Baby Sleep Tips 0-4 Month!

0-4 Month Newborn Baby Sleep Tips

Scouring the internet trying to find Information on Newborn Baby Sleep?

Then stop right now and look no further as we have got all the details below!

Baby sleep can be a touchy subject – there seem to be three types of groups in this category:

Those whose babies sleep, and they like to brag about it to everyone or anyone who will listen.
Those whose babies don’t sleep are so sleep deprived and are always searching the internet on “ways to get a newborn baby to sleep,” “why does my baby only sleep for 45 minutes”, how to settle an overtired baby”….sound familiar?
Those whose babies do sleep, but are too afraid even to mention it at coffee groups or to their mummy friends, so will either not talk about it or will just say they have sleep problems too.

Which group do you fall into?

We have read lots of baby sleep books and articles to try to get as many tips and tricks as we can to try and get our babies to sleep.

Thankfully those things we have tried have worked out for us. To we want to share our tips and tricks with you in case they work for you and you can get some much-needed rest!

So, here we go 0-4 month Newborn baby sleep tips:

Routines for Babies

We have found routines to work well with all three of our children. What we mean is: when placing baby down to sleep, do the same thing every time. For example, when it’s nap time, we would take our baby to the room, they sleep in and have quiet/cuddle time. We would usually do this until they are sleepy or nearly asleep and then place baby down in their bed.

You want the baby to look around, so they know they are in bed and then drift off to sleep. After a while of this routine baby should then cotton on that once you go to the room for quiet/cuddle time, then this is the signal that it’s going to be nap time.

Evening routine for night-time sleep is a must! Even if you have an all over the place type of day, try to keep the evening routine the same. So you could try something like this every night:

feed baby
bath baby
dress baby if you swaddle, now is the time to do this
finish off the feed (do this in baby’s sleeping room, dim the light if possible or just have a lamp on)
burp and have cuddle time then once your little one is sleepy place in bed.

After a few weeks of doing this routine –the same way, every day – you may find you have a settled, and happy baby at bedtime and you get to have some rest before that 10 pm feed.

Swaddle

We are fans of swaddling – there are so many great products out there these days, such as:

Love to Swaddle up range

Mokopuna Merino swaddle bag

ErgoCocoon swaddle.

I find all of these are easy to get on and off, and baby settles well in them.

If your baby is getting upset when swaddled, it may be more that they are overtired rather than the swaddle annoying them.

Dummy

Two of our babies didn’t take to a dummy – we tried giving it to them, but they just kept spitting it out.

Our third baby loves it, and it has been a great tool, especially in the early days, to help settle him.

If your baby is unsettled, try a dummy and see if this calms them, or better, helps them go to sleep. It can also be a great way to stretch out feeds, so they don’t start snack feeding.

We only used the dummy at bedtime, and then once he got to 4 months old, we only tried to use it when he is really unsettled. This was a great tool to use in the early days.

The dummy we used was a Philips Avent Orthodontic Pacifier

Dark Room

I know they say that in the early days let the baby sleep in lightrooms, so they learn the difference between night and day – and if your baby can sleep in lightrooms great!

If your baby is not napping well, try making the room dark. We have done this for all three of our kids, and it definitely has made them nap longer.

To help baby learn the difference of night and day, when they woke up from a day nap, we would go in, open the curtains, talk to our baby in a cheery voice.

When they woke during the night, we would keep the lights dim, not talk to baby at all, not even really give eye contact – get in there, quick change of the nappy (if need be, try not to do this if you don’t have to as it can wake them up more) feed and then straight back to bed.

Again after a week or so, the baby will get the idea!

White Noise

This is one that we have used only if we have a very overtired, unsettled baby.

There are lots of views about the use of white noise, and we think if it’s used correctly, it can be a great way to settle an overtired little one.

You can get white noise apps for your phone (if you do use your phone, switch it to flight mode while in use) – and you want something that sounds like a fan.

If the baby is really unsettled try:

swaddling baby,
placing a dummy in baby’s mouth,
sitting in a dark room with the white noise on (about the same loudness as when the shower is running)
hold the baby on their side facing you and start that gentle rock with bum pats and you may find that it helps baby settle and go to sleep.
Once the baby is asleep, either turn the white noise right down or off.