baby - Tips for More Restful Baby Sleep

Do you have a baby? If you do, then you're probably concerned about your baby's sleeping habits. After all, you will sleep more easily once your baby is sleeping regularly. Infants develop consistent sleeping habits gradually and their sleeping patterns begin to develop when they reach 3 months of age. Let me give you a few tips on how you can recognize and encourage the development of consistent baby sleep patterns of your baby. After they are born, babies need to sleep often. However, they do not slumber for long stretches at a time. Parents have to respond as quickly as possible to their baby's sleep and eating needs because very young infants need to eat and sleep on demand. You will find it easier to achieve this by keeping the baby near you. An infant usually follows a pattern similar to eat, poop, sleep, quiet alert time, and repeat. It is important that you observe your baby when he or she is at one of these stages. You can chart the steps and look for patterns if you want to see the baby sleep patterns of your newborn more accurately. You can encourage the baby to sleep alone, but it is important that you always remain nearby. If a baby is swaddled in a baby blanket or held close to a parent's body, then it will sleep better. A baby feels comfortable with the warmth and feeling of being held by his or her parents. Every baby sleeps easier when he or she feels comfortable and familiar with the environment. Your baby may refuse to sleep alone at first but, there's no need to worry. Your baby will develop the habit of sleeping alone with practice. Remember that every baby has different baby sleep habits. It would be a good idea to swaddle your newborn and lay him down on his back or side for sleep at least a couple of times a day. As the days go on, you can increase the number of times the baby sleeps alone gradually. Usually, newborn babies will awake during the night because of hunger. You can do a few things to encourage your baby to sleep more and become less alert during the night. For instance, you can place your the baby in a darkened room in the evening, and avoid stimulation as much as possible. Do your best to be quiet and low key when the baby is awake. Simply tend to his needs for sleep, change or feeding and then lay the baby back down for sleeping. Avoid playing with your baby during the night if possible. Playing with the baby during the night will disrupt the development of baby sleep patterns and encourage the baby to be awake more often during the day. If the baby is nursing, encouraging baby sleep patterns may be made easier by having the baby sleep in the same room or even bed as the parents. The warm comfort of being near the mother may help your baby sleep better. You may have to check with your pediatrician first to learn about the safety of co-sleeping. Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Baby Sleep. Visit our site for more helpful information about Baby Sleep and other similar topics. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Morgan_Hamilton baby - How To Do A Baby Handprint Poem It can be a lot of fun creating a baby handprint poem keepsake. As it involves paint and a child it can also very quickly get very messy so be sure to do it at a place where you can easily clean up after you're done creating the keepsakes. Before you get started you will need to find a poem that you can put place the baby hands on. There are a lot of poems available on the internet that you can borrow. Be sure to read any disclaimer or copyright information that is posted along side the poem that you choose. I always recommend that you contact the author (if possible) to make sure that it is okay to use the poem they created. Most of the time they are only glad that someone likes their poem. They might even have more poems that you can use for additional keepsake ideas that you might have. If you haven't got the time to look around for a poem to use then here is one that you can print: Sometimes you get discouraged Because I am so small And always leave my fingerprints On furniture and walls But every day I'm growing I'll be grown some day And all those tiny handprints Will surely fade away So here's a little handprint Just so you can recall Exactly how my fingers looked When I was very small -- Put a date here -- Love, -- put child's name here -- Be sure to print out a few copies in case the first handprint isn't perfect. The other ingredients that you will need is: Your child in play clothing (obviously), a small photo (not necessary), water based paint (or finger paint), a bowl or similar to hold the paint, a sponge or a brush to apply the paint to your child's hand, paper towels to easily clean up your child's hands afterwards. Now you apply the paint to your baby's hand and place the hand on the paper with the poem at the exact place that you want it to appear. It might take several tries before you get it right so be sure to bring your patience. When you have finally made a baby handprint poem that you like be sure to clean the hands (and the rest) of your baby before moving on to anything else. Otherwise you might end up getting paint all over the place. Now you'll have to wait for the paint to dry and if you want to you can glue a little picture of the baby to the handprint poem. To add a final touch you can frame it to make it last for years to come. Be sure to add the baby's name and the date to the handprint poem before you frame it.