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How do you get your baby to sleep so that you can sleep? Two things that have worked for us are swaddling and white noise.
Swaddling: In the hospital, babies are tightly swaddled so that they won’t startle themselves into a screaming fit (suddenly thrusting out all four limbs in an involuntary jumping jack is not often compatible with sleep). Swaddling is often left behind at the hospital doors. But babies sleep better when they’re swaddled, and this isn’t true of just newborns!
One problem is that most baby blankets are much too small to swaddle anything but a newborn with. Get a bigger blanket! Make it, buy it, or beg someone else to make it for you. Dh and Dr. Harvey Karp swear by square blankets, but I have mastered swaddling with a fat rectangle. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but you must figure out your own way of swaddling so that your baby won’t get loose (use his weight to pin the blanket underneath him) and practice, practice, practice. [If you haven't been to the hospital yet, be sure to ask one of the nurses for a demonstration while you're there. They are swaddling pros.] Be consistent and (hopefully!) your baby will soon associate being swaddled with going to sleep.
During the summer, dress the baby in something very light–just a onesie perhaps–and choose a very light blanket as well, as swaddling tightly will often involve wrapping him or her in two layers of blanket. Overheating a baby is one factor in SIDS, so you want to be vigilant about avoiding that. Cotton sheet type material works well. a) it is lightweight and b) it stays wrapped around the baby better than most alternatives. Those fuzzy microfiber fleece type blankets do NOT work well. Your baby will easily kick him or herself free.
White noise: Your baby will sleep much better with white noise. Many people swear by vacuuming, driving in the car, radio static, turning on the fan, etc. The problem with these methods is that they can’t be employed consistently at every nap and bedtime and on every trip to Grandma’s house. You can buy a “sound spa” at Bed, Bath and Beyond or any similar store for about $20. Most models have several noises to choose from: waterfall, rain, heartbeat, etc. Kate falls asleep to rain every night and every naptime. Be consistent and your baby will (hopefully!) associate your chosen white noise with going to sleep.
Note of caution: I got these ideas from Dr. Harvey Karp’s book The Happiest Baby on the Block, a book which definitely worked for me. He has another recommendation, swinging, which also initially worked great for us. Unfortunately, we let our baby sleep in her swing at night. She slept great, but started showing signs of a fairly serious (three months of physical therapy!) neck problem. In fairness, the neck problem might have arisen from how she was positioned in the womb before birth, but her PT believes the swinging aggravated her problem. So, I would avoid overusing the swing.
See Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer for other great tips on Works-For-Me-Wednesday. http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/
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4 Responses to “WFMW: white noise & swaddling”
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Hooray for white noise! My kids have all slept with a white noise machine like you described while they were little. My mother thinks it’s ridiculous, but they have all been such light sleepers it’s been sooo worth it. And my now five year-old sleeps like a rock without it now, so I know they’ll grow out of it!
Thanks for the great advice!
My daughter and daughter-in-law are spreading the Swaddling Love to their peers. I noticed a few years ago that none of the babies at church had receiving blankets with them. So when my grands were coming along, I made sure to tell their mommies about it. Swaddled babies are so much calmer. And, my standard New Baby present is two handmade flannel receiving blankets, large enough to cover for nursing and swaddling.
Great post!
We always used a small fan as white noise and to this day my 7 yo starts yawning and gets heavy lids if he sits too close to a fan. Then again…I’m the same way!
Swaddling my boys helped them sleep so much better. Unfortunately my Baby hated it. by 3-4 months he could wiggle out of a tight swaddled with one of those Swaddle Me blankets over it and safety pinned closed for good measure. I know babysit a 4 month old and he loves being swaddled, he goes right to sleep. And he sleeps in my room with the a/c going right by him for white noise.