Good Night, Sleep Tight!

So, for a newborn, typically, parents do like to have their newborn in a room with them, and you know, near them. And that's completely a personal preference, but most people do have their little one in a safe bassinet. Obviously, no major cushions or pillows or blankets, just very plain nothing that can interfere with any safety issues at all with the newborn. So sleep environment, a cooler room is always best for a little baby. And in terms of the room, and its light, it should be super dark, as dark as you can make it. You know, the blackout blinds, the blackout curtains, all that good stuff. And then in terms of kind of noise, a lot of people do choose to use a white noise machine. I am a fan of them, especially, you know, busy moms. And you know, we're juggling during the day. And when our little ones do go to sleep, we kind of don't, you know, we want to make sure we have a kind of a sound blocker to some degree. So, for vacuuming or running around the house, or there's a barking dog or whatever the case may be, then a sound machine is really a good tool just on white noise, a straight white noise or rain setting a constant sound no heartbeats, no birds, no, nothing like that.

Janey Reilly

So newborn sleep is extremely important. And you know, 5, 6, 7 naps a day, sometimes, right. And you know, if it has to happen in mom or dad's arms, or you know, a bouncer or swing or something, you know what I mean? Like some sort of device or a lulling machine, if that's what it takes for the little one to sleep then that is very important. Obviously, as the child grows up, we don't want them to be reliant on those things as they're coming out of that, you know, two, three months kind of zone. But I'm a realist in terms of newborn sleep, like we, you know, they're fresh into this world. And it's kind of the, of course, we want the snuggles we want all of that. We want to give them as much comfort, we want to make sure they're getting enough sleep and nutrition and all that great stuff. So in saying that newborns really do have a hard time sleeping quite often, especially on their own. They're used to being in a belly and, you know, so if naps have to be in mom or dad's arms, that's okay. When we work with families, I do encourage that because the morning nap is kind of an easier nap. It sets the tone for the day, even the little ones coming out of a, you know, a night's sleep, that first nap of the day is often an easier nap, if you will. So, if they can put the little one in the bassinet for that nap, kind of at least one or two of the naps in the bassinet and if the other ones have to be on the go or being carried or in a carrier of some sort, that's all okay.

Janey Reilly