Creating habits in children / Part 1: Bedtime

Habits, the good and the bad, are formed through the routine. Children need a healthy habits routine so they can learn, grow and grow in a more harmonious way.

Establishing a routine of habits for children does not mean overloading it with activities, making it a kind of adult agenda. It is also not a timetable, as a result of the anxiety of parents who fear that the child is "outdated" in relation to others, and end up placing the child in various activities: English, ballet, sport, music, painting ... That sooner or later stresses the child.

Another important point when it comes to routine habits, it is for the family to be very clear that discipline is important, but never through violence, always through dialogue. For the benefit of the child, it is necessary to establish the times for eating, sleeping, shower, doing some activity. And these schedules need to be respected, from small.

All babies divide the day into several parts, it is true that they do not know exactly what time of day it is, but they do recognize perfectly the divisions of the times.

Creating routines for children will help them and improve our organization, we must consider that we must be flexible when creating routines for children a few months old.

It is from 3 months of life that they begin to notice the activities they do during the day. Usually, they will notice when they do not perform some activity that they are accustomed to performing during the day.

Creating Sleeping Habits

Good sleep habits are critical to adjusting the baby's circadian rhythm as well as gradually increasing the quality and duration of sleep periods. Children need more sleep than adults so that their brain activity improves learning. The most common is that after each meal the children are sleepy. It is very important to respect sleep and not wake them up while they sleep. Newborns get enough sleep - between 17 and 18 hours a day in the first weeks of life and 15 hours around the third month. However, they rarely sleep more than three or four hours at a time, either during the day or at night.

And what does it mean? You will not have many hours of sleep in a row.

In the course of the night, you will have to get up to breastfeed and exchange the baby; throughout the day, in addition to those tasks, will play with him.

How to create good habits for baby to sleep?

• Learn to understand signs that indicate tiredness

In the first six to eight weeks of life, the baby can not stay awake for more than two hours at a time.

If you expect much more than that to put you to sleep, he will be too tired and will not get to sleep easily, incredible as it may seem.

Pay attention to the signs of fatigue. Are you rubbing your eyes? Does not it stop moving in the ear? Is it with dark circles?

If you notice these indications, immediately place the baby in the crib or cart, or another safe surface. In this way, depending on his temperament, he may already be learning to sleep without being in his lap.

Some tips for the day:

• Keep the house well lit
• Do not worry about avoiding household noise, such as a telephone, conversation or vacuum cleaner, even if you are sleeping
• Play as much as you can.

Some tips for the night:

Try not to tease when you breastfeed
• Turn on the minimum of lights and make little noise

Let the baby fall asleep on his own

When you have about 6 to 8 weeks, try to let the baby sleep alone. Put him in the crib when he looks tired, but he is still awake.

In this way, you can begin to learn to make the transition without you having to sway from side to side or passing your hand on his back.

If from the beginning you accustom the baby to sleep on your own, he has more possibilities to learn that ritual at the time of sleep and if he always pampers it is what he will always expect.

To establish a sleep pattern, it is important to follow the same routine of sleeping every day.

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