Adapt to Baby Sleep - Part I

Infant has accustomed to mother's physiological body during pregnancy period. Below are the key element that affect baby sleep pattern during pregnancy:
1) Noise in Amniotic Fluid inside Mummy's Tummy

The sense of hearing is more acute since sound travels through water more efficiently than air. While inside mother's tummy, the infant can hear mother's heart beat and various noises. This is the reason some parent uses white noises to get baby to sleep better.

2) Tight Space in Mummy's Tummy during Third Trimester

During last trimester, the fetus movement is restricted in a limited space in mother's tummy. This is one of the reason that some babies like swaddling.

3) Movement in Mummy's Tummy

Fetus has been living in amniotic fluid for so long to the extend got used to the movement inside mummy's tummy. This is the reason some parent uses swinging method to get baby to sleep better.

Once baby comes out to the world, the jet lag start to kicks in as newborn baby does not know when is the proper time to sleep. However, we do know the number of hours that baby requires. Below sleep chart is based on true evidence conducted in Switzerland on 493 babies in year 2003. We can use the sleep chart as a baseline as every baby are slightly different due to his/her sleep requirement.

Here are tips to simulate newborn baby environment as if baby is still inside mummy's tummy:
1) Turn on White Noise
This usually works from birth till 3 months old. Example of white noise are shhh sound, water flow sound, vacuum cleaner sound, hair dryer sound, microwave sound and etc...
http://incomingincomingbaby.blogspot.com/2012/09/getting-baby-to-sleep.html

2) Swaddle Baby
This usually works from birth till 4 months old, but avoid swaddle baby if baby can rollover as to prevent SIDS.
http://incomingincomingbaby.blogspot.com/2012/11/swaddling-newborn-baby.html

3) Rocking/Swinging Baby to Sleep
In southeast asia, using baby hammock is a common sleeping equipment. However the risk is that baby will get used to the swinging to the extend that baby can only sleep with baby hammock.
Warning:
- Make sure to get a good quality hammock as to avoid metal break or broken spring. And get the fabric which allow air to flow through so that baby can breath when baby turn around.
- There are cases which hammock cause problem to the baby. Therefore it's best to watch baby periodically as to anticipate the problem. Example of the problem: broken metal, swing too fast, electrical issue, baby knock to the side (awake baby), etc

Please click here for part II.

Resources:

http://www.neuroacoustic.com/methods.html

http://www.parentingscience.com/baby-sleep-chart.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17908-evening-breast-milk-means-a-good-sleep.html
http://www.birth.com.au/Newborn-fevers/What-is-a-normal-temperature