Are you expecting a baby soon? You have been waiting, preparing, thinking of names and decorating the nursery for 9 months now and it suddenly hits you that you have no idea how to take care of a baby. NCT courses are massively helpful but sometimes there’s situations that arise that aren’t to be expected. How do you soothe your baby to sleep when they just won’t settle?
How to Soothe Your Newborn Baby to Sleep in the Fourth Trimester
This often can be the most difficult and most frustrating part of being a new parent. Sometimes you just don’t know what your newborn needs. You have tried everything you can think of but they won’t stop crying. It can be so difficult on so little sleep to try to be patient with your new baby. There are many methods on the internet but the most natural way is to recreate the womb in those first few weeks after baby is born.
A newborn had been cosy, in a very tight space, with lots of muffled noise and very warm for 9 months. It is a huge shock for a newborn to emerge into a cold world where their arms flail about and the nights are dark and quiet. So how do you recreate the womb in the 4th trimester?
Swaddling Helps Baby Feel Safe
So many times a client has told me that their baby doesn’t like to be swaddled. I tell them that they just haven’t done it right! Being swaddled is the most natural thing in the world for a newborn because they were so curled up with little space inside the womb. Excellent swaddles for safe sleeping are the Woombie, Love to Dream or the Tommy Tippee.
White Noise Replicates Noise in the Womb
Newborns love constant noise. This is because it was quite noisy in the womb because they could hear mum’s stomach, their heart beat, mum talking and the muffled sounds going on around them during the day time. So when they are sleeping, a quiet atmosphere around them can actually be more difficult for them to sleep. A white noise machine is the perfect solution to keep a low constant noise on in the background so it soothes baby asleep and also helps keep them in a deep sleep as every little noise doesn’t wake them.
Rocking Your Baby Helps Soothe Them Like in The Womb
A little bit of rocking and swaying goes a long way with a newborn! In the womb they were used to the swaying of mum as she walked and the constant movement. Rocking a baby can help soothe them to sleep or just calm them down slightly.
Black Out Blinds Help Keep Your Baby Asleep
Darkness helps build melatonin so that baby can sleep easier. Black out blinds also help so that baby doesn’t wake too early when the sun rises and helps settle baby during day time naps.
As a new parent with little experience with newborn babies, it can be overwhelming to try to settle a baby when they are crying continuously. Exhaustion and hormones can add to the difficulties. But through trying to replicate the womb in the fourth trimester there are so many ways to comfort baby and soothe them to sleep when they need it!