Amaury Hernández

Baby Care - Sleeping Conditions

For safety and comfort, a baby should sleep in a specially designed crib. Most cribs have sides with bars that can be lowered and raised by an adult. Babies should be kept covered in their cribs to avoid chills.

Babies may sleep up to 23 hours a day during the first month after birth. Their need for sleep then gradually decreases.

Most infants like to lie on their stomachs or backs with their heads turned toward the lightest part of the room. But a baby's head may become flattened on one side if it is always turned in the same direction. To avoid this problem, babies should be turned head to foot at every other bedtime. They will then have to turn their heads in the opposite direction in order to face the light. If the baby still prefers keeping its head turned in one direction, there is no real cause for alarm; the child normally will outgrow any head flattening by one year of age.

Swaddling the Baby. A newborn baby is much happier if he or she is wrapped up snugly. This custom, called swaddling, is considered old-fashioned and even unkind by some people, but modern research has shown that it is a practical way to help a baby to sleep peacefully.

Remember that the infant is not used to unlimited space, having been confined for months to the restricted space of the womb. Swaddling makes the baby feel more secure and helps him or her to adjust to the world, little by little.

Newborn babies have little or no control over their limbs so they often wake themselves with the jerky movements of their own arms and legs. The well wrapped-up baby is not bothered by this.

How long a parent continues to swaddle a baby depends on whether the baby is of a calm or excitable disposition. But up to six weeks is usually beneficial. At three to six weeks, however, the baby's hands should be allowed to reach high enough so that he or she can suck the fist or fingers.

When the baby can lift his or her head, the baby can lie on the stomach without risk of smothering. Swaddle from the waist down, with the arms free, so that the baby cannot wriggle up the crib or cradle.

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