Ways To Relax Your Baby

Ways To Relax Your Baby - Click to enlarge

Ways To Relax Your Baby

When crying babies are over tired, upset, not feeling well or just not settling it can be a stressful time for the whole house hold, especially for sleep deprived parents. We have some great parent tips for helping you relax your baby.

Baby Relaxation Tips

1. From birth the best thing you can do is to put your beautiful newborn in a bassinet or cot when it is time to sleep. Not only is it safer for your baby it helps them get into a routine.
2. A warm bath with a babies lavender bath wash can help your baby relax before bedtime.
3. A gentle massage on the back, tummy, arms, hands, legs and feet can help them relax and aid with the bonding process between you and your baby. Not only that, massage also has a range of health benefits that can aid with muscle tone and growth and ease wind or colic pain.
4. Soft music, nature cd’s or singing to your baby is a great way to relax your baby. Sometimes just the sound of a parent’s voice can be enough to calm an unsettled baby.
5. Check your baby has brought up their wind. Wind can be very painful for newborns and can leave them upset and wakeful. Newborns can’t always bring up their own wind and may need some help. Signs of wind include a slight blue tinge around the lips or fluttering eyes when they are sleeping. To help relieve wind, hold your baby up right with their head on your shoulder and pat their back firmly or rub their back in a circular motion. Always put a cloth over your shoulder when doing this as 9 times out of ten you will end up wearing the “baby badge”.
6. Check your baby’s nappy is not been soiled.
7. Check clothing is not too tight or pinching.
8. A big cuddle or a feed can do wonders for calming your baby especially if they have been startled. If you are worried that you may not be producing enough breast milk or you are having trouble breast feeding for any reason talk to your health care provider. For some women breastfeeding can be very stressful and uncomfortable and for others their milk just doesn’t come in or they just physically cant breastfeed for whatever reason.
9. Take time out for you! Leave your baby with someone you trust and leave the house even if it is for half an hour. Take a walk, go shopping, go and get a massage, anything that relaxes you. If you are stressed your baby will pick up on your feelings and become unsettled and insecure. You need to look after yourself in order to look after other people.
10. Check your baby is not too hot or too cold.
11. Is your baby teething? (see teething babies info page).
12. A pacifier or a bouncy seat can also come in handy for relaxing your baby.
13. For some babies the gentle hum of going for a ride in the car is enough to get them to relax.
14. If nothing is settling your baby there could be something wrong. Your baby may have colic (wind pain). If your baby has this they can become inconsolable and very hard to settle. Check your baby for fever, body rashes, insect bites, flu like symptoms, reflux or watch that they aren’t pulling at their ears. These symptoms need to be checked by a doctor.
15. If there is nothing wrong and everything has been checked place your baby in their cot. Gently rub their head, forehead or back for a minute or two then step back. If these steps still don’t help settle your newborn, make sure baby is safe and leave the room for a few minutes. Check on baby every couple of minutes. Do not pick baby up straight away after entering the room. Repeat steps then again leave baby for another few minutes. If your baby is crying hard for 10mins pick baby up and give them a quite cuddle.

There are plenty of great natural products on the market that can aid with relaxing and calming a baby. All babies are different, what works for one may not work for all. Just like parenting finding the right product can be trial and error.

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