Healthy Living

Sleeping

An important part of healthy living is getting enough sleep! During pregnancy, especially during the first 3 months, and after delivery, you will need to sleep more than the average 7 to 8 hours that other adults need to stay healthy. You will need as much sleep as you can get during these times to help your body cope with all the demands pregnancy and delivery have made on it. Getting proper rest with a new baby in your life can be difficult. Below are a few tips to help you get the rest you need

Tips on Getting Proper Rest

• Take naps whenever the baby does, even 1 hour can help refresh you.
• Schedule times to have someone watch the baby while you nap.
• Try not to do chores or other things that need doing when the baby rests. This can just make your more tired. You need rest more than the living room needs to be tidied.
• Lie down with the baby while you nurse, this can be relaxing and restful.

By the time your baby is 3 years old he/she will most likely be within the average sleep times (plus or minus one hour) seen in the table below. The times given represent the total amount of sleep in a 24 hour period, including naps.

For the first month, babies often sleep for about 15 of every 24 hours. They will usually not sleep longer than 2 to 3 hours at a time and will usually wake up at night to eat. Over time, your baby will gradually sleep longer until they are sleeping through the night.

Tips to Help Babies Sleep

• Help babies figure out daytime from nighttime by keeping the room dark when they wake up to eat at night. Don’t stimulate or play with babies at night when you want them to go back to sleep. During naps in the daytime, let babies sleep in rooms with normal daytime light and noises. A little nap time sing-song or play in the day is fine.
• Wake up napping babies for regular feedings times during the day if they aren’t awake already.
• Let babies take longer naps in the morning and keep their afternoon naps shorter. Letting babies take long naps in the late afternoon may make it hard for them to go to bed at a reasonable time in the evening and sleep through the night. Over-tired babies also don’t sleep well at night so it’s important that morning naps are long enough.
• Although it may not be possible at first with a newborn, get into a routine that you follow at night before bed. For example, before bed give babies a warm bath, put them in their ‘special bedtime’ jammies, and then quietly read or sing to them while rocking them. This routine signals to your baby that sleep time is coming.
• Gently wake babies up in the morning at a normal waking time rather than letting them sleep in. This will help them figure out the difference between day time and night time and help you establish a healthy routine around nap and bed times.

Baby Safety and Sleep

• Put babies down on their backs, not on their bellies, to sleep.
• Do not leave babies alone on adult beds.
• Do not let other children sleep with babies.
• Make sure babies sleep in safe beds. This means putting them to sleep on a firm, flat mattress or crib that meets federal government Cribs and Cradles Regulations Safety Standards. Most cribs made before 1986 do not meet current safety regulations so always check the manufacture date of cribs. Safe cribs should have double locks for securing the drop side.
• Carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions when putting cribs together to make sure that each part of the crib is properly and securely in place. This will ensure that babies don’t fall out of their beds or get caught in the spaces between mattresses and headboards.
• Don’t put babies to sleep on soft surfaces like waterbeds, feather beds, sofas, or air mattresses. Don’t use bumper pads, sheepskins, pillows, or comforters and remove stuffed toys from babies’ cribs when they are sleeping. Babies can sleep in cradles or bassinets as long as they meet safety regulations and their surfaces are firm!
• Make sure babies don’t get over-heated. Put babies to bed in a warm room wearing a blanket-weight sleeper with a light blanket. Don’t wrap them tightly in blankets and never cover their faces or heads.
• Don’t use plastic sheets because they can get in the way of babies’ breathing. Use a bottom sheet for the crib mattress, and don’t use top sheets until your child is an older toddler. Babies can get tangled in a top sheet.
• Do not sleep with your baby while sitting on lying on a sofa, recliner, or chair. Your baby could fall on the floor or between the cushions and suffocate.Keep babies and their cribs away from long mobiles, blinds, and/or curtain cords. The most common way that babies and children suffocate are in their beds or cribs by accidental hanging.

For more information on child safety, visit our Child Safety at Home and on the Move link.

For more information on sleeping and sleep safety for babies and mothers visit the following websites:

Baby’s Best Chance
http://www.healthservices.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2005/babybestchance.pdf

BC Health Guide
http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile92k.stm

Health Canada
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/cons/child-enfant/content-contenu_e.html#19

Edmonton Capital Health
http://www.capitalhealth.ca/YourHealth/BrowseByTopic/content.asp?
guid=6DFA8BCA-870B-4DB9-8CD8-36A001CCA915&NavType=Topic&Level_1_ID=71&Level_2_ID=2135
&Level_3_ID=&Level_4_ID=

WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-needs

Sources:

Baby’s Best Chance: Parents’ Handbook of Pregnancy and Baby Care 6th edition(2005).
Province of British Columbia: Ministry of Health.
Edmonton Capital Health: Frequently Asked Questions About Children and Sleep.
http://www.capitalhealth.ca/YourHealth/BrowseByTopic/
content.asp?guid=6DFA8BCA-870B-4DB9-8CD8-36A001CCA915&NavType=Topic&Level_1_ID=71&
Level_2_ID=2135&Level_3_ID=&Level_4_ID=
WebMD: Sleep Disorders: How Much Sleep Do You Need?
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-needs