My newborn had been having terrible naps and would spend his awake time looking and feeling exhausted. He would fuss and scream all day long, rubbing his eyes while doing so.
Consequently, he had trouble sleeping at night due to being overtired. It would take a while to put him to sleep because of his brief naps. And at that moment, it was time to eat once more. Naturally, this brought up the naps again. He had trouble sleeping at night, so the next morning he was even more exhausted.
How To Spot Overtired In A Baby?
Babies give us a variety of cues when they are growing tired or overtired. If your baby is past his limit and needs to be put down for a nap right away, watch out for these baby sleep cues!
1. They are past their optimal wake time: Depending on their age, infants can only remain alert and content for a limited amount of time before resisting sleep. As an illustration, if your baby has been awake for 2.5 hours and her wake window is 1 hour 45 minutes, then the answer is probably yes.
Paying attention to your baby’s awake times and putting her to bed at the appropriate time are the best ways to avoid overtiredness in the first place.
2. Zoning out: Your infant may begin to avoid eye contact or fixate off in the distance. They are indicating that they want to sleep rather than play by doing this.
3. Baby will start to rub her eyes or face: When they are tired, some babies will also tug on their ears.
4. Clenched fists. Some infants will close their hands or clench them.
5. Clingy: It will be difficult to put the baby down because they will be so attached to their parents or another caregiver.
6. Fussy: More fuss is being made by the baby. It’s possible that your tired baby won’t stop crying or is doing so loudly.
How To Break The Cycle Of An Overtired Baby
You might be able to relate to these erratic sleep cycles very well if you’re here. Perhaps your infant cries for 20 to 30 minutes before sleeping soundly, only to awaken crying and miserable once more. She’s irritable all day, wakes up 10 minutes into a nap, and doesn’t actually go back to sleep.
Some evenings, she’s up four to five hours before the bedtime routine. Never mind that you still frequently wake up during the night. If things weren’t seemingly getting worse every day, you wouldn’t be as concerned about this.
How can you help a baby who is too tired to sleep when getting less sleep only makes them feel worse? Thankfully, babies can catch up on missed sleep, breaking the vicious cycle of overtiredness once and for all.
Take a look at what worked for me and other moms, and see if these recommendations can help you, too:
1. Limit Wake Times
If your baby slept soundly, you may already have a limit on how long he can be awake. You may need to be even more aggressive with regards to limiting his wake times given that he is overtired almost all of the time.
Consider, for instance, his signs of sleepiness. Put him down for his next nap if he exhibits those signs of sleepiness, even if he has only been awake for a short period of time—even 30 minutes.
2. Have A Really Early Bedtime
An early bedtime is something that many parents would object to. “We can’t call it a day that early!” you might say. Or, “By then, my husband has hardly arrived home from work.”
No worries, friend. An early bedtime doesn’t have to be forever—just a temporary “reset” to help your baby catch up on sleep and break the cycle of being overtired. You can later adjust to a more reasonable bedtime once he gets back on track.
So, how early is “early”? As early as 5 pm is possible.
Once more, the goal here is to assist him in overcoming his persistent fatigue rather than to establish a new pattern. He can use the sleep he gets that night to more accurately gauge how much sleep he needs by being put to bed at a ridiculously early hour.
3. Hold Your Baby (or Use Baby Gear)
Every nap should not be taken with your baby in your arms; otherwise, she might not learn to take naps. But if holding her and soothing her is the only way she will fall asleep under the given circumstances, do so.
It’s crucial for her to get some rest right now in order to reset her sleep cycle. The only way to get her to sleep through the night is to take whatever steps are necessary.
4. Don’t Breastfeed Nonstop.
These tiny snack feeds give the baby just enough to go another 30 to 40 minutes without feeding, but that brief of a nap isn’t restorative and won’t help them take a fuller feed the next time.
When a newborn wakes up every hour during the night, I frequently encounter this issue. They are always snacking and taking cat naps because they were never encouraged to receive full feeds from the start.
Due to our deliberate focus on feed charts and schedules based on baby’s age by week, my sleep class is well-liked by new moms.
How Do You Calm A Tired Baby?
The cycle of being overtired can be broken, though! Use these strategies to put your overtired baby to sleep, and then stick to their wake times to ensure that it never happens again!
It’s time to put your baby to sleep as soon as possible, however you can, once she reaches her limit of being overtired.
Your baby can learn to go to sleep on their own if you follow a healthy sleep schedule and have a predictable, consistent routine. The baby will find it extremely difficult to do so on her own, especially if she is overtired, until these sleep patterns are established.
Here are some different things you can do to assist in putting your overtired baby to sleep. These are comparable to the 5 S’s.
Swaddle Baby
Your infant can be calmed by being swaddled. Swaddling creates an atmosphere that is similar to the womb and can make your baby feel secure and comfortable. Babies who are overtired initially may appear to dislike being swaddled, but they will eventually settle.
The ability to help an overtired baby stay asleep is another benefit of swaddling. Swaddling your baby can help them sleep longer by preventing them from being startled awake.
Follow the instructions for when to stop swaddling your child.
Hold Baby On Her Side Or Stomach
She can relax when you hold her on her side or stomach against your chest or torso. To help her relax, hold her in this position. (But watch out—don’t place the infant in the crib in this manner. When sleeping in a crib or bassinet, place the baby on her back at all times.
White Noise
To calm a restless baby, use white noise produced by a sound machine. Silence can be deafening to babies because they are accustomed to the loud noises of the womb.
Make sure the white noise you use is constant and won’t stop in the middle of your baby’s sleep. Simple swooshing noises are preferable to the sound of rain or heartbeats. Because it plugs in and runs all night, this is my favorite sound system. Both my infant and I sleep amazingly well with the whirring sound!
Movement
When a baby is overtired, movement can help the child relax. My daughter benefitted greatly from the frequent use of a swing. Try holding your infant close to your body while she is on her stomach or side and swinging her back and forth.
The shush pat is yet another Baby Whisperer trick.
Roll your infant to her side while placing her in a crib or bassinet. Hold her on her side and make a shhhh sound while gently patting her bottom for a while. You might try rolling your infant to her back once she starts to nod off so she can sleep longer.
Use A Pacifier
The desire to suck is a natural desire for infants. Your baby may relax and go to sleep if you give her a pacifier. Up until she entered a deeper sleep, we used to hold the pacifier in my daughter’s mouth to prevent it from falling out.
Offer Breast Or Bottle
While we made an effort to keep our baby on an eat, play, sleep schedule, there are times when it is necessary to feed them to sleep. To put a baby to sleep if they become too overtired, try feeding them. Baby can be calmed and put to sleep by sucking on the breast or bottle.
Conclusion
Your baby will experience several growth spurts and leaps during infancy, which may interfere with sleep. You should make every effort to keep your baby on schedule when experiencing these or other sleep difficulties. Since they are unable to comprehend what is happening, offer them love and support to get them through these trying times.
Ask your pediatrician for advice if you are worried about your child’s growth, well-being, or sleeping patterns.
