sleep? Those were good times. Now you have a baby, a toddler, a preschooler, or all of the above, taking your valuable sleep and your ability to function. Walmart Canada and momstown Kitchener-Waterloo have some tips on how to optimize both your sleep and baby’s. (By Cynthia Breen, momstown KW editor.)
If there is one thing that we don’t get enough of as new parents it is sleep. Remember those days before babies when you would sleep in, lay in bed for hours watching movies and wasting the day away? Hitting snooze on the alarm was the most disturbing part to your sleep back then. Now you have a baby crying, or a toddler wanting to cuddle, or a preschooler waking up well before the sun, and none of those things come with a snooze function.
For us it felt like just as we got in to a routine with our preschooler we welcomed a new baby to the family and we lost all of our sleep all over again. Recently momstown Kitchener-Waterloo hosted a Baby Basics class with Walmart Canada and a sleep expert from Sleeperific to talk about magical sleep, how to get more of it, and how difficult it can be to function without it. This class centred on the idea that “Not all sleep is created equal”, and as new parents I am sure we can all agree in the truth of that statement.
Although we have always known that getting proper sleep is important to our ability to function, did you know that getting less than 6 hours sleep is equal to being drunk, and who can really deal with a crying baby, a needy toddler after such a small rest.
To help us all muddle through in our sleep deprived state, Walmart Canada and momstown Kitchener-Waterloo have a few tips to help optimize your baby’s sleep environment, which will hopefully mean more sleep for you and baby.
These tips include:
- White Noise (Try using a white noise machine like a Cloud 9 sleep sheep like the one given away at Baby Basics)
- No clutter
- A cool and dark room
- Creating a bedtime routine
- Try putting baby down sleepy but still awake
- Be consistent
- Be patient – give your routine and process 3 days to work
Although it might seem sad for those of us still with a baby under 4 months, experts say that before 4 months, babies shouldn’t really have a schedule. Once they pass that magic age, they suggest nap times starting at 8:30-9:00 am for a morning nap, and 12:30-1:00 pm for an afternoon nap.
Hopefully these tips help you get through the tough first few months (or years in some cases), but know that you are not alone. There are always support groups like the ones at momstown, family and friends to watch the kids while you nap, and of course friends like coffee, to keep you awake.
