Developing your baby sleep routine

Ask any new parent what the biggest learning curve is, and high on the list is likely to be the question of how to get baby to sleep. It’s not always an easy task, but soon you’ll work out some tricks to improve baby sleep (and your sleep, along the way). To figure out how to put a baby to bed, your baby night routine is a good place to start.

There are many views on the best way to help baby sleep through night, but how you do it is up to you. Try not to feel pressured to do things a certain way – what works for one family may not work for others. But one thing is for certain: putting baby to bed with a night time routine isn’t just good for your baby – it means you get some rest, too.

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Developing a baby sleep routine. 
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When thinking about how to put a baby to sleep, one thing that most parents and experts agree on is developing a baby sleep routine of some kind. “Routine is the key if you want consistency, so try and keep everything the same – the noise, the time, the smells, the behaviour, the actions of the parents, so the child begins to anticipate the next thing is sleep,” says Tracey, children’s nurse and mom of two
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Try a bath before bed. 
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Bath water can dry out your baby’s delicate skin, so following with nourishing baby skin care products, like a night time baby lotion, can help replenish and maintain baby’s skin-natural moisture overnight. “Before bed, we coat our son’s skin in baby body lotion. We cover his legs and arms especially,” says Cameron, dad of one. Adding Baby Dove Calming Moisture Night Time Lotion to your routine will gently soothe and hydrate baby dry skin, helping to support its natural development while your baby sleeps peacefully through the night. Adding its calming scent to your soothing baby massage can help them relax before sleep, too
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Helping them wind down. 
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If your baby isn’t feeling sleepy, lotion is a key ingredient to this helpful trick: massage. Some parents find that following the bath with a gentle baby massage can help baby sleep. By using a baby body lotion with a calming scent, like Baby Dove Calming Moisture Night Time Lotion, their senses will be soothed while the formula works to nourish skin overnight
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Keep an eye on the time. 
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How long your overnight baby care routine lasts is up to you. Most parents suggest around 30 minutes, so it doesn’t over-stimulate your little one. It’s down to each individual baby, so read their cues to help baby sleep when they need to: “I would look for tired signs after my daughter had been awake for an hour, rubbing her eyes or rooting for the breast,” says Sanchia, mom of one
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Do what works for you. 
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However you decide to do it, trust your judgement. “Some parents are lucky – their babies get into a routine very easily, but this is not the case for every baby,” explains dad of one, Sion. “Try not to compare yourself, trust your instincts and do what’s best for you and your baby”