My Newborn Fusses When I Lay Him Down. How Do I Break Him Of This Habit
Almost every parent has gone through sleepless nights due to their baby’s refusal to go to sleep on their own. The moment the baby is laid down in its crib, it starts crying. There is a reason behind this habit. After spending nine months in the warmth of the womb, it is not easy for the baby to adjust to the new found freedom. The baby still needs its mother’s presence in order to feel safe. Hence, every time they are laid down in their crib or on the bed they start crying because they need their mother’s warm body by their side.
There Are A Number Of Ways Which Can Soothe The Fussy Baby:-
Babies usually cry when they are laid down while being fully awake. That way they can tell when their mother is moving away from them thereby inducing the sense of insecurity. Hence, it is better to make sure the baby is asleep before laying them down.
If the baby wakes up and starts crying, one can take the baby in their arms, rock and swaddle them and even nurse them till they fall back to sleep again.
Another method that works is having the mother lie down beside her baby. The presence of the mother soothes the baby and they tend to fuss less and sleep more.
After laying the baby down, one can stroke or pat the baby to sleep, thus minimizing the gap between being held and being alone.
The above are just transitory methods to calm the baby down. But for the long term, the baby needs to lose this habit and get used to sleeping alone.
Here Are Some Ways To Achieve That:-
Try to introduce a natural routine in their sleeping and waking up patterns. Their crib can be kept by the window where light will denote waking time and darkness will denote sleeping time. This way, the baby will soon get into the habit of sleeping whenever it’s dark.
One can introduce some sort of music into the routine or even a fixed feeding time. Infants readily get used to routines and hence it becomes easier to train them to go to sleep at a particular time.
Next step is putting the baby in the crib while it’s still awake. A lot of crying may ensue; but it’s normal and the babies will gradually stop crying and start dozing off on their own. The parents should go and reassure them of their presence at regular intervals, especially when the crying gets out of hand.
Once the child develops the habit of going to sleep on their own when put in the crib, their fussiness will diminish remarkably. Even if one notices crying, it might be due to hunger or some other discomfort. The parents should make it a habit of checking on the baby from time to time, even though the baby sleeps peacefully now.
