New Mum Tips – All About Sleep

Sleep. I have never spent so much time thinking and talking about, but not actually doing, sleep as I have in these past 18 months. Babybel has slept like a baby since birth – not in the sleeping soundly way that people use this saying, but like an actual baby that is designed to wake up in the night, numerous times. This post is all about baby sleep tips, but check out this post for my ideas on how to cope with sleep deprivation through this normal but extremely hard stage.

We don’t believe in sleep training; there are far too many studies coming out showing that it doesn’t actually teach your baby to sleep, just to stop signalling for you when they’ve learned you’re not going to attend to their needs. I also can’t imagine leaving my baby or toddler to cry when; babies cry for many reasons, and my instinct is to just respond to her needs.

Anyway, here are my tips around baby sleep, and the things I’ve learned about it.

Learn about safe co-sleeping. You might be adamant that your baby will be in their own sleep space for all naps and nighttime sleeps but, it’s very likely there will come a time when you need to co-sleep. This could be because your baby will only sleep while touching you (completely normal), is teething, is ill, is having a bad day, all sorts of reasons. If your baby is refusing to sleep in their crib, you’ll likely be exhausted. It’s far more dangerous to fall asleep while sitting up with your baby in bed or on the sofa, than it is to learn how to create a safe co-sleeping space. The Lullaby Trust has more info on this.

If you’re breastfeeding, learn about the side-lying feeding position. I didn’t know about this until Babybel was about 5 months, and I wish I knew about it before. It takes a bit of practise, and some time to trust that you’re not going to roll on to your baby, but once you’ve got it down, it is a sleep saver. 

The amount of times Babybel has woken up un the night for a feed, and I’ve just popped her on to a boob and gone back to sleep is unreal. Instead of only surviving on 4 hours sleep for a lot of nights, I actually manage to get about 5-6 with this method!

Babies aren’t meant to sleep through the night. We seem to be obsessed in this society with getting babies to sleep through the night; it’s like some weird badge of honour or measurement of your parenting abilities but babies aren’t meant to sleep through! They’re designed to wake up regularly to prevent SIDS, and also to feed. The unrealistic expectations of your new baby sleeping 7-7 at 12 weeks old makes so many parents feel like they’re doing something wrong when they’re still up 3 times in the night. That’s not to say that if your baby does let you get a big chunk of sleep naturally that there’s something wrong with them, you’ve just hit the sleep jackpot!

Drowsy but awake is not a thing for many babies. This is another odd thing that seems to be everywhere on the internet – your baby must go down for all sleeps drowsy but awake. Again, if your baby doesn’t do this, you just end up feeling like you’re doing something wrong. Babybel has never done this, and it would appear that this is the same for many babies (thanks to Hey Sleepy Baby, Little Nest Sleep, Lilah by Sleep on Instagram for their follower polls on these subjects). Google is not your friend when it comes to baby sleep. There’s too much noise form the sleep training industry which just makes you feel like you’re failing at being a parent, when actually, what’s happening is completely normal.

Sleep when the baby sleeps. I see quite a few new mums say that they can’t do this as the housework won’t get done. Sleep is more important! In the newborn stage, babies sleep loads so there is ample time to get a nap in and get the housework done. Even if you don’t sleep, just resting can make you better able to cope with the day. Writing this now at 8pm, the only reason I’m still awake now and functioning is because I had a 45 minute nap today while Babybel was sleeping as we were up a few times in the night and I am tired!

Layer up your baby’s bedding. It’s highly likely that your baby will be sick (or spit up) quite a bit. By layering a mattress protector, sheet, mattress protector, and sheet on their bed, when it does happen you only need to remove the top sheet and protector, and you’ve got fresh bedding ready to go!

Bedtime routines can be really helpful. A bedtime routine (not schedule) can really help your baby get ready for bed. There’s no point trying to get them to stick to a certain bedtime when they’re really young as it’s just unrealistic, but we’ve had the same routine of bath, pyjamas, teeth brushing, book, and boob since Babybel was around 5 months old. Although she doesn’t sleep through, bed time is hardly ever (I can’t say never as sometimes things don’t go to plan) a battle, and she knows as soon as she’s in her pyjamas that it’s sleepy time.

Dream feeds can gain you a few more hours. This is another thing that I wasn’t aware of until quite late on. A dream feed before I go to bed gets a couple of extra hours of sleep out of Babybel. I don’t know how well this would work with a bottle fed baby, as they may wake up if you try to stick a bottle in their mouth!

I’d love to hear your top tips for sleep, please let me know I the comments.