10 Ways to get peace with a newborn., or what to do when they wake up in the middle of the night and scream.
- Pick up the baby, change the diaper, and sing a soft song, like “Rock a-bye Baby.”
- Pick up the baby and place them on your shoulder and lightly pat them on the back. They may have to burp.
- Pick up the baby and walk around the room humming to the infant. They may have had a fright form a dream.
- While you are changing the baby’s diaper, wrap them snugly in a light blanket and place their ear on your chest so they can hear your heart beat.
- Play some soft music while you are rocking them in your chair. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, or Mozart has been proven to soothe the nature of the child. Studies have shown it will also make them smarter in school due to their ability to concentrate.
- Check to be sure that another child in the house has not gone in and disturbed the child.
- If this hour is the time to feed the infant, perhaps you slept through the scheduled time – give the baby kisses, talk softly to them, prepare their bottle or get ready to nurse – sit down and cuddle the child during this time. Look into their eyes and make contact.
- Some children settle when they are riding in the car. Find a way to provide the similar motion of rocking, jiggling, the noise of the car ride, the talking of two people, whatever is usual in the car. Perhaps prepare a tape to play. The sound of the ocean relaxes me when I need to sleep.
- Hand the baby off to another person, while you get your composer. Switch off time periods between you and your spouse to care for the baby, during feeding and changing of the diapers.
- Sometimes, due to the time of birth, the baby is off from your schedule of sleep times. This may take days to bring about the change for the baby. You will need to keep the baby awake longer each feeding – little by little -for the different sleep time that is natural for you to also be the right time for the baby.
Good Luck! Having a good-natured child is a blessing. Your baby is going to be with you for the next 20 or so years. Start now to find a calmness and gentleness in his or her personality, while they are first born. You will thank yourself later for the peace that this will bring.