As soon as I found out I was pregnant I began to research baby sleep like crazy. I know how I am on little sleep, which meant I needed to be ready to do everything I could to set my baby up to be a great sleeper. First off I want to go ahead and say that I do not claim to be a baby sleep expert. I have, however, done a lot of research and found some really helpful information that I would like to share with you today.
First things first!
No matter if you are struggling with baby sleep currently or are pregnant and doing research ahead of time, one of the things I will always suggest is to check out the Taking Cara Babies Instagram account. The tips they offer on there are incredibly helpful. Just by following their tips, I was able to get my baby sleeping through the night and taking great naps starting around 2 months old without really trying that hard.
I’m going to go over a couple of the tips that I found on the Taking Cara Babies Instagram that have truly been helpful in setting my baby up to be a great sleeper. These tips are easy to implement and can make a world of a difference in your baby’s sleep.
Swaddle
This may seem silly to even mention but it’s necessary all the same. A newborn baby is used to a very confined space. Being swaddled, if done right, is comforting to them. So the first step to setting your baby up to sleep great is swaddling them properly. Now, this only applies to babies who are not rolling over yet. If your baby is rolling over, you need to transition out of the swaddle so that if your baby rolls over during the night, they will be able to prop themselves up or roll back over.
To make sure your little one is swaddled correctly you want to make sure their hips have plenty of room to move and flex naturally. At the same time, you want their arms tucked snuggly next to them. Below are a couple of my favorite swaddles that make swaddling your little one easy.
Blackout curtains
Another way to set your baby up to be a great sleeper is to darken their sleep space. This will not only help your little one sleep better but it is also a way to fix night and day confusion. I got lucky with that and Oliver never had his nights and days mixed up. Then again, I also made sure that from day one, he had lots of light when he was awake and that the room was dark when he was sleeping.
Some kids don’t need it “can’t see your hand in front of your face” dark. Some do. If your little one is having a hard time sleeping, try making the room darker. Use blackout curtains or these neat temporary blackout blinds.
Sound machine / Fan
Just like being swaddled is comforting to babies, white noise is as well. It’s quite noisy in the womb so having the white noise play soothes babies so that they can fall asleep. You can use a sound machine or a fan even to make white noise. Recently in our house, I’ve switched from using a sound machine to using a fan. Our power goes out every so often and it’s usually when Oliver is sleeping so the fan works better because it comes back on when the power comes back on, unlike the sound machine.
Here is the sound machine we’ve been using. I think it’s great because it’ll continue to work as grows. When he gets older, he’ll be able to use it as a night light and/or sound machine.
Thank you for reading
Thank you so much for reading! I hope this article helps you while you work on getting your baby to be a great sleeper. For some these can be an instant fix to sleep issues, for others it’ll take longer and possibly a few other things. For more sleep tips, check out my previous article on baby sleep.
