When your baby sleeps, she becomes more tolerant, happier and engaging. This is the time that you can rest.
But it can be much better if the baby sleeps on a schedule. That way, your day’s patterns will be predictable and you can accomplish much more. On the other hand, your baby will know what to expect at any given time. It will also be easier to leave her with a caretaker as you can provide specific instructions on how to care for the baby.
But how do you get your baby to sleep on a schedule? Here are helpful tips.

When to start
There is controversy over the best time to start putting your baby on a sleep schedule. Some experts suggest between 2 and 4 months while others advocate for 5 or 6 months. You will also come across those suggesting you start at birth or at one week.

Whatever you decide, it is important to keep in mind that babies start to develop a natural sleep rhythm and feeding habits at about four months old. When you see your baby get into predictable patterns, encourage him to follow the schedule.

Start small. Begin by planning the morning nap which happens not long after the baby wakes up. The nap may take only 45 minutes when you start. However, don’t assume the nap is over. You can give your infant a few more minutes to fall back asleep after they wake up from the nap.

Create a favorable atmosphere for sleep
Provide the baby with an environment that encourages sleep. Make sure the baby sleeps in a crib where the room is cool, dark and quiet. You can also have a bedtime routine that prepares her to sleep such as singing or changing the diaper.

Mommyhood101 gives you reviews of various products that your baby will need such as diapers, cribs, baby bottles, and others. These will help you to prepare your little one for their sleep schedule.

Keep Track
Your baby is likely to fall into a sleeping and feeding pattern as time goes by. Keep track of when the baby sleeps, wakes up, poops and eats. When you understand the natural rhythm, you can base the sleep schedule on it.
To help you log the daily routine, you can use apps, a computer spreadsheet or a simple pen and paper.

Rely on timing
Your baby’s sleep schedule will be successful if you employ proper timing. Let your 4 to 6 month old baby have a nap in the morning, another in the afternoon and then late afternoon. By the eighth month, the baby can take two longer naps in the morning and afternoon each going for 1 to 1½ hours. Your infant should be asleep by 6pm, wake up by 7 am and take the first nap by 9 am.

Keep going
It may take a while before your baby gets used to the sleep schedule. One day she sleeps just fine and the next she doesn’t. However, don’t give up. Just like any other milestone, you will experience progress and setbacks. Remember, babies are different so don’t compare yours with your neighbor’s.

Note, that in as much as you are following a schedule, the needs of the baby should come first. Just because its sleep time, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t comfort a fussy baby. If you think the baby is hungry, don’t withhold food simply because it is not feeding time or he ate an hour ago. Use your instincts to know what the baby needs.

Babies love their sleep. Sometimes it may not seem like it to parents exhausted by endless feeds, tantrums and nappy changes – but they do.

Also must read: Fun Time with Kinder Joy

In fact, by the age of two most children will have spent more of their lives asleep than awake.

Things start to change around the age our little bundles of joy begin to find their feet and start the transformation from horizontal babies to somewhat vertical toddlers.

But how much sleep does a toddler actually need?

The answer is a lot – usually far far more than parents allow for. Experts believe 13-14 hours is the correct amount, including naptime.

Good sleep is essential in this early stage of their development. The quality and quantity of a child’s sleep impacts their brain development as well as their emotional and behavioural functioning. An increasing body of research also suggests that sleep helps children fight obesity, avoid colds and even succeed in school.

So the importance of sleep a this age cannot be understated but unfortunately it’s at this crucial age that many children begin to actively resist bedtime. The reasons for are manyfold.

Their motor, cognitive and social abilities are all expanding rapidly and with this comes overstimulation. Every day at this age is a sensory adventure and their brains often struggle to keep up with all enormous daily data dumps they receive.

Add to this the development of the child’s capacity for imagination which can lead to the onset of sleep problems such as nightmares. With this comes an understandable increase in a child’s resistance to sleep and to nighttime in general.

The experts over at the Sleep Advisor blog know a thing or two about how to handle nightmares, check out their hints and tips.

Similarly, with their newfound ability to get out of bed on their own, toddlers have a freedom to make choices they simply couldn’t when they were younger – such as getting up and wandering around. Add to this other issues such as separation anxiety and it is no surprise they are reluctant to stay tucked in.

If a child has poor sleep habits, refuses to nap or simply won’t go to bed at his scheduled time, parents often assume the little one doesn’t need that much sleep. Unfortunately that is most likely not the case.

In fact it is more likely such a problem child is actually sleep-deprived. This sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. Drowsy children don’t necessarily slow down the way adults do – overtired, they instead get wound up and display erratic behaviour at bedtime.

But what can be done to help a problem sleeper find the rest they so need. Well funnily enough, the tips sleep experts give to help a toddlers get more sleep are surprisingly similar to those adults should follow also.

They include maintaining a regular daily sleep schedule with a consistent bedtime routine and making sure the sleeping environment is kept the same every night.
Access to screens should also be limited to avoid over stimulating the little one before bed.

Advice we can all learn from.