Your baby’s age has a significant influence on his sleeping habits and on the ways you can help him sleep through the night. Newborn babies, for example, aren't ready for sleep training—their self-soothing ability isn’t fully developed yet. But experts say you can take this time to observe your child and take note of his patterns of behavior during the day.
When your baby turns four months old, he will begin to have sleep regression. Your child starts to wake up frequently at night or even tries to fight sleep. This is the best time to develop a good sleep routine and practice a well-thought-out sleep training program.
Don’t think you’re out of the woods when your child turns 1. Toddlers like to test their boundaries and would love to get away with things as often as they can. This is the time to be firm and patient.
Try these simple soothing techniques to ease your child to sleep faster:
Sing your child a lullaby.
Drown out any household or outdoor noise with relaxing music. You can also play the same playlist every day to help the baby associate it with bedtime.
Make skin-to-skin contact while reading him a bedtime story.
Give your child cuddles before bed. Soothe him to sleep by letting him lean on you while you tap his back or rock him gently. Not only will the skin-to-skin contact benefit him greatly, it’s also a good bonding moment for the two of you.
You can also read him a short bedtime story, preferably one about sleeping like this one. Make sure you read it from a book so you don’t open any gadgets while he’s in bed.
Talk about your day.
Your 1-year-old may not be able to talk yet, but how you communicate with him can have a great impact on his language development.
Bedtime is a great opportunity to talk about the things your child saw during the day. You can also do this while you are bathing him, giving him a massage, or reading a bedtime story. Make sure you point and identify while using simple and common gestures.
Not only will you start your baby’s language development early, you also create a memorable bonding experience with him.
Give your child a relaxing bath.
A warm bath raises your baby’s body temperature, which can help create a signal that it’s time to go to sleep. You can use a gentle and caring baby wash like NIVEA Baby Head-To-Toe Wash, so you can do this every night without worrying about putting harmful chemicals on your baby’s skin.
Make sure it’s a warm and quiet bath with no noise and overstimulating toys so your little one can wind down easier.
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Give your child a soothing massage.
Caress your little one’s arms and legs with long, firm strokes.
You can choose either NIVEA Baby Moisturizing Lotion or NIVEA Baby Caring Oil when giving your baby a gentle massage.![]()
NIVEA Baby products are specially developed to help gently cleanse and care for your baby's skin. It also helps balance the moisture level and support the skin's protective function to help keep the baby's delicate skin moisturized.
Don’t let bedtime battles stress you out. As long as you follow a consistent bedtime routine and create a soothing environment for your child, you’ll develop a good sleeping habit for him (and you) in no time.
