| Enjoying your baby while she's awake | | | | to make this connection so that she gets into settled |
| If your baby is awake a lot of the day, don't feel | | | | sleeping habits. |
| cheated or frustrated by this. It's probably a sign that | | | | Daytime nap tactics |
| she's a bright little button. Certainly it means that she's | | | | It's often said that keeping the house too quiet when |
| got lots of time to start learning about the world and | | | | your baby is having a daytime nap is a bad idea. The |
| her place in it, so take advantage of that. | | | | theory is that you're just building up problems for |
| Play with your baby when she's awake. Of course | | | | yourself, because you'll end up with a baby who can't |
| you need a bit of time to get other things done, but | | | | get to sleep unless she can hear a pin drop. In fact, a |
| don't begrudge your baby's wakefulness. | | | | baby's natural instinct is to sleep when she's tired, not |
| Sometimes you need to compromise when you're | | | | when it's quiet. |
| busy and your baby is wide awake; just put her in her | | | | Differentiate between daytime naps and bedtime |
| bouncy chair and let her watch you getting on with | | | | sleep. Put your baby in a carriage in the hall or in a |
| your tasks. | | | | travel basket in the family room for her naps during the |
| Your baby's body clock | | | | day, instead of in her night-time surroundings. |
| In the early days and weeks of your baby's life, she | | | | Another plus about this theory is that if a baby sleeps |
| probably woke every 2, 3, or even 4 hours for a | | | | against a background of sound during the day, it gives |
| feeding, whenever her tiny tummy was empty and | | | | her another way of differentiating between daytime |
| needed filling up. | | | | naps when it might be noisy and night-time sleep when |
| Her body clock, in other words, was completely | | | | it's usually quiet when she settles down. |
| conditioned by hunger and food requirements, and not | | | | Settling her down |
| at all by whether it was day or night. By the time your | | | | Every baby is different. However many parent groups |
| baby is more than 4 months old, however, she should | | | | and baby playgroups you go to, you'll never meet |
| be starting to realize that life is divided into night and | | | | other parents whose stories about their baby's sleep |
| day - and you should be continuing to encourage her | | | | habits exactly mirror your own. |