By the time your baby is six months old, he will appreciate the soothing ‘sameness’ of a bedtime routine. Babies love routine and it won’t take long for him to understand what is expected. A typical bedtime routine may be:
- dinner
- have a bath
- changing into a fresh nappy or diaper and night clothes
- putting to bed
- reading a bedtime story
- dimming the lights in the room to create a calm atmosphere
- giving a goodnight kiss and cuddle
- singing a lullaby or having a wind-up musical mobile that you can turn on when you’ve put your baby to bed
Tune in to your baby’s tired signs as by 6-12 months they are very busy and often prefer to be doing things rather than sleeping. Night feeds should not be necessary and some babies will sleep up to 12 hours at night. Babies have shorter sleep cycles than adults and spend more time in dream sleep or REM – rapid eye movement sleep. At 6-12 months their sleep cycle ranges from 40-60 minutes compared to adults 90 minutes. REM sleep is associated with the processing and storing of information and is linked to memory and learning. It is believed that babies need to spend more time in REM sleep than adults because they are practicing what they have learnt and are wiring the pathways of their brain.
How Much Sleep Is Enough For Your Baby – 6 to 12 Months: http://youtu.be/BtZ0s-uCU30
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