Tips to Help Baby Sleep Sweetly

• If they’re young, try a swaddle. Obviously our babies were all snuggled and curled up in our wombs, so they’re comforted by this position, especially in the first couple of months. When you swaddle, it keeps babies from being scared by their “moro” (startle) reflex, when their hands jerk around up by their faces. Our 2nd and 3rd babies both loved being swaddled and I wish I had done it with my oldest as well. {Check out this post for a tutorial on how to swaddle safely!}

• Turn down the lights. Bright lights aren’t easy for grown-ups to sleep under and neither are they for babies. I typically pull down the shades on the windows during nap time, especially if my baby is extremely worked up and overtired. It really helps them settle down!

• Use a white noise machine. Yes, babies do need to learn to sleep with some noise, but there are times when they will be overstimulated or in an unfamiliar place and need a soothing, constant sound to help them relax. You can often find white noise machines at thrift stores or just use a small fan (pointed away from baby of course!) to help cover up some of the bothersome noises.

• Establish a consistent nap time and bedtime routine. From the day they come home, my babies have always had a “calm down” routine. It takes some tweaking but I find that if I do the same thing each time it’s time for sleep, it helps baby know what to expect and gives them security and comfort. You can do this any way you like: rocking, praying, singing a quiet song, reading a book when they’re a bit older, saying goodnight to everything, just as long as it’s not too stimulating {no crazy bouncing for us!}. I love this snuggling time with my babies!

• Make sure your babies are dry before they go to sleep. I’ll be honest and say that I’m a cloth diapering momma, so I don’t rely heavily on disposables for every day use. But I do use them at bedtime and often nap time too, since I’m worried about them sleeping too long in a soggy diaper.

When my daughter was little, she could not tolerate generic disposable diapers and had super sensitive skin, so she even had some trouble with cloth, but I noticed that she always reacted well to Pampers. I’ve continued to use them for my 3rd child at sleep time or traveling and I really do enjoy using them. They keep my little one dry for a LONG time and there have been no adverse reactions to them by Little J, which I’m very thankful for! Even though they’re a bit more spendy than generics, they work better, so it evens out in my opinion.

Pampers Baby Dry offers 12 hours of overnight protection with three layers of absorbency, verses two in other leading brands. As an added bonus, my son loves looking at Elmo on his diaper at changing time ;)

The lovely bundle I received, very nice!

I was very pleased when Pampers contacted me and asked my opinion on their diapers. One of the other reasons I like Pampers is that they have a Gifts to Grow program that you can join and earn points on each purchase of diapers and wipes you make. Those points can be redeemed for prizes or, even better, donated to organizations like Graham’s Foundation, which provides support for parents of preemies, and also March of Dimes.

They sent me a wonderful gift pack with hard cover books, a package of diapers, wipes, a sweet “Twilight Ladybug” and coupons for the full value of a wipes and diaper pack! Everyone in our family is benefiting from the package, including the 7 year old who loves to read to his siblings!

Would you like some Pampers? Then this is a good day! Pampers is donating a beautiful gift pack {valued at $100} consisting of Baby Dry diapers and other goodies that enhance baby’s sweet sleep time to one of my readers.  Woo hoo!

Reading the classic Goodnight Moon

 Gift pack includes:

    Where the Wild Things Are book ($15)  

You can also go to http://www.coupons.com to get a one-time only $1.50 printable coupon to use on Baby Dry diapers and a $.50 coupon for wipes. {Buy a pack on sale and combine it with the coupon to get better savings!} When you join Pampers Village you can get coupons as well.

Participate in Moment of the Week: Parents can post photos of their little ones enjoying a dry night’s sleep on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Pampers) and on Twitter (@Pampers; #PampersBabyDry) for a chance to be featured as the “Sweet Sleep Time Moment of the Week.”

Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter below.