From birth, many parents are concerned with the subject of baby sleep. We asked Kingababy baby sleep consultant Victoria: What is preventative baby sleep? What tips does she have for baby sleep at the beginning? And what is her self-developed Kingababy method? Here are the answers in an interview with the baby sleep expert.
A newborn baby and lack of sleep in the parents go hand in hand? It doesn't have to be! For many parents, their baby's sleep is a difficult topic. In an interview, baby sleep expert Victoria from Kingababy told us what you can do right from the start for a healthy and restful baby sleep.
Question : Victoria, why have you dedicated your work to babies' sleep?
Victoria : Baby sleep is like a mystery for many parents and determines the conversations in the toddler groups and on the playground in the first years of life. I wish that babies' sleep will already be dealt with in depth in the birth preparation courses, because the preventive approach is the gentlest and can make everyday life with a newborn wonderfully easier.
What is behind the preventive approach?
Preventive means that you take care of something before it becomes difficult. Therefore, the Kingababy method can be used from birth - because this is the best way to get your little one used to a healthy and restful baby sleep. The preventive approach makes dealing with baby sleep much gentler because you establish healthy habits from the start instead of having to react to difficulties later. The needs of baby and mom come first.
What is meant by "healthy sleeping habits"?
There are so many ways to help little ones sleep. Babies begin to recognize routines and rituals as early as the second month of life. Always the same processes and sequences give the little ones security and that is exactly why we as parents are allowed to establish a bedtime ritual at an early age. The evening bath or just a cat wash with a washcloth and the boep baby shampoo can become a regular part of the bedtime routine. And this routine does not have to be complicated in other respects either: changing clothes, changing diapers, cuddling, darkening the room together, holding them in their arms, singing, breastfeeding, ... Every family should find and establish their own bedtime routine.
As a baby sleep consultant, I am often asked where the baby should sleep during the day. I don't find extremes good or helpful in any way. That's why I don't teach rules like: "Your baby must always sleep in the bed". Nevertheless, I think it makes sense to establish the cot as a sleeping place for the baby right from the start . Many parents realize after a while that the little one has never slept in bed how difficult it is to get used to it after the fact. Sleeping in mom and dad's arms has become a habit that's grown on dear and it's hard for the baby to give up overnight. Therefore I recommend to establish several different sleeping places from the beginning - very gently and with loving patience.
What are the peculiarities of baby sleep in the first three months?
The key to good baby sleep is knowing the ins and outs of sleep patterns. After the birth, your little one is still very exhausted and will sleep a lot. These first two weeks after childbirth are therefore often referred to as "sleeping beauty", because usually the little ones only really settle into the world and wake up afterwards. For this reason, newborns cannot stay awake longer than an hour and a half at most without becoming overtired and overstimulated. A very important keyword in this context is the "waking phase". Pay attention to an age-appropriate waking phase for your baby! It describes the time that the little one is awake since the last nap before going back to sleep. In the first few weeks, this waking phase is just once a maximum of one hour before your little one starts to get tired. A newborn who is kept awake too long has a much harder time falling asleep afterwards. Knowledge of age-appropriate waking phases is a basic requirement for healthy and restful baby sleep - and thus also for the restful sleep of the entire family. With increasing age, the length of the waking phases increases.
Victoria is a mom to three young children and founder of Kingababy Sleep Advice , where parents Baby sleep courses and individual sleep advice can be found.
Your bedtime ritual with the boep
Every family's bedtime ritual is different. Nice routines could be, for example, an evening bath with our Baby bath oil or a small round of massages with ours be baby almond oil .
Our almond oil has a wonderfully delicate scent, is easy to spread on the skin and is quickly absorbed - the perfect massage oil for baby massages. Instructions and tips for a relaxed baby massage can be found here .
Our bath oil cares for your baby's delicate skin while bathing with valuable organic jojoba oil and almond oil. It protects the skin from drying out and leaves the skin feeling soft to the touch.
What are your bedtime rituals? Share them with us in the comment box!
