Midnight Mums

 Babies under 3 months old should not be sleep trained. You may have heard about the fourth trimester this refers to the 3 months after the baby is born. In his period no sleep training should be used. Babies are born quite nocturnal as when in utero( pregnancy) they have developed their own routine which consists of short periods of sleep , waking, and feeding. When they are first born this doesn't change much and this is due to a few facts.

• Their tummies are 5mls in volume at day 0-5, then 10mls day 5-10, and by day 15 their tummy is approximately 20mls in volume. As their tummies are so small they can only hold small amounts of food and although they overfeed to stretch or grow the size of their tummies it takes time.for them to grow their tummies big enough to rest for a few hours in between feeds, this is why babies quite often feed every 1-1.5 hr in the first few weeks.
• Babies don't have a routine to their sleep and just simply sleep when they are full of milk.
• New-born babies need a lot of cuddles and skin to skin to develop an attachment to their mum and dad.

Babies 3 months +

When your baby is older than 3 months you can start to bring in a routine, this will help to teach baby the difference between night and day. Below are a few points to consider when designing a routine for baby.

• Make daytime feeds bright , loud, talk to baby, sing to baby, try to keep baby alert for longer periods through play and attention. Make night time feeds quiet, dimly lit, no talking only eye contact.
• Start with a bath to chill them out , then reading or looking at a book , cuddles, a feed, more cuddles then put them down to sleep in their moses basket\cot.
• Be consistent do the same routine for over a week before you can expect to see adaptation.
•  If your child gets up, keep taking them back to bed again with as little fuss as possible.

Gradual Retreat Method

Some parents will need to do a gradual retreat pattern if baby wont settle into the routine they have created.

Gradual retreat sleep training is a method of helping a child get to sleep by reducing the physical closeness of the parent\carer. The parent or carer will move further away from the child every few days until they are out of the room , so you would start by sitting next to the cot holding baby's hand, then move backwards into the room, then on to the landing etc.