by busymommy
(us)
One of the best baby sleeping tips that really works is to establish a schedule and do your best to stick to it. We have a very busy life but we found that it was well worth the time that we invested to get our baby girl on a schedule. It's important to be flexible as rigidity would do nothing more than increase stress. And I fully believe that babies can sense a stressful environment and react by not sleeping.
I would devise not to try and force a newborn into a schedule that suits the parents but rather to observe the newborn's internal clock and work with it all the while easing the little one into a routine with the ultimate goal of sleeping on light long.
I give a flexible sleep schedule credit not only for my baby getting a good night's rest but for mom and dad's rest.
And out of all the baby sleeping tips I've tried, I found that getting a sound machine for babies was the best and probably was the best money we ever spent! We bought a white noise machine that has several settings including an ocean waves setting that we turn on before bath time. The sound of the waves has become part of our routine working as a signal that it's time to enter into relaxation mode and get ready for sleep. I find that the baby is not the only one who benefits; this bedtime routine calms all of us down. After a nice soak in the bath, we nurse, snuggle then it's time to go to bed.
The sound machine for babies has a calming effect on our older children if they are within earshot. The nature sounds are not loud but they successfully drown or camouflages the noise made in other parts of the house.
When shopping for your own baby sleep machine, I recommend that you buy one that is lightweight and easy to pack. That way you can continue your baby's bed and naptime routine even when you're away from the baby's nursery.
I hope these tips help someone as much as they've helped me because it's so much easier to cope with whatever comes your way with a good's night rest!