Mothers are often worried or confused with the sleeping habits of their infants. Questions like how much sleep is required or why don’t kids take all sleep in one go are quite common. If your kids over sleep your heart starts pounding and if they have a troubled sleep you are worried. Let us have a look at some common facts regarding baby sleep that could be helpful to you.
Important facts
Most parents believe that they must keep their kids awake during the day hour so that their kids can enjoy a good sleep at night. They wake their kids up early in the morning, which may disturb their sleep or may irritate them. Fix their timings to go to bed especially past infant stage. It helps them develop healthy sleeping habits when they grow up. Kids sleep for long hours when they are tired but they cannot sleep for long hours straight. When they get up in the middle of the night, they need someone to cuddle them or help them get back to sleep.
Hours of sleep
Almost all the kids need to a lot of sleep not only when they are infant but in later years as well. Kids need a sleep of more than fifteen hours until the age of three and the rule stands for all the kids. When kids do not sleep until late, parents feel that kids do not need the sleep. It may be true in some cases but there is a possibility that kids are sleep deprived. Sleep deprived kids are often restless during the daytime or you have to wake them up every morning.
Baby’s naps
It is true that if your kids fall asleep in the late evening they may find it hard to sleep at night. Make sure you develop good sleeping habits as it can solve your problem. Help your kids fall asleep in the later afternoon as it keeps them healthy and it does not interfere with the night sleep. Until the age of three, kids sleep more during the nighttime and daytime naps are longer until the age of six months. By the time they are twelve months old, they need a sleep of fourteen hours, which reduces when they get a little older.
Set a bedtime routine
Parents must set a bedtime routine for their kids, which help them get a better sleep. There has to be a fixed time when you help your kids brush their teeth and read bedtime stories to them. After a few days, it becomes a fixed routine. You may even fix a different routine for weekends; it only keeps some space for a little change. Things like turning off lights or switching off TV may be the indications that it is time to get to the bed now. You can make an exception once on a while but do not let it turn into a habit.
Effects of baby’s sleep patterns on grown-ups
The parents of the infant may have to keep themselves awake all night long. There are kids who wake up on regular time intervals and parents have to be there to cuddle them. The quality of your kids sleep most largely depends upon your interaction with them. The bedtime routine of your kids may have an influence on your health and mood and vice versa. Parents may get irritated and may even find themselves less productive because of the sleep patterns of their infants.
Nothing can make you happier than seeing your kids sleeping comfortably. When they find it hard to fall asleep, you feel anxious. Set a bedtime routine for your kids and help them enjoy a deep and trouble free sleep.
