How to put a baby to sleep in 5 minutes. Lulling a baby: classic and modern ways that work flawlessly. How does this apply to baby sleep

30.09.2019

Young parents sooner or later have to deal with the fact that the baby does not want to fall asleep. The reasons for this are different: teeth are being cut, the tummy hurts, or maybe the baby is hungry or thirsty, he is cold or hot, or he has a cold.

Approximately somewhere from the age of two weeks for 3 - 4 months, babies have colic in the abdomen. This is the most problematic time for both parents and for a child who suffers a lot and cannot sleep peacefully from night to night. From 6 to 7 months, babies begin to cut their teeth. For some children, this process is less painful, and for some, teeth are not easy. Today the question of how to lull a child in such difficult situations will be considered.

For the baby, you need to develop your daily routine. Not a planned day by the hour, but simply to follow a certain sequence of actions. For example, we walked, ate, washed and slept. How to plan the day is up to you, but there should be some signal that the day is over and you need to go to bed. You can’t explain this to a kid in words, and therefore everything must be shown through a sequence of some specific actions.

Sometimes the baby just takes a walk, carried away by attention from adults or some new toy. Then it is advisable to calm the child a little and bring it into a lyrical mood. You can put out the bright lights in the room and light a small lamp, because the bright light is very annoying. You can sing a song to the baby or turn on some quiet music. It is very good if the baby falls asleep to one song, then he will have this song as a signal, having heard which, he will be ready to go to bed.

If the baby starts to fall asleep, do not rush to put him in the crib. You need to wait a bit until the baby's breathing is even, deep and slow. After you make sure that the child fell asleep, you can transfer to the crib.

To help the baby fall asleep, you need to read books to him, tell him fairy tales, and you can lightly stroke his back or hair. Many parents notice that no matter how much the child wants to sleep, he does not want to close his eyes. Then you can lightly blow on the baby's face, or put your hand on the forehead or do a gentle eyebrow massage.

Nothing worries and upsets a young mother as much as the crying of a baby at night, who often wakes up or cannot fall asleep for a long time.

Here are 20 ways that will help well to lull the baby.

1. The child must be rocked in the cradle. If you swing on your hands, then swing it back and forth.

2. You can take your baby on a car trip. Wrap the baby in a blanket, put it in a chair and fasten it, then start the engine. Running the engine and moving the car is a great way to help your baby fall asleep. It should be noted that it is not at all necessary to ride far - sometimes a few laps in the parking lot can be enough - and the little miracle will begin to sniff sweetly.

3. Before going to bed, it is advisable to bathe the baby in warm water. Warm water helps to relax the muscles of the body, which makes you want to sleep.

4. Before going to bed, you can breastfeed your baby, and if he is bottle-fed, you can give warm milk just before bedtime. Warm milk contains tryptophan, a natural sedative.

5. You can also take the child in your arms and put him on your shoulder so that his head lies next to your neck under your chin, and you can sing something softly to him or whisper gentle words to him. The quiet voice and the vibrations that he will hear are also well lulled.

6. It is necessary that the children's room be dark, otherwise, if there is light, the baby will be naughty and will not be able to fall asleep for a long time. It is desirable that the room has dark curtains that will not let in light.

7. You can also use a sound machine for lulling, which creates low-level noise. Such sounds are also very good at helping to distract from external sounds. Such sound machines can be humidifiers, air conditioners, air cleaners.

8. You can fill the nursery with lavender scents. Lavender has a calming effect.

9. It is necessary to change a wet diaper or diaper for a baby - this will relieve irritation and calm the baby. It is always necessary to put the child to bed, swaddled in a clean, dry diaper or diaper.

10. Before you put your baby to bed, you need to make sure that his room is neither hot nor cold. Small children are very sensitive to temperature changes, and therefore it is very important to determine if your little one is overheated or cold.

eleven . To ensure that no noise interferes with the child's sleep, it is necessary to make sure that the children's room is as quiet as possible. Or you can turn on the sound machine, it will drown out all other sounds with its quiet buzzing.

12. You can put a light pleasant melody. Now many supermarkets sell discs with melodies for every taste, and there are discs with a specially selected repertoire of melodies that are good for calming down and relaxing before going to bed.

13. It is necessary to make sure that the baby does not have anxiety or nervous tension. According to experts, if the baby had a happy day, then he will have a good sleep, which means that parents will also sleep normally. A baby, like an adult, can suffer from nervous overstrain, which he can experience before he has time to fall asleep.

14. If your child tries to take off or unbutton his clothes, help him and create a level of comfort so that he can sleep peacefully. Perhaps something is rubbing him or something has touched somewhere.

15. Pay attention to how long the baby sleeps during the day. You need to adjust your child's sleep during the day so that he has a desire to fall asleep at night. However, this does not apply to newborns.

16. If the child is naughty, he needs to be calmed down and can be put to sleep in his own bed. And when he falls asleep, take him to his own bed. This method can be very effective, but you should not use it all the time.

17. It is necessary to develop in the baby the habit of going to bed on time, observing the established daily routine.

18. In order for the child to fall asleep peacefully, you can use pacifier nipples. But nipples should not be abused, as the baby develops an addiction to it and in the future it will be very difficult to get rid of it.

19. If your baby is teething and this is very annoying, you can use a special anesthetic gel before going to bed that soothes the gums.

20. You can lightly massage or stroke the baby. This will help the baby calm down and relax before going to bed. Such touches can calm if the child is irritated. At the same time, having listened to a song, or a told fairy tale, the baby will fall asleep faster.

Ekaterina Rakitina

Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum, Germany

Reading time: 6 minutes

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Article last updated: 04/30/2019

How to teach a baby not to require motion sickness, but to fall asleep peacefully in a crib? This question will sooner or later confront any parent. It is not so often that a child from the very first months sleeps on his own, without requiring the attention of his parents, if this happens at all. Yes, such an independent sleep is not needed by the baby, and according to modern research, it is not useful. At first, motion sickness does not cause difficulties for parents, and in the first months the question even arises, why teach him to fall asleep in some other way.

But over time, the process of "sleep" takes more and more time, and it becomes more and more difficult to carry your recalcitrant child in your arms. The child grows, becomes heavier, and now the mother's spine can not withstand the load. It is not worth expecting that the child will “outgrow” and expect this “tearing off” hands.

In order not to bring to an unpleasant state when you are no longer able to rock the baby, and he categorically refuses to fall asleep without your active participation, you need to take care in advance that the child learns to fall asleep on his own. Dr. Komarovsky gives good advice about a child's sleep.

Why does the child not fall asleep on his own?

A child who is accustomed to falling asleep under a measured swaying simply does not understand that it is possible to fall asleep in some other way, he has nothing to replace motion sickness.

Measured swaying, every day at the same time, forms a certain stereotype, violating which, even for an adult, it is difficult to adapt. People who are used to falling asleep to the sound of the ocean cannot sleep in silence, those who like to fall asleep to the sound of TV and in the light, then can hardly close their eyelids in the dark. The child's body develops a persistent conditioned reflex:

shake - sleep;
do not shake - I'm awake.

Newborns and infants are very sensitive to any changes in their lives. They, having adapted to one rhythm of life, cannot assess the correctness of innovations, and consider changes dangerous. The familiar is safe, the new is dangerous.

Therefore, a baby who does not want to fall asleep without motion sickness is not necessarily harmful. He just can't sleep well.

What to do to painlessly cancel motion sickness?

Of course, it’s nice for mom to hold the baby in her arms, shake him, and conveniently put him to sleep next to him. This is all useful for the child and must be done. However, from the very beginning it is useful to prepare the baby for the fact that he will have to sleep on his own.

Firstly, the child needs to be taught that he has his own place, his own bed. Let the baby sleep with mom at night, on her bed, and for daytime sleep and games, you need to use a crib.

Even if the baby had to be rocked, put him in the crib, waking up in it with noticeable constancy, they will get used to the fact that this place belongs to him and it is as safe as his mother's bed.

Second, create your own bedtime ritual. For example:

bathing;
relaxing massage;
lullaby;
good night kiss;

For some children, a bath invigorates. In this case, this may be another version of the ritual:

milk supper;
the game is not too active and emotionally filled (15-20 minutes);
bedtime story;

Such a preparatory ritual will develop a certain stereotype of behavior in the baby, and familiar actions will calm him down, preparing him for bed. Of course, if the child does not get tired and does not want to sleep, the ritual will cause opposition from him.

Therefore, it is very important that the child is fully occupied during the day (as far as his age allows), eats well and does not neglect daytime sleep. Be sure to put the baby's room in order before going to bed. The room must be clean and well ventilated. The room temperature should be 22-24°C, preferably around 22°C. If it is too cold or too hot, the child, even if he is very sleepy, will find it difficult to fall asleep (even with motion sickness). You do not need to play too actively with the baby before going to bed, this will lead to overexcitation, even the most positive emotions in large quantities disrupt the production of sleep hormones.

It is imperative to teach your baby to understand the difference between daytime rest and nighttime sleep. It's hard to wait and catch up. In education, these truths do not lose their relevance. In order not to “catch up”, that is, not to retrain the baby, you can immediately make the conditions for his sleep different day and night. For example, during the day you do not need to draw the curtains on the windows, at night it is better not to leave the night light on. During the day, you do not need to observe any special mode of silence (this does not mean that you need to carry out construction or repair work while the baby is sleeping), you can do urgent business.

At night, it is better to minimize the influence of extraneous sounds (turn off the TV or music center, choose the quietest room as the nursery, etc.). If the baby wakes up during the day, you do not need to rock him again, or give him a bottle (breast) to make him fall asleep. At night, you need to ensure a comfortable and long sleep for the child. All these measures will prepare the baby for the time when they begin to put him to bed without motion sickness. In this case, putting the baby to sleep will be much easier.

How to wean the baby from motion sickness without scandal?

How to teach a baby to sleep without prolonged motion sickness? What can replace them? Dr. Komarovsky shares his thoughts on this in lectures and videos. There are several well-known methods that have been used by mothers of all times and peoples:

sing lullabies;
let him fall asleep on his mother's chest;
put to bed when sleep hormones began to be produced and turn on the music (the sound of rain, the sounds of the sea, quiet classical music from the “restful sleep” series);
put next to you and tell a fairy tale;
under the age of 3 months, not tight swaddling;
the weaning process should begin when your little one is healthy.

A lullaby sung in a mother's favorite voice is the best sedative and sleeping pill for a child up to a year old. It will not be replaced by any music, lullabies recorded on a flash drive, or fairy tales told by professional announcers. You need to have these tools on hand. At a difficult moment, they will help to entertain and calm the raging baby. But nothing can replace mom's singing, even if she doesn't have a very good ear or is godlessly out of tune.

Some moms feed their babies before bed. At the age of 3 months, this is the ideal way to "persuade" a healthy baby to take a nap, but it has its drawbacks. This is the same ritual as motion sickness, over time it will have to be abandoned. By six months, the child should wean from falling asleep with sucking on the breast or bottle.

Very important points for the "correct" falling asleep are:

mode (daily routine);
the ability to catch the child's fatigue.

In the latter case, when a child rubs his eyes (from the age of 3 months, this is how he begins to show fatigue), yawns, becomes lethargic, his coordination is disturbed and so far not very good - this means that the process of producing sleep hormones has begun, and the brain is preparing for rest. In this case, it is not necessary to torment the child by conducting the entire “pre-sleep” ritual. You can greatly reduce it or even lower it by simply putting the baby in the crib. Turn off the light, hug and sing a song (mother's voice, to which the baby is accustomed while still in the womb, has a calming effect).

If you guess the moment, the child will fall asleep quickly, without problems and will sleep soundly. You can listen to the opinion of the pediatrician Komarovsky on how to put the baby to sleep without motion sickness in the best way for him.

A very important point for a peaceful sleep or falling asleep for a baby is his satisfaction in communicating with loved ones during the day, and a calm atmosphere in the house.

Why do babies cry before bed? Children, if they experience emotional hunger, a lack of attention from adults, a lack of their love, begin to “extort” them. That is, crying, screaming, attracting attention to yourself. Demand that mom take them in her arms. They cannot do it any other way.

If a mother, for one reason or another, cannot allocate more time for her child, you can let him fall asleep, clinging to her chest. The familiar smell, mother's heartbeat and her warmth will soothe the baby and make up for the lack of communication with a loved one in the daytime.

It is extremely difficult to put a baby, especially one in a crib, if there is a conflict in the family. Even if you teach your child to sleep without motion sickness in a timely manner and put the baby to bed yourself, and then sort things out behind the wall in raised tones, the baby will not sleep. He will cry, and as soon as he masters the skills of walking, he will resort to his mother with a roar.

At this age, little children are so sensitive to their mother’s mood that even if she smiles and “takes out” the conflict beyond the threshold of the children’s room, they feel her nervous excitement or resentment, she is literally transmitted to them by infection.

They sense danger and need to be picked up, rocked, protected. Harmony in the family is the key to good sleep and easy falling asleep for your baby.

The happiness of motherhood is indisputable for almost every woman, despite the fact that the new role brings a lot of problems, troubles and experiences. But sometimes, having given birth to a child, we are in complete desperation looking for answers to seemingly completely banal questions regarding his diet or regimen.

Sleep, my joy, sleep...!

Nothing can disturb a young mother so much as the crying and screaming of her baby, who actually "refuses" to sleep during the day or at night. Of course, the first thing you should do is contact a pediatrician, since the whims of a child can be the result of certain diseases and other problems with children's health.

But if the doctor issued a verdict that everything is normal, and the baby is naughty due to banal external factors, such as a change in weather or overwork due to the visit of relatives who want to give him maximum attention, we will tell you how to quickly and safely euthanize the child.

The easiest way to put a baby to sleep is motion sickness. Our mothers and grandmothers will tell you about it with pleasure. But we live in the information age, and now there are more and more arguments against this method. His ardent opponents argue that "shaking" adversely affects the health and functioning of the baby's internal organs.

However, conservative pediatricians are convinced of the opposite: this method is truly physiological and natural, because in your stomach the baby felt that very “ shaking" Constantly as you moved.

It is best to rock the baby in your arms, but this can also be done with the help of other devices - special cradles, rocking chairs, swings, deck chairs or strollers. If for some reason you are among the opponents of motion sickness, check out other methods of calming the crumbs, which we have collected especially for you.

Healthy sleep of the baby is in mother's hands!

How to euthanize a child without motion sickness? To do this, there are many tricks and tricks. The main thing is that the chosen method does not harm your baby. If you're dreaming of making sure your baby sleeps soundly, we've got you covered with a variety of safe and fun baby lulling techniques for you to take on board and practice in stressful situations.

A newborn baby sleeps almost constantly, and wakes up only if he feels hungry. The duration of sleep can vary from a few minutes to 6 hours, especially if the baby is breastfed.

As a new mother, this should not scare you in any way. Wu " artisans» The daily routine develops faster. The same children who feed on their mother's milk require not only nutrition, but also unity with the most dear and close person - from this they calm down on their own.

Methods to help you quickly "put" the child to sleep:

Lullaby. If you yourself do not have a pleasant voice and “tolerant” hearing, or are simply embarrassed to sing for a baby, “ready” sleepy music that can be easily found on the Internet will come to your aid. The options for soporific music for children are diverse: it can be good old lullabies from our childhood, and compositions written in a new way, and even classical overtures. For "advanced" parents, there are even cover versions of the songs of the titans of rock music, like Queen, Nirvana, Depeche Mode. Of course, there are no sounds of electronic guitars and drums in them - only a melody played on the piano, and sometimes children's voices performing a verse or chorus;
Noise stream. This method is especially relevant for practicing before a night's sleep, as it helps the child not only fall asleep, but also calm down after a day filled with new impressions. In your womb, the baby constantly heard noise - the beating of the heart, the flow of blood, the sounds of the environment. Therefore, non-intense noise for him will become as physiological "sedative" as motion sickness. For these purposes, the sound of a running washing machine, vacuum cleaner or hair dryer is suitable. Some mothers find it most appropriate to use the sound of circulating water for this purpose;
"Progressive motion sickness". Sometimes babies need to move with their mom. Therefore, you can take your child in your arms and move quickly on foot around the apartment. Soon the child will get tired and fall asleep. Sometimes young women claim that this is exactly the method that answers the question " how to put a baby to sleep in a minute»;
Tight swaddling. It is not known exactly how this method affects your baby's sleep, but those parents who have practiced or practice it assure that it really helps the child sleep longer at night. Which, of course, cannot but rejoice;
Mobile. How else to quickly euthanize an infant? A mobile phone can help you! As a new parent, you probably know what an adaptation is. However, if this is not the case, we will tell you about its essence. A mobile is something like a “rattle”, on which small toys arranged rotating in a circle, suspended on a frame, are located above the baby’s bed. Often the whole process of movement is accompanied by lulling musical sounds. It should be emphasized that this method is not suitable for everyone. Some children, seeing bright moving toys above them, do not calm down at all, but, on the contrary, become excited. Therefore, practicing the mobile method is not relevant in “emergency” and “trial” situations, but only if you know exactly how it affects the emotional background of your crumbs;
Pacifier. If your baby is used to the nipple, it will be the best way to calm him down before bed. However, one is unlikely to be enough. This method is only suitable in combination with tight swaddling, lullaby, or "classic" motion sickness;
Shared sleep. If you are not afraid of sleeping in the same bed with a child, you can try this method. However, it is also not suitable for everyone. Rather, this is true for those who practice co-sleeping almost from the very birth of the baby. Otherwise, it can additionally excite your child and make him worry;
Walk in the fresh air. Walking in the park, even an adult may want to sleep. And this phenomenon is quite justified, because it is no secret to anyone how miraculously oxygen affects our health and well-being. Try to take a walk with your child in an ecologically clean area! Of course, this method cannot be classified as “quick”, but it works, and moreover, it has a kind of cumulative effect: if you do this daily, your child will stop being nervous and naughty, and will also sleep more peacefully at night;
Breast. If your baby is accustomed to breastfeeding, breastfeeding will be the best method to put him to sleep in just a minute. However, do not overdo it and abuse it so that the child can fall asleep. Yet you cannot be there every second and always be in " combat readiness". And as everyone knows, you get used to good things quickly. Therefore, you should not constantly reassure children exclusively by breastfeeding - try and look for new ways to solve your problem.

Every mother intuitively feels what means are most suitable for lulling her baby to sleep. Look for your options, and you will definitely come to the "perfect"!

There are many ways to help a child fall asleep and calm him down before bed, but each is effective in a particular case for a particular child.

Again, it all depends on why the baby is not sleeping? There can be many reasons. For example, because of the weather. What does it mean? Yesterday it was cold, but today it has become sharply warm and vice versa. Also cloudy weather: snow, rain affect the sleep of an infant. Another reason for not wanting to sleep: problems with the tummy.

So, for example, infantile colic or just abdominal pain - can cause the baby to cry, and as a result, unwillingness to sleep. Another cause of poor sleep in a child can be attributed to overwork. A vivid example of this is the presence of a large number of people around, for example, relatives who want to pay attention to your child.

So, let's move on from reasons to practice. How to euthanize a child? Let's try to go through all the methods that I know.

When the child was not yet a month old, I used own method of euthanizing a child. I don't even know what to call it. I'll describe it better. I walked up and down the kitchen very quickly. She took 600-700 steps, and the child calmed down and, in the end, fell asleep. Probably, this method can be attributed to motion sickness. I had to use it in this form, because after feeding the baby did not want to just sit on the handles. He needed me to move. As soon as I stopped, he immediately showed his displeasure.
Water noise(this also includes the noise of the washing machine, hair dryer and vacuum cleaner). A very effective and natural method of calming the baby, because. in the mother's tummy, the child was in a constant noise stream (heart noise, blood flow, environmental sounds). Helps not only to sleep the baby, but also just calm down and not cry. We take the child in our arms and go to the bathroom. Everything is very simple. It doesn't always help, of course. If the child is strongly overexcited, then the sound of water will not get off.
tight swaddling in combination with any of the above methods of calming the baby.

This method can be used at night. For many babies, tight swaddling allows you to sleep a large number of hours at night, which undoubtedly pleases parents. I did not use this method, because. My baby doesn't like to be swaddled. But I found an alternative a little later. At the end of the second month, I remembered how my baby was lying under the lamp in the maternity hospital. The nurse swaddled his arms and legs in such a way that only they were bound, and not the whole body. How to swaddle only the hands (I only wrapped the hands, because the baby distracted himself with them and constantly woke up)? We take a diaper, preferably a square one, fold it in half diagonally to make a triangle. Next, lay out the diaper as follows: the baby's head is located in the place where the arrow is.
We turn the corners of the diaper under the handles pressed to the body. Thus, it turns out that the edges of the diaper are tucked under the back and ass of the baby.
Mobile.

Who does not know what it is, can find a lot of information on the net. I will not dwell on this in detail. Let me just say that this method is not suitable for everyone. My baby, looking at the toys moving in a circle, had fun and did not fall asleep at all, but only became more and more disinhibited. This device helps me when I need to do some chores in the kitchen or want to lie in bed longer. 20 minutes is enough to distract him.
Pacifier.

Helps to calm the baby in conjunction with the methods of motion sickness, swaddling, lullaby. This method is suitable for those whose child is accustomed to this device.
Co-sleeping.

It doesn't always work either. It helped only if the child was already very tired or after feeding, as well as in conjunction with a pacifier.
Breast.

Of course, how could we forget about it. Feeding or simply sucking on the breast can help your baby fall asleep or just calm down. But here you need to know the measure. No need to let the baby hang on your chest all day. Better try other methods.
Also an effective method is walks in the open air.

This is only beneficial, and not only for the child, but also for the mother, who needs physical activity after childbirth in order to regain her shape. And you can make dad or grandmother walk, and do a bunch of household chores herself or just sleep. As I generally do.
Reading fairy tales. This method is for older kids. I myself have not yet reached it, because. we are still very young.
And there is funny video "7 ways to put your baby to sleep" which I came across on the internet. I recommend you watch it, you won't regret it.

The baby of the first days of life tends to be capricious and cry. Thus, he expresses his concern to his parents. But often this phenomenon is alarming and parents do not know how to calm a newborn baby. At first glance, this is easy to do, because it is enough to find out the cause of the vagaries and try to eliminate it. Babies cry mainly because of hunger, intestinal colic, pain and lack of attention. For each irritating factor, there are ways to calm down, which we will talk about in this article.

How to calm a newborn baby when he cries? E. Komarovsky's advice

First, try to guess the cause of the child's whims. A month later, parents independently begin to understand what exactly the baby wants, since the character of the child is more or less studied. Let's take an interest in what the famous pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky recommends for each individual case.

Attention! There are other reasons that disturb the baby. Most often, these are feelings of pain and discomfort, if the child is crying hysterically and attempts to calm are not effective, contact the pediatrician.

Hysteria in infants: the main reasons

Often the reason for the hysterical crying of a newborn baby is banal anxiety when there is no mother nearby. If you believe the ancient sayings, it was believed among the people that a strong hysteria of a child means that he was jinxed. Against such phenomena, conspiracies and prayers were used, washing the baby with holy water.

The kids are talking! By the age of three, Verochka realized that the world is divided into a female and a male half, and began to overwhelm me with the question:
- Mom, are you even a girl?

When a baby is often hysterical, something serious may be bothering him, unfortunately, such crying becomes the first symptom of a pathology of the gastrointestinal tract or circulatory system, which was not detected at birth. It is completely useless to calm the child in such situations by feeding, dressing and rocking.

Important! Observing such symptoms, be sure to show the child to the doctor.

We calm and lull the child in a short time

There are many options for calming a newborn and helping him fall asleep quickly, but each of the methods works individually:

try to sing a lullaby to your child, despite the fact that this is the technique of our grandmothers, nevertheless it is quite effective. Do not despair if the song of the newborn does not suit you, you may have to choose a special melody for him;
brisk walking or vibrating movements well calm even the most restless babies;
motion sickness is considered the most accessible method. You can rock the baby in your arms, in the cradle, in the stroller;
not sure how to soothe a newborn? If all else fails, try giving Nurofen. This drug effectively relieves pain attacks and lowers body temperature. Indicated for children from three months.

Parents in the piggy bank! Experienced mothers have proven that there is an effective way to calm a newborn in 2-5 minutes. Active movements of parents during motion sicknesssuccessfully help in this matter.

Harvey Karp Method: 5 Essential Steps

A unique way to soothe a newborn baby was invented by American doctor Harvey Karp. This technique consists of 5 basic steps, taking into account which you will be able to quickly calm a crying baby.