How to teach a baby to sleep. How easy it is to teach a child to sleep in his own crib

Co-sleeping is pleasant and has many positive aspects. When a baby is taught to fall asleep in his crib, he resists. Teaching a child to sleep in his own crib is actually not easy, as it seemed at first.

Why does a newborn not sleep in a crib?

The baby spends most of the day sleeping. From the first days, if the baby wakes up and does not feel hungry, he falls asleep without outside help. If, after being awake, the child is placed in a crib, after a short period of time he will fall asleep on his own. But closer to 1-2 months, the newborn begins to pick and choose and does not want to stay in his bed.

Why does the child sleep poorly in the crib:

Closeness with mom. The newborn seeks to continuously stay close to the mother: to hear the beating of her heart, warm hugs, affectionate speech.
Feeling of fear. The kid is just getting to know the world. New objects, objects and sounds scare him.
Feeling of loneliness. The baby loves to fall asleep in his mother's arms and stay in this position throughout sleep. Because of permanent shifts phases, the newborn does not feel the presence of the mother near him and does not sleep well in the crib.

For these reasons, the child refuses to sleep in the crib, does not want to be forgotten by sleep, and whims are accompanied by crying. Do not hurt the psyche of the baby. You just need to pick optimal time, to gain endurance and accustom the child to sleep in his crib.

How to teach a child to sleep in his own crib

The age to teach a child to sleep in his bed is set by the parents. Someone is taught to sleep in a bed from birth, and someone at the age of three sleeps with their parents. Every baby needs special approach. The easiest way is to teach a child to sleep in his own crib from the first weeks or days of life.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib Komarovsky video:

By the age of 3-5 months, absolutely all mothers are tired of household chores. At night they want to sleep and get rest. The newborn excludes this possibility. At night, he also eats, and the mother is more comfortable sleeping next to the baby, feeding without getting out of bed. But the time is coming when the child needs to be taught to sleep in his own crib.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib:

Subsequence. Strictly adhere to the principle of gradual learning, so that there is no abrupt transition from the parent's bed to the nursery. It is necessary to install a crib next to the parent, then move it a short distance every night.

The alarmed or excited state of the baby does not accompany a favorable falling asleep. It will be possible to accustom a child to sleep in his crib in the presence of a serene state and good mood. At the age of 1 - 2 years - you can talk about the benefits of a separate sleep.

Learn to fall asleep on your own. Babies love to sleep on mother's hands while breastfeeding or from a bottle. It is necessary to prevent falling asleep until the end of the meal.

The child must understand that he will have to go to bed in his own bed, and not on the arms of his mother. You should put the child to bed, take a nap and sit next to him. The kid should be serene and not feel nervous, anxious.

Follow a sleep schedule. Be sure to go to bed at the same time. The child's body will begin to get used to it. Closer to the night, a feeling of drowsiness will prevail. This action is easier to accustom the child to sleep in his crib.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib - mom's experience video:

Don't deviate from your bedtime schedule. In the evening, adults get tired, and there is a determination to put the baby to bed earlier. You shouldn't act like this. Going to bed early will lead to early awakening. The child will not wait for everyone to wake up. He will wake up the whole family. Better take the baby passive play before sleep.

familiar procedures. You should perform everyday monotonous actions before going to bed. It is necessary to follow the order of their implementation: water procedures, breastfeeding or formula, for an older newborn - tea or warm milk with cookies, putting on pajamas, reading fairy tales or singing lullabies when the baby is already in bed.

The child will quickly get used to the ritual and will know it's time to go to bed.

Praise. When the child begins to fall asleep in his crib, he should be praised. Most children after midnight or in the morning come to sleep with adults. Such an act is typical and will pass soon.

Family help. All relatives must act together and in concert. If, for example, at home, the mother starts forcing the child to sleep in her bed, and the father is allowed to be near the parents, there will be no effect.

Sleep conditions. Fulfillment of the required conditions for the room where the baby will sleep:

temperature 18-21 degrees;
airing the room before going to bed;
comfortable bed;
included night light.

Extra items. Do not abuse the pacifier or bottle while falling asleep. He will quickly become addicted to additional attributes, and problems will appear in the future.

Bad feeling. If the baby is sick, you should not make an exception and cancel separate sleep. It is better to spend more time near the crib. The child will quickly realize that in a bad mood and whims, parents will take him to their place. He can repeat whims, manipulate relatives.

Mom's presence. Replace the presence of the mother with some object, a toy. For a newborn, a mother's T-shirt is well suited - it smells of milk and mother. The baby will know that mom is sleeping with him.

Correct actions for bad sleep. If the child woke up - you should not carry him in your arms and take him to bed. You need to sit down near the crib and calm the baby, wish him good night. With further awakenings, do not approach immediately, but delay minutes.

Getting used to sleeping in your crib does not come on the first try. If you take the child in your arms, or put it in the parent's bed, especially during the period of getting used to your bed, you will have to start all over again.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib again? If the child has already slept with his parents, it will be much easier to teach him to sleep back in his crib. It is necessary to identify the cause of sleep with parents and take measures to eliminate it.

It is advisable to teach the child to sleep in his crib during the day before putting him in the crib at night. This procedure is much more difficult. The kid is playing daytime, gets a lot of impressions, excited. As a result, the child does not sleep during the day in the crib.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib during the day?

There are a couple of features to teach a child to sleep in a crib during the day:

Closed curtains or blinds will help make the lighting not so bright.
Active games, walks, vivid impressions will help make the first half of the day rich. Tired for half a day, the baby will fall asleep faster.

How to teach a child to sleep in a crib during the day video:

When should you start teaching your baby to sleep in their own crib?

The most optimal time for learning to fall asleep in bed is the age of 7 months. The newborn already knows how to roll over and takes a comfortable position for him. Night feeding is reduced or completely absent. The baby does not cry when he wakes up. On hand is a couple of hours a day.

How to train seven month old baby sleep in a bed? Psychologists recommend teaching a child to sleep in his own crib and in his own room. This attitude creates independence, and the separation process is much better.

A child at this age is already able to consciously call his parents upon awakening. It is recommended to leave the door ajar or use a baby monitor so that you can hear your baby.

Children's sleep, or rather the lack of it, is one of the main problems that parents face. Often, babies do not want to sleep alone, fall asleep poorly, wake up quickly, whimper and even throw tantrums. Young parents are forced to rock the baby in their arms for half the night or take him to sleep in their bed. This makes them frantically search for the answer to the question of how to teach a child to fall asleep on their own.

A lot of books, scientific articles have been written about children's sleep, programs and documentaries have been filmed. However, more and more parents are complaining about sleepless nights, constant motion sickness of the baby and unwillingness to sleep. Let's try to fix the situation. The main rule in the period of accustoming the baby to independent sleep is to act consistently and persistently.

What is independent sleep?

First, let's define what "independent sleep" is. This is necessary in order to understand what to strive for. So, ideally, a child should:

fall asleep on his own, without motion sickness;
fall asleep quickly
sleep all night (or with a break for feeding - depends on age);
sleep in your bed.

When can you teach your baby to fall asleep on their own?

Many parents do not understand the seriousness of the problem baby sleep. It seems to them that there will always be time to retrain the baby, to make him sleep alone. But the older the baby becomes, the more difficult it is to do this.

Yes, if the baby does not sleep alone a year, this is quite normal, but by the age of three he must learn to sleep on his own. critical age- 5 years. If by this time, the child has not learned to sleep on his own, often wakes up and is naughty, then, most likely, during adult life he expects such a sleep disorder as insomnia.

A baby up to 6-7 months old can hardly fall asleep on his own in his crib. This is especially true for babies, since they have a closer connection with their mother and they need to listen to the beating of her heart, to feel her presence nearby during sleep. It is for this reason that it is better to put the baby to sleep in the parental bed until 9-10 months. This will provide psychological comfort to the child, and parents will not need to run to the crib if the baby suddenly wakes up. But at what age can you start weaning your baby from the parental bed?

At 2 years old, you can start teaching your baby to sleep on his own in his bed. Closer to the age of three, the child develops an understanding of his own "I", and he begins to separate from his mother (before that, he inextricably links himself with her).

But this does not mean at all that the baby should be engaged in sleep only at the age of 2 years. It is very important to teach the baby to fall asleep independently and without motion sickness. You can do this already in 2-3 months.

How to teach a child to fall asleep on his own?

The newborn sleeps almost all the time. He does not yet have clear boundaries between day and night, so he can (and most likely will) wake up in dark time days. It is pointless to accustom him to a full night's sleep in the first month of life, but the older he gets, the more attention should be paid to the ritual of going to bed.

Baby aged 1-4 weeks

At this age, it is not worth teaching the baby. It is necessary to develop methods that will help the baby fall asleep quickly and without crying. The authors of Your Baby Week by Week from Birth to 6 Months suggest the following ways.

swaddling

This soothes the newborn baby, as a pleasant comfortable temperature is created in the diaper. In addition, the baby, pulled together by a diaper, seems to be still in the mother's womb. Free swaddling is now practiced, which allows the child to move arms and legs in a dream.

Lullabies

Quiet singing has always had a calming effect on babies. If you combine it with motion sickness, you can ensure that the baby falls asleep almost instantly.

White noise

Anything can be used as "white noise": a hiss, a waterfall recording, an open faucet, an untuned receiver. These sounds remind the baby of the blood flow, which he listened to while in his mother's tummy.

Hugs and pats

If you hold a one-month-old baby firmly against you and lightly pat his buttocks, this will create a sensation in the crumbs intrauterine life. Remember how well he fell asleep when you walked or just walked around the apartment. Try to create similar conditions, and the result will not keep you waiting.

If you rock your child while driving around the block or pushing him around the yard in a stroller, stop doing it. The baby will very quickly get used to this method of motion sickness and will not want to fall asleep at home. It is better to suffer for three days (that's how long a baby needs to break the habit), but to teach the child to fall asleep on his own without outside help.

Baby at 2-3 months

When the baby ceases to be a newborn and reaches the age of 2-4 months, you need to wean him from motion sickness and songs. He should fall asleep on his own and quickly (this must be done until he is one year old). Here are some tips you can give to speed up and make it easier for your baby to fall asleep on their own.

Before a night's sleep, the baby should be awake for at least one and a half hours. He must be tired, but not overtired, otherwise it will be even more difficult to put him to sleep.
Don't let your baby sleep at the breast during the day. This can become a habit, and then the baby will suck just for the sake of pleasure and comfort. In this case, it will be very difficult for him to fall asleep without a breast (or without a pacifier).
Dim the lights, don't turn on loud music or the TV, but you can put on a CD of lullabies. Let the baby understand that it's time for sleep.
Feed your baby before bed and change his diaper, let nothing bother him.
Before going to bed, give your child a tummy massage (this will reduce gas formation and relax the intestines) and bathe the baby. After such events, the baby will get tired and want to sleep.
It is important for the baby to constantly feel the presence of the mother, so you can go to the trick and leave your mother's bathrobe or towel in his crib.

Spock's sleep technique

Back in the last century, a special technique was developed that explains how to teach a child to fall asleep on his own (up to a year). Its author is Benjamin Spock - a famous pediatrician. You can argue a lot about the admissibility of such a method, but each parent decides for himself what is best for his child.

The essence of the technique is that the mother leaves the baby alone in the room and enters the baby only after a certain amount of time. The time is given in the table:

Day	First time (minutes)	Second time (minutes)	Third time (minutes)	Subsequent times (minutes)
1st day	1	3	5	5
2nd day	3	5	7	7
3rd day	5	7	9	9
4th day	7	9	11	11
5th day	9	11	13	13
6th day	11	13	15	15
7th day	13	15	17	17

For example, if on the first day the child, left alone, starts crying immediately, the mother can only come to him in a minute. After comforting the baby, she leaves, and if the little one starts crying again, then the parent will enter him only after three minutes, etc.

For many parents, this method is unacceptable and cruel, but it teaches the baby to fall asleep on his own, and the results will appear in a week.

How to teach a child to fall asleep in his crib at 2-3 years old?

So, you have already taught the child to fall asleep independently and quickly, but he still sleeps in your bed.

Experts believe that co-sleeping useful for both the baby and the mother, but there comes a time when the child needs to learn to sleep alone.

However, it can be difficult to move the baby to a separate bed. Some of the tips below will help you make it easier for your little one to get used to their own crib.

Step 1. We develop a schedule

The daily routine is very important for a baby who is already a year old, since it is important for him to be confident in the constancy and steadfastness of his life. It is not necessary to do everything by the clock - it is enough to develop a clear order of events and actions.

A bedtime ritual may include the following:

light massage;
bathing;
evening feeding or a glass of warm milk;
reading aloud or listening to soothing music;
quiet conversation;
kiss.

It will take a few days, maybe weeks, for the child to get used to this ritual, but in the end he will understand that after all these actions sleep should come, and it will be easier and faster to fall asleep.

Step 2. Explain the reason

A common mistake young parents make is that they try to put the baby in a separate bed, but do not explain the reasons. What should a little man think when his mother, with whom he has slept in the same bed all his life, leaves and leaves him alone in a dark room? Right! Fear, bewilderment, confusion.

Try to talk to the child and explain to him that he is already an adult and therefore should sleep separately. If it is still difficult for him to fall asleep alone, sit next to him and wait until the child falls asleep.

Step 3. Create comfort

In order for the baby to fall asleep in his bed, it must be presented to the baby from the best side.

Let mom, dad, grandmother and all other family members “praise” the baby’s crib. “Oh, what a beautiful bed!”, “What a soft mattress!”, “How wonderful to sleep in such a warm bed!”. Any enthusiastic phrases and expressions will do.
Make the little one's bed really cozy: arrange toys, buy air light blanket, hang a small canopy - you can do everything, if only the baby liked the bed.
Turn on the night light. Many children are more comfortable sleeping in semi-darkness, rather than in pitch darkness.
Before going to bed, be sure to ventilate the room. Turn on a humidifier to keep the room cool and not dry.

Step 4. Get rid of fears

Some children, although they fall asleep on their own, wake up in the middle of the night and come to their parents. It is not surprising, because, waking up alone in a dark room, the baby will almost certainly feel fear. Many fears are formed on the basis of TV programs watched or heard scary tales.

Talk to your child and find out what is bothering him. Come up with a ritual to get rid of fears (burning a piece of paper with fear written on it, releasing balloons), and if this does not help, seek help from a child psychologist.

Little tricks

Toys are the best helpers

The role of plush friends in a baby's life cannot be underestimated. The baby perceives the toy as a living being, he talks to it, feels responsible for it, or, conversely, feels protected in the presence of a soft friend. This can be used by teaching the child to sleep separately.

For several nights in a row, go to bed with your baby, take your child's favorite plush animal to bed. Tell the little one that the toy is his protector, and in which case she will certainly stand up for the baby.

When the little one believes this, you can try putting him to sleep separately.

Visiting trip

This method is suitable for older babies (2-3 years old).

Take your child to a sanatorium or visit. Any place where the baby can sleep separately from the parents will do. Before the trip, explain to the baby that, due to the circumstances, he will have to sleep alone.

During the day, play with your child and keep him occupied in every possible way. The baby should not have a desire to leave home as soon as possible. In the evening, do not succumb to the persuasion of the little one to go to bed together.

If you do everything right, then in a week the child will get used to sleeping in his crib.

Literature on children's sleep problems

These and many other books will detailed information about sleep phases and problems that may arise in the first and subsequent months of a baby’s life, as well as options for overcoming difficulties.

"How to teach your baby to sleep" Annette Kast-Zahn, Dr. Hartmut Morgenroth
How to Get Your Baby to Sleep Without Tears by Elizabeth Pentley
"I don't want to sleep at all" by Elizabeth Pentley
"How to get your baby to sleep well at night" Susie Giordano
"Healthy sleep - happy child» Mark Weisbluth
"Child health and common sense his relatives" E. O. Komarovsky

Some books describe the sleep problem of infants, some of children who are one year old. Others help teach children to sleep separately at 3-4 years old.

Conclusion

The sooner you start teaching your baby to sleep on his own, the better. But do not overdo it - some children have a hard time being alone at night, so there will be nothing wrong if they get used to sleeping separately at only 2-3 years old.

When accustoming to independent sleep, do not forget the main rule: in no case do something that will negatively affect the health and psyche of the child. Do not frighten him, do not swear and do not get angry when he starts acting up and flatly refuses to sleep alone. There is no need to leave the baby when something hurts, when teeth are cut or when he is in a bad mood.

There will be no problems with accustoming a child to sleep at night in his own crib if from the first days of life the baby sleeps separately from his parents. So that the mother can calm and feed the baby at any time, a cradle or crib for a newborn without a high side lattice is installed right next to her mother's bed.

The kid who has own place for sleep, painlessly goes through the stage of moving from the parents' bedroom to the nursery and quickly gets used to falling asleep on his own. If parents leave the child to sleep in their bed from the first months of life, then it is difficult for the baby to adapt to new conditions in a year or two. How to teach a child to sleep in his own crib if he does not want to give up co-sleeping?

Why does a child refuse to sleep alone

For a child older than a year, accustomed to sleeping next to his mother, a source of heat and food, moving to his own bed is the strongest stress. It's not just about the change of scenery, but also about the lack of the ability to be away from your parents at night. The baby loses the feeling of comfort and security - the atmosphere familiar to him from the first months of existence.

If you gradually accustom the child to sleep on their own in their own crib, or find individual approach(this works with children at 2.5-3 years old), then you can avoid excess stress both for him and for you. It is important to act in such a way that the child wants to sleep separately, so that he can form his own cozy and safe little world that can replace the place under his mother's side.

If the baby is less than a year old

The easiest way to teach a baby to sleep separately is up to a year. It is recommended to start at the age of about 8 months or even earlier if the baby has already begun to roll over on his own in his sleep, keeping himself comfortable. By the age of 6 months, the number of night feedings is greatly reduced - feeding at midnight is enough for the baby to sleep peacefully until 6-7 in the morning.

Parents are required to be consistent in their actions. If it is decided that it is time for the baby to learn to sleep on its own, you can not succumb to the whims and take the child to your bed. Children, even at the age of several months, quickly learn to manipulate, and in the future it will be more difficult to solve the issue of sleep separately.

First of all, you should teach the baby to fall asleep at the same time. It is necessary to adhere to the regimen and follow the same ritual before going to bed. The complex of actions may include an evening toilet, a light massage, a fairy tale or a lullaby for the night. It is important that children before going to bed tune in to rest and not “get lost” in the game mood. Evening tales and songs should be soothing and last no more than 10-15 minutes.

When you first put your baby at 6-8 months old to sleep separately in the crib, the usual ritual will help him tune in to sleep. Stay close to the baby until he falls asleep, touch his hand so that he feels the usual mother's warmth and security.

After making sure that the baby is sleeping, move away from the crib and go about your business. If the child wakes up, come to calm him down, but do not pick him up. Otherwise, when you try to put him in a crib, he will become capricious and will flatly refuse to sleep on his own. Reassure him, wish him good night, wait until he falls asleep again.

If he wakes up again, do not come right away, but after a minute. Reassure them again by explaining that you are there and not going anywhere. Gradually increase the length of the pause between the child's nighttime awakening and your approach to him. The baby should develop confidence that his mother is nearby and there is nothing to be afraid of, even if he does not see her near him at the very first moment he wakes up. This helps him not to lose a sense of security.

Over time, the number of night awakenings will decrease, in the future he will fall asleep on his own and sleep until morning.

If the baby is one to two years old

For a child older than a year, the “replacement” technique is suitable. After completing your nightly bedtime ritual, give your little one one of his favorite soft toys. Come up with an excuse under which you urgently need to leave the room, and “ask” the toy to help, look after the baby while mom is away. When you return, thank the toy for doing the job.

This approach also helps to form the child's confidence that he is loved and protected, that there is nothing to be afraid of, even if you go to bed separately. The toy becomes a symbol of love and care, children willingly fall asleep in an embrace with it.

Please note: do not leave Stuffed Toys next to children up to a year within reach - the baby can suffocate in a dream, burying his nose in it.

If you are putting a child older than a year to sleep on their own in a separate room, take care of a night light in advance. It should be soft so as not to excite nervous system baby and create cozy soft lighting. For example, compact and economical LED figurine nightlights that are plugged into a socket are suitable.

If there is no frightening darkness in the room, and the baby knows that the mother will definitely come if you call her, it is easier for him to learn to sleep separately, and then fall asleep on his own after the usual ritual.

Some children desperately do not want to fall asleep separately in the crib, it is difficult for them to overcome the discomfort associated with breaking the established habit. In this case, parents can try to put the child next to them, and then transfer the sleeping person to the crib. But you should be prepared that, upon awakening, the baby will make a scandal.

In the case when the child reacted calmly to the nightly change of place, continue to act according to the same scheme for a couple of weeks. After making sure that the baby is used to the crib, try to teach him to fall asleep there.

When faced with a strong negative attitude towards the crib, put off trying to teach yourself to sleep on your own for a few weeks or even months. The child should be ready for such changes in his life, and if he has a psychological barrier, you should not try to teach him to sleep separately by violent methods.

It is considered the norm if children, even by the age of three, continue to sleep in bed with their parents.

If the child is over two years old

If you find that attempts to teach a child to go to bed separately from their parents completely fail in a year or two, wait until he is a little older and change tactics.

The baby will not want to sleep on his own if the crib causes him negative associations, for example, if he was left alone in it for a long time, planted as a punishment for disobedience, or trying to teach him to fall asleep.

Also try to avoid decorations (bows, cords, etc.) that the baby can harm himself when playing with. On the wall next to the baby's bed and on the ceiling, you can stick stars or other pictures that glow in the dark so that the baby's bed is a little fabulous.

In between times, repeat to the baby that he will sleep in this wonderful, unique crib in the world, when he is old enough. Because on their own, like adults, only big kids sleep.

At 2-3 years old, children tend to imitate adults, and this approach usually works. First, you can "allow" to lie in the crib before going to the parent's bed to sleep. As a result, the children themselves insist on staying in their crib.

When choosing a way to teach a child to sleep separately from their parents, it is important to take into account his age, state of health and level of development, temperament, and fears. For example, it is useful for weakened children to stay longer to sleep next to their mother. It is important that the "moving" from the parent's bed to your own is painless for the baby's psyche.

Enough milestone growing up for the baby is a dream separate from the parents. Many children protest, begin to act up, experience stress. How to teach a child to sleep in his crib without disturbing him mental health worries many mothers. In order to do everything right, you should listen to the advice of experienced pediatricians, psychologists and mothers who have already gone through this difficult stage.

Do I need to teach my baby to his crib?

Many experts believe that when a child sleeps with his mother, he feels protected, confident, and therefore calm.

Of course, it is very convenient that, at the first request of the baby, the mother can give breast milk. Joint sleep strengthens the psyche of the baby, stimulates the development of his nervous system. Closeness with a loved one gives the baby warmth and peace. Knock mother's heart, her breath, gentle hugs help the baby fight his fears, depression.

Despite positive points, you need to know how to teach a child to sleep at night in a crib, as there is negative side co-sleeping with parents.

The little one needs to learn to be independent. Children's individuality begins to form precisely when he is given personal space. After all, co-sleeping is psychologically addictive.

Accustomed to being constantly next to his mother, the child begins to act up when they try to put him separately. Often the child limits married life parents on the bed, thereby involuntarily causing conflicts in the family.

Moms make their own decisions about when they should wean their babies from co-sleeping. If you decide to teach one year old baby sleep in your own crib, you should do it right, considering individual characteristics child.

Proper sleep preparation

Experienced parents, experts advise to start gradually preparing for separate sleep. To do this, you need to make a certain regimen that will help the baby quickly get used to his crib.

Meals before bed

Before accustoming a child to his crib, you need to make sure that the baby is not hungry, otherwise he will be capricious. A small meal before bedtime will allow the child to fall asleep soundly and not wake up at night from hunger. Infants who are breastfeeding or artificial feeding, quite enough up to 100 gr. mixtures.

There are foods that can help your baby sleep soundly. They produce melatonin and store the baby enough nutrients and vitamins. If the child is more than six months old, he can be given cottage cheese, yogurt, fruit puree, cereals and other light meals.

It is important not to overfeed the child so that his stomach does not hurt at night.

Water treatments before bed

Bathing is the key to the health of the baby, hygiene and restful sleep. Water procedures should be carried out 30 minutes after dinner. If nothing disturbs the baby, bathing brings pleasure to him and his parents. It is recommended to take into account certain points:

water should be warm pleasant baby. To do this, it must be heated to 37 ° C;
the temperature in the room must be maintained within 22 ° C;
you need to make sure that there are no drafts;
you can add herbs to the water, which have a sedative effect.

After taking water procedures, the baby should be wrapped in a towel and held a little in your arms.

Lullaby and books

To baby teach him to sleep in a crib, put him in bed and sing a lullaby. The sound of mother's voice always has a calming effect on the baby. Mom puts all her love and care into her words. Such songs relieve anxiety, excitement. Gradually, it becomes an important evening ritual before going to bed. Start singing with the baby in your arms and continue as you lay him gently on the bed.

Many mothers may ask, and if the child is a year old or more, how to teach him to sleep in his own crib without resorting to singing. The answer is simple - read a book to him. To do this, you need to choose a book suitable for his age, and start reading in a calm, rhythmic voice. Even if the baby does not understand anything, mother's intonation and smile show that he is loved and appreciated. Reading books before bed is a valuable ritual that builds a basic trust in the world.

Sleep toys

Children older than one year, as well as a month old baby, can be taught to sleep in a crib by offering him toys. A well-chosen toy can help calm the baby, relieve him of night fears. When choosing such a bed pet, you should consider the requirements:

It is necessary to ensure that night toys do not have sharp corners, small parts which can break off easily. It is best to offer your baby a soft, gentle toy that is pleasant to the touch.

Getting to know your new bed

It is easier to teach a baby to sleep in a crib than a one-year-old. However, the process must be arranged gradually. Moments of acquaintance should be positive. It can be turned into a game, put toys in bed to sleep, sing songs. At first, leave the child to lie down for no more than 10 minutes. But all this time he should be calm and interesting there.

If the child already understands what you are talking about, you can try to explain that he is already an adult. Therefore, he has a separate bed or room.

The toy with which the kid is going to sleep, let him choose himself. So there will be a replacement of parents, and it will be easier for him to survive the shock.

You can buy bright, colorful pajamas, a pillow, a blanket, a canopy. The baby will be pleased to sleep in the new.

When a child is over 2 years old, it is interesting for him to participate in the purchase of attributes necessary for sleep. Therefore, it would be great if you take it with you for choosing night items. Set up a room or a place to sleep together.

How to teach a child to sleep in his own crib

To make it quicker and easier for the baby to get used to his sleeping place, many recommend to accustom the child to sleep in the crib during the day. You can start telling him about it for a few days, thereby preparing for independence.

The child will not be comfortable at first, so you need to calm him down. This will work for all methods. Sing a song, tell a fictional story about fairy tale character or a bunny, a hedgehog, who went to bed in his bed and had a magical dream.

At night, so that the baby is not so scared, turn on a night light or a table lamp.

Stay with your child while he falls asleep. At the same time, you can gently stroke him, thereby calming.

If the child moves to private room, then at first mom can sleep nearby, but on a separate sofa. Gradually leave him alone. Try to leave the room before he falls asleep.

Do not let the baby play in his bed for a long time, as by doing so he will drive away sleep. It is very difficult to teach a child to sleep in his own crib, it is likely that you will not succeed the first time. Do not despair, be persistent, invite the baby to fall asleep again and again in his own bed, someday he will have good mood and he will definitely agree.

Compliance with the rules for good sleep

First of all, a baby bed should be the most safe place for the baby. Parents do not have to worry about the fact that there the baby may be injured or tangled in the blanket.

fill the room fresh air with ventilation;
support comfortable temperature 20-23°C;
observe the regime, that is, try to put to bed at the same time;
stop playing active games in a couple of hours;
lay a hypoallergenic comfortable mattress;
turn on a night light to protect the offspring from fears of the dark;
a warm bath, a light massage, a lullaby will help the child calm down and fall asleep faster;
strangers should not be present in the room.

Try to stop watching cartoons an hour before your baby falls asleep. Even the kindest cartoons excite the nervous system, drive away sleep.

Baby's night whims

There are times when the child was put to bed, but something disturbs him. At night he starts crying, calling for his mother. You need to figure out what's bothering him. Several reasons may affect this:

abdominal pain, colic;
a tooth is cut;
night terrors;
overwork during the day;
uncomfortable pajamas or pillow.

Young mothers, as a rule, at the first cry of the baby immediately run to him. More experienced parents no longer rush to the call. However, you should be careful about crying. It is this reaction that can tell parents what worries his child.

You may think that he is hungry. Try giving him water instead of milk. Most likely, your child is just thirsty.

If the child is afraid of something, calm him down. Talk to him quietly so as not to wake him up completely. Reassure the baby that everything is in order and he has nothing to fear.

You should not take him to sleep with you, otherwise you will have to accustom him to your bed first.

Situations when you should not put the child to sleep separately

There are circumstances when it is better to postpone a separate bed for the child. Do not rush to accustom to your crib with infancy. These moments include:

if the baby was born before his due date;
the presence of birth trauma;
noticeable developmental delays;
the child is sick;
recently moved to a new location.

You can not combine several stresses. For example, a separate overnight stay with weaning, going to kindergarten, potty training. This can overwhelm the child's psyche.

In case of problems, you can contact your pediatrician for help.

The famous pediatrician Komarovsky E.O. claims that children should sleep separately from their parents, on their own territory. His beliefs are based on numerous studies of medical science.

In the first month of life, at night, the baby, of course, needs to be in the same room with adults. His bed should be close to his mother's bed. This contributes to the formation of lactation. After the mother is all right, the child can begin to accustom to a separate room.

Modern technology offers several devices that help parents not jump up at the first cry of the baby:

baby monitors;
video surveillance systems;
preparations to maintain an optimal microclimate in the room where the child sleeps;
orthopedic mattress and pillow;
diapers.

It is not recommended to put a pillow in bed for babies under 2 years old. Pajamas must be natural material, textile dye must not be present.

A popular pediatrician advises not to succumb to the whims and manipulations of your child, not to sacrifice the well-being of the family. If the baby is not sick, fed, bathed, and the room is cool and wet air then he will surely fall asleep.

Baby sleep is a vital process in the development of the baby. Therefore, it is very important to know how to teach a child to sleep in his own crib. To ensure that the children sleep soundly, comfortable sleep attributes are offered. When they begin to sleep separately, then the parents will begin to sleep. And mom's health is very important for the future educational process. When a child needs a separate bed or room, adults decide, of course. They must provide all conditions for good night. You just need to remember that the longer the moment is postponed, the harder it is for the child to get used to it.

Spending days and nights with a newborn baby, young parents in the future have to face very delicate issue. How to accustom a child to a crib and develop in him the habit of sleeping in his room? On the one hand, many mothers are calmer and more comfortable when the baby falls asleep in the matrimonial bed, but, on the other hand, common sense tells them that this cannot last long.

The process of weaning from the parental bed in each family occurs in its own way: some children experience this period extremely painfully, while their other peers independently decide to sleep separately from their parents. Hoping that the problem of children's sleep in the parent's bed will resolve itself, we should not forget that as the child grows older, this will become more and more difficult every month. In most situations, it is the parents who should, without waiting happy occasion make a joint decision to transfer the baby to his own crib.

When to teach your baby to sleep separately?

Most right age, according to some experts, is an interval of 6-8 months. At this stage of life, the baby is less likely to wake up at night, requiring another feeding. Moreover, at the indicated age, the baby is already independent enough to choose the most comfortable position for himself during sleep.

It is ideal, of course, for the baby to fall asleep not just in his own bed, but in his own room. In the future, the child's personal territory and space favorably will affect the formation in him of a sense of independence and responsibility.

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It should be noted that in many foreign families the described issue practically does not arise, since the child is assigned an adjacent room and a separate bed from the first months of life. Control the same baby and his sleep at night in this case helps a well-known device - a baby monitor.

Intimate aspect

Within the framework of this publication, one should also mention such a delicate point as intimacy between spouses in whose bed the child sleeps. No matter what age the child is, most experts categorically do not recommend practicing intimacy in his presence, even if it seems to the couple that the child is sleeping soundly and "will not see anything."

First of all, it should be said that the decision to “transfer” the baby to its own crib should be made by the spouses mutually and unconditionally. Keep in mind that just 1-2 indulgences are enough, as the whole process will have to start over. It is extremely important to avoid situations in which, for example, the child's father allows him to sleep in the parent's bed, while the baby's mother is categorically opposed to this. Both spouses must adhere to the firmness of their decision.

Remember that at this difficult stage you will have to apply a lot of imagination, cunning and patience so as not to injure the child or fix it in his mind that he suddenly became unnecessary to his parents. In this regard, the aspect of the moral preparation of the child will need to be given a lot of attention. And here all sorts of tricks are welcome, up to encouraging the baby, who at first manages to fall asleep in his crib without tears and tantrums. Over time, the child's mind will develop a sense of their own, personal space, and the habit of sleeping with their parents will disappear by itself.

Follow the regime

Throughout the process of accustoming the baby to his own crib, try to put him to bed at the same time. By doing this, you will not only develop in him the habit of sleeping separately, but you will also be able to accustom him to observe the regime of proper sleep and rest.

Getting ready for bed should be a pleasant procedure.

Fix pleasant associations in the mind of your baby. Let the procedure of preparing for sleep be accompanied by something relaxing, kind, inviting and attuning to a comfortable and good night. Sing a lullaby to your baby, read good fairy tale and leave the children's bedroom only after you make sure that the child is fast asleep.

Protective talisman

Try giving him his favorite toy with you.

If the baby, for inexplicable reasons, is still afraid to fall asleep alone, pick up a talisman for him to sleep. It can be a cute plush dog or a funny dragon, a soft pillow in the form of some animal, a soldier or a knight from your favorite toy collection. come up with interesting story about this character, in which he acts as a reliable and faithful protector for his little master.

Let there be light!

Fear of the dark is one of the main reasons why most children are afraid to be alone at night. Therefore, when leaving, do not turn off the night light (get a lamp with pleasant diffused light in the children's bedroom in advance) and try not to close the door. Hearing the voices of mom and dad, the child will feel more secure without even seeing them.

Be tactful but persistent

Remember that in the early stages of accustoming the baby to his own crib, you will have to periodically approach him. But be aware that your responsiveness can interfere with your baby's normal adjustment to sleeping alone. Try to reduce the number of approaches to the child, if you understand that the baby is calling you, rather out of boredom than because he really needs something.

Parental manipulation in these circumstances is not uncommon, so try to avoid it.