11 Mistakes to Avoid while Putting Your Baby to Bed

Putting the baby to sleep might seem like a humongous task in the beginning. With time however the parents ease into this activity by either going by all kinds of advice from other people or setting rules for themselves to follow. Most parents begin with a steady set of rules about baby’s bedtime routine though they gradually waiver into taking a few shortcuts or deviating from the set schedule which can throw the baby off completely. These are the 11 most common night time mistakes that parents make while putting the baby to sleep.

1. Putting your Child to Bed too Late

A lot of parents tend to delay putting kids to bed just to spend a few extra minutes with them. At times the working hours are such that parents try to synchronize the sleep time of the baby with there schedule. This is however not an appreciable act as changing the daily sleep routine of the baby can lead to a cranky and overtired baby. Even a difference of 15-20 minutes can seriously disturb a child’s sleep schedule and throw him off it for quite a few days to come.

2. Rocking the Baby to Sleep

Most parents soothe a baby into sleep using rocking motions, from one end to another. However, if the baby becomes accustomed to these motions, he may find it harder to fall asleep without them. It is normal to use the motions in order console your crying or cranked up the baby but highly unwise to make it a part of his bedtime routines at night. Another factor here is that motion induced sleep can have serious effects on the baby’s quality of sleep- It is possible that due to these motions, a constant and deep sleep cannot be achieved. Also, It will encourage a demand for such kind of soothing every time the baby wakes up in the middle of the night, which obviously is an impossible task to cater to and could not be done.

3. Overstimulation

When a baby’s cot or crib is surrounded by distracting toys, crib mobiles or lights and sounds, he may find it harder to fall asleep. Rather than sleeping next to the cuddly teddy bear that you place near the baby cause it is just too darn cute, might not induce sleep, rather stimulate the baby to play with the same. It is hence better to clean the baby’s crib in order to make way for his sleep.

4. Over-tired Baby Sleeps Better

Every baby is unique and reacts differently on different occasions and towards the stimulus. t is not always that a tired baby is the one puckering his eyes or refuses to play around. Not all babies might show fatigue by yawning, some might get cranky, hyper, a bit edgy or somewhat wild. It is not generally the case that an overtired baby would sleep better, as gauging the same would be impossible. Hence it is wise to read your baby for his unique cues of fatigue and take the correct action accordingly.

5. Skipping the Whole Bedtime Routine

Most adults don’t take bedtime routines seriously but they need to understand that for a baby, the routine of bathing, a bedtime story, and a lullaby is an indicator that he needs to go to sleep now. Any changes or omissions in the schedule will confuse the child and he may not know that it’s time to go to sleep.

6. Inconsistency With Sleeping Schedules

Babies need to be put on a schedule and when you break that schedule yourself, they get confused. Try to stick to the schedule as closely as possible to avoid confusing the child about when it’s time to go to sleep.

7. Moving the Child to a Big Bed too Soon

Being put in a crib or a cot tells the child that it’s time to sleep. Moving the child to a big bed too soon can be a bit of a risk since they may not be mature enough to understand that they shouldn’t get up, roll more often or get out of bed at night as they can hurt themselves. Also once out of bed, they may wander through the house alone at night.

8. Putting Baby to Bed With a Bottle

Learn to take away the bottle after your baby has fallen asleep. She may startle and begin to wake but soothe her to sleep instead of allowing her to sleep with the bottle still in her mouth. Not only does a bottle in the mouth provide a suffocating danger to the child, it also presents risks like ear infections, tooth decay and discoloration and even colds if the liquid seeps into her clothes.

9. Extending Feedings at Night

When you child reaches around 12 pounds of weight, he wouldn’t need to be fed through the night. If you find you child crying for food even after she has exceeded the weight limit, you might want to consider other methods of soothing her instead of feeding her.

10. Sticking to the Baby Monitor too Closely

Keeping baby monitors in the room of the baby is though a way to get some tension off of the parents but early parents get really obsessed with the same as they struggle to hear every cry and whimper of the baby. They would grow restless at a single moan or cry of the baby making themselves a slave to the baby monitor. New parents might be very edgy in the beginning but as the child grows older, it might not be such a great idea. Instead of checking up on the baby at every little cry, wait for a little while to see if he can self-soothe.

11. Following the Child’s Schedule

There will be days when the baby won’t be tired enough to fall asleep and would want to stay up longer. Even though it’s perfectly ok to let the child stay up on special occasions, allowing him to regulate his schedule regularly would leave you having to move your own schedule around the child’s sleeping patterns even when he is quite grown up.