Lynda from easidream® giving great advice on getting your baby to sleep

Newborn sleep…. Will we ever sleep again?!!!!!

At first your new little one will probably do nothing but sleep, waking for only short periods of time, up to two hours max and sleeping for longer periods of 3 – 4 hours. It is essential that your newborn does NOT sleep through the entire night while they are just as few weeks old, as they need frequent feeding to grow and thrive.

That being said, there is a wealth of advice out there explaining all sorts of different methods that can help you to get your newborn to sleep at night.

As sleep is so very dear to our hearts I just wanted to share with you all my newborn sleep tips.… I do hope they result in happy sleeping babies with equally happy well rested parents. Of course, it goes without saying that using an easidream® will guarantee a peaceful and safe sleep for your precious little one!

Tip 1. Create the mood!

A great way, nearly always guaranteed to help ‘bring on’ those sleepy feelings is to give your little one a lovely warm bath, preferably with suitable baby night time aroma bubble bath! Follow this with a clean nappy, and then a little baby massage. Any gentle caressing of the baby’s arms, legs, body and forehead will really help bring on those sleepy feelings… but hey DON’T OVER DO IT…. You need to make sure you slip in the next tip first.

Tip 2. Full Tummy

Always make sure that your baby has a really satisfying feed at both the early evening and late night feeding times. Whether this is breast or bottle, it is essential that you really try to make sure that they take a full feed before they drop off to sleep. Of course, it is a ‘must’ that your baby is fully winded, so as to avoid griping tummy pains, which are certain to cause discomfort and a restless baby. A full feed almost always guarantees a longer, more settled sleep.

Tip 3 Make night feeds dull!!!

Always make night feeds subdued, with as little interaction as possible. Keep the room dimly lit and disturb your baby as little as possible. Don’t even change their nappy unless it’s a dirty one (No 2) or you really think it’s necessary. Just feed your baby, wind her and then place her back in her moses basket/cot with her comforter.

Tip 4 Swaddling + Dummy/Pacifier

A great way to help newborns feel safe and secure is to swaddle them tightly. This offers them reassurance by reminding them of life in the womb and also helps with limiting waking caused by the startle reflex (Moro reflex - when a baby suddenly startles with their limbs outstretched). Swaddling is a fantastic technique to use for around the first 3-4 months or so.

A dummy is also great way to help babies to settle. Dummies satisfy a baby’s natural sucking instinct and a lot of babies find them really soothing, as the sucking gives them a feeling of security. Dummies have also been proven to reduce the risk of a sudden infant death incident occurring.

Tip 5 Give a little love!

Who can resist that night time cuddle with their newborn and normally it only takes a short while before your little one has peacefully and contentedly drifted off to the land of nod! If you prefer to put your baby down while drowsy but still awake, a great way to help them still feel secure is to give them a comforter that you have had next to your body (tucked down your top for around one hour) so they can still smell ‘mum’ on it.

Now this is where easidream® can become a godsend for those of you who’s LO doesn’t seem to settle quite according to plan!!!

You know the sort of thing... LO falls asleep peacefully in your arms, you then gently place her in the cot, with the same degree of skill as a brain surgeon carrying out a precision manoeuvre and low and behold within 5 seconds she starts screaming the house down! You then resort to pacing up and down, doing the mummy sway (or partner does it looking a wee bit feminine!!!) making all sorts of ‘quiet’ lullaby type noises and slowly but surely you gradually morph from human form into zombie mode, whilst your LO remains wide awake!!

That being said this is a really serious subject, one that is very dear to my heart and it’s the entire reason why I went on to invent easidream®. For those of you not familiar with my family, I have 6 children and my youngest, Bradley, struggled to settle down to sleep (both day and night) for around 2 and a half years. After trying a whole host of techniques to settle him, I found that the most reliable way to encourage him to stay asleep was to lean over the sides of the cot and create a gentle rocking motion, by moving the mattress up and down… inspired by Bradley… easidream® was born!!

easidream®’s multisensory approach cleverly mimics the soothing nurturing environment of the womb by providing a calming rocking motion with gentle light and sound. It also replicates parents rocking their baby in their arms, close to their chest and in time with their resting heartbeat. Parents intuitively make that familiar ‘shushing’ sound, and easidream recreates this with its soothing sounds.

What’s great about easidream® is that it carry’s on providing those gentle movement and sounds that your baby loves AFTER you lay her in her moses basket or cot. If you’d like to find out more information on how easidream® can:

• help establish a healthy sleep pattern for all the family
• encourage your baby to settle to sleep on their back
• reducing crying time from an average of 18 minutes to less than 1 minute
• help with bouts of colic

then please visit www.easidream.com.

Sweet dreams everyone

Lynda