Baby Doesn’t Sleep: You Can Do That!

You yourself could fall asleep standing up, but your baby just doesn’t want to sleep and find peace? We explain how the baby’s sleep rhythm works and how you can promote a quieter night.

Sleep is vital. During sleep, experiences are processed and the body regenerates. You can recognise babies who have not slept well by the fact that they are often very moody, take no pleasure in discovering things and behave in a weak and listless manner. After a longer period of over-tiredness, it usually becomes more and more difficult to calm the child down: It can happen that the baby gets even more excited and does not seem to get any rest at all. Parents can prevent this directly by paying attention to a few things!

Baby doesn’t sleep: You should know that!

• In general, if you have sleeping problems, you should always first make sure that your baby is not sick and is not in pain!
• Your baby needs safety and security: A familiar environment and the closeness of the parents are very important for sleeping and calming the child. However, the baby should always have its own bed with a firm mattress. An extra bed next to the parents’ bed can provide this type of environment. Since with pillows and blankets there is a risk that the baby might slip under them, a sleeping bag should be used.
• Long or late midday naps promote sleep problems at night: If your child has already exhausted his or her sleeping capacity sufficiently during the day, he or she will probably be very lively and lively at night.

• Firm routines favour a regular sleep rhythm. Fixed bed times and times for interaction and feeding help your baby to develop a rhythm. From the third month onwards, your baby should also combine bedtime with sleep and not fall asleep in other places.
• Falling asleep rituals and a low irritant environment are very important for falling asleep. A good-night song or a bedtime story, for example, can help to establish a firm routine before falling asleep.
• Your baby should sleep on his back. This minimizes the risk of sudden infant death.
• Gently rocking babies to sleep or weighing them will put many babies to sleep.
• While babies still fall asleep naturally during the first few weeks of breastfeeding, babies from three months of age should try to separate feeding and sleeping. Otherwise the baby will not be able to fall asleep on its own at night without the breast or bottle.
• The last meal should not be more than half an hour before going to bed. A fresh nappy and a bath or even a massage will also help the baby to fall asleep better.

Tips for a quiet night

In the book “Our Baby: The First Year” the authors Cramm, Steinbeis-von Stülpnagel and Schmidt give the following tips with which you can promote healthy sleep for your baby:

• Prolonged crying and crying only makes your baby more upset. In this case, falling asleep becomes more and more unlikely! Therefore, try to calm and comfort it immediately.
• If you spend a lot of time outside with your baby, he or she will perceive the day/night difference better and will be able to rest better when it is dark.
• Also consider that the location of the bassinet or bassinet should emphasize the difference between day and night. A place with enough daylight makes it clear that it is daytime. But make sure that your baby does not get direct sunlight!
• Just like with us adults, activities and interactions make even the very young tired. It is therefore best to use the waking phases for games and exercise so that tiredness sets in in the evening.

• When changing diapers or breastfeeding at night, consciously make sure that you do not draw the baby’s attention to anything that might make him or her more alert. In addition, subdued light at night is better than strong lighting, which could cause the baby not to perceive this time as a period of rest.
• Liquid can absorb good diapers sufficiently before you have to change them. You should therefore only change your baby at night when necessary (although in a big business, the diaper should be changed at night).
• In order for your baby to sleep well, he must be dressed accordingly: he must neither freeze nor sweat! Especially the little feet must not get cold.
• Feeding regularly during the day increases the chance that your baby will need to be fed a little less at night. Instead, you should wake your baby up regularly during the day to feed him or her. You can prevent hunger at night by ensuring that you consume enough calories during the day. From the sixth month onwards, babies can usually sleep through the night without having to eat.

Note: If you have permanent sleep problems, you should definitely talk to your pediatrician about it. Possibly a chronic or acute illness may also be present.

Your child sleeps so much

Each baby has an individual sleep duration, which can vary from one another. Only the following values offer a rough orientation:

• 1st to 2nd month: 16 to 19 hours
• 3rd to 4th month: 15 to 18 hours
• 5. to 6. month: 14 to 16 hours
• 7th to 8th month: 13 to 15 hours
• 9th to 12th month: 11 to 14 hours

Your baby won’t sleep through those hours. Since it constantly changes between deep sleep, the transition phase and active sleep, it will wake up again and again. In addition, it will need small meals (every two to four hours) in between to get an energy boost. During the first months, it wakes up every 2 to 3 hours. Only from the fourth and fifth month onwards does the baby develop a day-night rhythm, before this rhythm is not yet in existence. From the sixth month onwards, a longer resting phase of about 5 hours during the night is possible for the majority of babies.