As a mother, did you ever get a good night's sleep before your child was 3 years old? Frequent night feedings are required before the child is 6 months old. You think it will be fine after the child turns 1 year old. It turned out that when the child was 1 year old, he cried a lot and woke up frequently at night because of teething and discomfort. If you think about it when he was 2 years old, it turned out that he didn't wake up at night after he turned 2 years old. However, it was too difficult to coax him to sleep, and the old mother was sleepy. It's miserable, but the baby is getting more and more energetic?
Do you think it’s because I didn’t do my bedtime ritual well? But after washing her face and telling her story, the baby still won't sleep. Is it too annoying?
Hi, everyone, I am Ke Ma, a family early childhood teacher who specializes in child psychology . Today Ke Ma will teach you 2 methods to make your children fall asleep obediently.
Is it necessary to do a bedtime ritual?
It is often difficult for people to fall asleep when they are excited. Adults can better enter a sleep state through self-regulation. But that’s not necessarily true for children!
He doesn't have this ability yet, so he needs adults to help him establish a bedtime ritual to calm him down slowly. This will make it easier whether we coax him to sleep or let the baby fall asleep on his own.
You will say I have never done this. Babies just sleep well. It is undeniable that some babies are naturally easy to take care of and fall asleep on their own after putting them on the bed. Now we are talking about babies who have difficulty sleeping.
A must-have bedtime ritual for babies! It is essentially a sleep signal that has 2 main functions. Especially new mothers must understand.
On the one hand, bedtime rituals can soothe your baby's emotions. For example, pre-bedtime activities such as feeding the baby and telling stories can relax the child's emotions and calm him down. Moreover, carrying out fixed activities every day can make the baby know exactly what is going to happen next, making him feel particularly at ease.
Little baby taking bath
On the other hand, bedtime rituals can allow babies to form the awareness that "after doing these things, it's time to go to sleep". As time goes by, he will know that he needs to go to bed after eating milk and reading a story. This is the same reason that many people are used to brushing their teeth, washing their face, and swiping their mobile phones every day before they can sleep peacefully.
What are the bedtime rituals?
The activities I often take my children to do before going to bed are taking a bath, changing into pajamas, telling stories, listening to music, singing, saying good night etc. And it has been going on for almost 2 years. Now the child has a good bedtime habit. When the time comes, he actively asks to brush his teeth and wash his face before going to bed.
may seem very messy, but in fact there are rules to follow. In summary, there are three types of activities: excessive activities, connecting and soothing activities, and signaling activities.
Of course not all babies like the same bedtime ritual, so we have to analyze the specific situation. You might say that's what I do. But the baby still doesn’t like to sleep and is getting more and more excited? For example, the more I tell a story to a child, the more he listens to it over and over again, the more excited he becomes. What should I do?
At this time, you need to set rules. For example, you may stipulate that you only tell one story at the beginning. Even if the child wants to listen, don't tell it again. Let him know that he will only listen to one story before going to bed every day. After listening, he can't talk and has to go to sleep.
Then we have to think about why the bedtime ritual is ineffective?
In fact, it is often the details that determine success or failure. In the process of performing bedtime rituals, there are two personal principles that are very important. Parents can compare them. If you fail to do them, the effect may be greatly reduced.
Principle 1: Maintain consistency
As mentioned before, the activities arranged before going to bed need to be the same every day, and the steps must be the same, so that the baby will get used to this process and associate it with sleep. But if you have a different process today than yesterday, if it is not executed well in the next few days, or if the order is changed at will, it is easy for the baby to feel confused and misplaced.
So we decide what to do first? what are you doing? It is best to form a standard sequence process so that children know exactly what to do and slowly form muscle and behavioral memory.
Principle 2: Maintain high quality
When doing bedtime activities for your baby, are you more concerned about whether all the activities have been completed?
I believe that many parents are like me. They take their children to read picture books for a few minutes and they no longer like them. What should I do if they run away halfway through brushing their teeth?
In fact, a study by the University of Pennsylvania in the United States found that how the baby sleeps at night has little to do with what parents did before going to bed. What is more important is how these things are done.
She obviously doesn’t want to listen anymore, but if you continue to talk, the child will only become more and more bored. There is no need to rush your child for the sake of the process. The more you push, the less likely your child will want to sleep. The most important thing is to be full of love, let the child feel loved, and be consistent so that he can sleep more peacefully.
However, it should also be noted that if the child suddenly feels uncomfortable, it will also affect the child's sleep. Allergies, eczema , gastrointestinal discomfort, etc. will also affect the child's sleep.
The most important thing is not to let the children experience too many emotional ups and downs during the day. For example, parents quarrel, parents beat and scold their children, which will frighten the children and make them sleep poorly at night.
I am Kema, and I share parenting knowledge every day. Welcome to leave a message, comment and collect.
