What's the best way to teach a month old baby the difference between day and nig

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   Dreamer08posted 10 years ago

   What's the best way to teach a month old baby the difference between day and night?

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2. 76

   lilmissmontanaposted 10 years ago

   That is difficult to answer. I remember when my daughter was very young, a month or two, and she would sleep all day and then wake up throughout the night and not want to go back to sleep. I read that you just have to let them sleep when they need or want sleep and deal with it. But there are others that suggest otherwise.
   
   If you are having trouble with your baby sleeping during the day and being awake at night, try reversing everything. Keep your house really dark during the day with black out curtains, or hang comforters over the windows and keep the lights off and noise down. Then at night turn the lights on ( I know it sounds hard). But this is supposed to reverse their internal clock. And within a few days to a week you should be able to go back to normal and your baby will be sleeping during the night an awake during the day.

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   Opining Penguinposted 10 years ago

   For both of my boys, during their awake periods, we would keep them in the more well-lit and relatively noisier rooms. Whenever they would fall asleep or start getting sleepy we would move them to the darker rooms, thereby trying to associate darkness with sleeping and light with being awake. When they would wake up in the middle of the night for their nightly feeding we would make sure to turn on the lights in our room. Once they were done eating, we would shut off the lights and rock them back to sleep. One thing we also introduced was a white noise maker, which we only used while they were sleeping (and still do).
   
   It's obviously going to vary with each child, but this is what worked with our boys.

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      Dreamer08posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The thing is, he would tend to always fall asleep after feeding (daytime or nighttime). Sometimes, though, he would stay awake more at night when he misses a daytime nap. I still dont get his sleep pattern and it equates to sleepless nights for me.

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      Opining Penguinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Just out curiosity, is it generally pretty quiet in the room at night?

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      Lisa HWposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      At only a month old sleepless nights (or days) are pretty much part of the deal.   

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      Dreamer08posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it is quiet in the room at night. During daytime, we dont go out of our way to tiptoe around him when he sleeps. I would like him to sleep longer during nighttime. He tends to sleep longer during daytime.

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      Opining Penguinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There is the potential that maybe it's just too quiet in the room. I would try a white noise maker to use during nap/bed times to see if that has any positive impact. Or a white noise app, either way.

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      Dreamer08posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, there's the hum of the electric fan.

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      Opining Penguinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I would start by downloading a white noise app (if you have a smart phone) and using it whenever your little one naps and sleeps. Use that in conjunction with my original tips and see if it makes a difference.

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4. 63

   Lisa HWposted 10 years ago

   You don't.   Babies' feeding cycles/schedules are short, which means they're up every couple/few hours all through the day and night.  The cycle/schedule gradually lengthens until the baby no longer needs to get up all through the night, or else, say, sleep only "a select" five hours between late night and very early morning.

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   Mrs Jil Manningposted 10 years ago

   Babies this young still have very small stomachs and will still wake regularly to feed, day or night. You can't 'teach' them this kind of thing yet. Later on, when you feed at night, keep the lights low and eye contact and playing or talking to a minimum, just feed and soothe very quietly, unlike daytime, with lots of eye contact and interaction.

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      Opining Penguinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good point about eye contact and talking. This is something else we used to keep to a bare minimum during the night time hours and was very helpful. We will still do this with our nine month old.

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   Daniella Lopezposted 10 years ago

   My now 8 month old had a lot of difficulty with this at first. What helped for us was taking her outside first thing in the morning and letting her get some sunshine. Then at night, if she still wasn't asleep, we would take her for a little walk under the moonlite. It really seemed to help!
   
   Also, does your baby sleep in a totally dark room at night? This will help them to learn that darkness means sleep time. If you breastfeed, make certain that you nurse the baby at night whenever they want it. This will help them with their melatonin.

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      Dreamer08posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, at nighttime, he sleeps in a dim room. He's 5 weeks now and it seems that he's starting to get what nighttime is.... At least i think he is. Tho, sometimes he would get fussy before sleeping.

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