How to Plan your Baby’s Nursery for a Good Night’s Sleep
Before your first baby arrives, you will, no doubt, want to buy all the fluffy, adorable bedding, cot bumpers, and cute baby stuff available. But if you want your baby to sleep through the night from an early age, spending some time planning the nursery to encourage this is worth doing before your baby arrives.
If you already have the nursery finished, and have a baby who doesn’t sleep well, you’ll find the following tips useful. Some simple adjustments may help to resolve the sleeping problems you’re faced with.
Your baby needs a safe place to sleep. Although she will grow out of a crib or Moses basket very quickly, you will still find it’s a worthwhile buy. A newborn baby looks lost in a cot, and no doubt feels that way too. The security of the Moses basket will help her begin the journey towards learning to feel safe when its time to sleep.
When you’re ready to move your baby into the cot, simply place the Moses basket inside the cot for a few nights to familiarise your baby with her new surroundings. You can then start putting her straight into the cot.
It’s important your baby’s cot is safe. Cots with solid boards at the tops and bottom aren’t recommended. A cot with bars all the way around enables air to freely circulate while your baby is sleeping.
Choose a new, firm and clean mattress that fits well. A gap of more than 2.5cm between the side of the mattress and the cot is not safe.
The amount of cot bedding you need is very little. Three or four fitted sheets for the cot and Moses basket will be enough. Invest in a high quality sleeping bag that keeps your baby warm and safe at night
Choose a fabric like bamboo which has natural anti-bacterial properties. Because of its smooth fibers and the lack of chemical additives (bamboo is bleached without using chlorine), bamboo is a perfect choice when choosing bedding for your baby.
A music player will help you use white noise or lullabies as part of your baby’s bedtime routine. These sounds will encourage your baby to relax and transition from awake to asleep.
White noise or rhythmical sounds will also help your new baby transition between sleep cycles. When your baby was in the womb, she was surrounded by the sound of blood being pumped around her mother’s body. Absolute silence is very disconcerting for babies and background noise helps to relax them. It will also help to drown out sharp background noises that might disturb your sleeping baby.
Blackout blinds are worth investing in. For every baby who sleeps well in broad daylight, there will be another who doesn’t. The sleep hormone is actually stimulated by darkness so taking your baby to a dark room for her nap is likely to result in a good quality sleep. Your baby will sleep better at night if she naps well in the day. She’s also likely to sleep longer in the morning if the sunlight doesn’t wake her.
It is worth investing in these basic items for your nursery to get yourself off to a great start with your baby’s sleeping habits.
Want to find out more about planning your baby’s nursery to encourage great sleeping habits? Then visit www.Sleepytot.com to get your baby sleeping through the night today.
