Self Soothing Techniques for your Newborn Baby

You are in complete control of the life you provide for your newborn.

To teach your baby to self-soothe, establish the following immediately:

1. Establish a Consistent Bedtime Routine

   Please see my previous blog called “No More Sleepless Nights” to get full training advice. I can’t stress enough how important it is to create a consistent nap and bedtime routine to create a confident self soother.

2. Offer Calming Techniques

   Calming techniques are items used or things done to calm your baby in place of you. These items include but not limited to pacifiers, soft singing, soft noise machines, and gentle touches while they are put down.

3. Put The Baby Down when Falling Asleep Immediately

   Put your baby down half awake not fully asleep. Your child is not clingy. Once you put them down and they begin to cry, they are more than likely still hungry but too tired to stay awake so feed them more or they are gassy and need to move gas either by farting or burping, or their diaper is wet. Another possibility is if you’re formula feeding, it may be making baby uncomfortable. I know a lot of parents want to believe baby want to be held all day but a newborn actually is looking to be comfortable they don’t really care about whether you hold them or not. It’s really about their comfortability. I’m on baby number three with three different personalities but my technique remained the same and worked for all three. If your baby is use to you carrying them it’s because you never put them down and didn’t provide them what they needed to self soothe after fulfilling their needs such as not successfully burping, passing gas, feeding, changing wet diaper, etc.

Ways to make baby comfortable:

• Burp your newborn constantly after every ounce or two they drink.

• Purchase light stuffed animals and get them acquainted with it from newborn and gently have fill it and lay next to it from birth. Once baby falls asleep remove the stuffed animal.

• Purchase newborn friendly items that keep baby busy once up from a nap/sleep which is relieving you from having to hold him/her all day.

• Swaddle baby for a full bedtime not naps. You do want baby to be in a deep relaxed nap because day naps should be 30 minutes at multiple times a day or no more than a hour a few times a day. Swaddle him/her when it’s bedtime. This allows him/her to know by remembering through consistency that this will be the time I sleep for more than two to three hours feed, and go back to sleep.

• Verbal reassurance is best instead of immediately picking them up. Quiet verbal reassurance, soft pats, or singing is more effective for aiding in self soothing.

4. Avoid Rocking baby to sleep

   Rocking baby to sleep is self explanatory. It takes away the independence of your baby being able to fall asleep on their own.

5. Gradually Decrease Your Presence

   Decreasing your presence allows for your baby to learn how to calm themselves down and trust who they are. I don’t fully believe in the cry out method your baby is crying because they need something. Deceasing your presence should be when you have done everything they needed and now it’s time for them to explore their surrounding on their own. Of course do this supervised by not being too far or set up a baby monitor when stepping out of the room.

6. Introduce more Bottle Feeding if Breastfeeding

   To breastfeeding mom self soothing is more work for you and that is okay. Self soothing will need implementation up a notch. If you can pump and bottle feed instead of breastfeeding do that more than breastfeeding. Breastfeeding in moderation to meet your babies needs is still important and does not hinder him/her from learning how to self soothe as long as bottle feeding is more than breastfeeding especially at night where self soothing is heavily important for baby.