Moving Your Newborn To The Baby Nursery

When you bring your newborn baby home, you probably will have the urge to keep him near you at all times, especially when you (try to!) go to sleep for the night. It makes sense to have a crib or cradle in your bedroom at first, since it will minimize the distance you have to walk to handle nighttime feedings. By keeping your newborn baby near you, a sense of security can be maintained. But new parents should be warned, in a few weeks your baby will be making regular noises throughout the night. Be advised, this is normal behavior of a newborn baby.

You can try moving the infant into his baby nursery for naps right from the beginning, to try to minimize any trauma or anxiety by moving him into a strange room with new smells and sights when he's a little older. Sit with him in a rocker or glider and rock him to sleep at first, then move him into his crib.

Later, you can put him in his crib and if he's fussy or can't get to sleep, try sitting near the crib for a few nights until he falls asleep. Then move the chair further away for another week or so. Finally, position the chair near the door, so the baby gets used to falling asleep without being right next to you.

Other parents will purposely play music in the background. Many companies sell musical CDs that include heartbeats, white noise, or lullabies. Each newborn baby is extremely different, so there's no guarantee that a particular CD will actually help a baby fall asleep. If a musical CD does not work initially, wait a few weeks and try again.

It will be hard in the beginning, but if you're consistent, eventually, you'll get your baby to the point where he can fall asleep in his own room. Start to establish a nighttime routine, so your baby knows what to expect. A nice, warm bath, followed by changing into soft clean pajamas is a good start. Even a very young baby can be read to at bedtime. You can also sing to him and just talk to him. The sound of your voice is what matters so he feels safe and secure enough to fall asleep.

By starting these simple routines early, hopefully you'll avoid trouble later on trying to move the baby into his baby nursery and getting him to sleep at a normal time. The old cliche that new parents don't get sleep is, unfortunately, not just saying. You will come to value every minute of sleep you can actually muster. The sooner you can implement an effective sleeping routine in the baby's nursery, the happier everybody will be!