If you want your baby to sleep through the night, you may want to read this post. There may be many reasons why your baby is waking in the night, and they all have solutions that you can try.
If you missed the previous post on this topic, you can click here How to Stop Night Waking.
Now let’s talk about some more physical reasons that may not be allowing your baby to sleep through the night.
Stuffy Nose
When babies are very young, they rely on their nasal passages to breathe. Later, they can breath through their mouths, although a stuffy nose could still be irritating enough to keep a baby awake at night.
If you can eliminate the environmental causes for a stuffy nose, such as airborne irritants or allergens. Common household causes for a stuffy nose include dust, cigarette smoke, baby powder, perfumes, paint fumes, hair spray, plants, wool clothing, animal dander, stuffed animals and fuzzy toys(dust), and blankets that can generate lint.
To treat a stuffy nose, use a nasal aspirator or check with your doctor about giving your baby saline nose drops before bedtime.
Dirty Diapers
A wet or soiled diaper can be an irritant to your baby and may keep him or her awake. For a wet diaper, this will depend on the baby. Some babies are bothered when their diaper is wet, although most don’t seem to mind a little wetness. A bowel movement in the diaper, even in the middle of the night, can happen and wake up your baby.
You don’t have to change a wet diaper right away, especially with today’s super absorbent disposable diapers. You may only arose a sleepy baby to full alertness. The exception is if your baby has a nasty diaper rash that you want to keep at bay. It is common for newborns to have a bowl movement at night, especially babies who are breast fed. These diapers should always be changed.
Some things that you can do to ensure that your baby stays comfortable and dry is to change him or her right before bed or before the last feeding before bed. This way, if your baby does fall asleep right after a feeding, you won’t disturb him or her. If you use cloth diapers, try doubling or tripling the diapers at nighttime. This will pull moisture away from your baby and be more comfortable.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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