The Correct Ways to Wake Up Your Baby

Important Notes to Bear in Mind

It is about the babies of two weeks or younger than this who need to get awakened time to time. Babies older than two weeks would naturally start to demand feeding. They have their own way of letting their moms know when they are hungry. Once the baby is over two weeks, you don’t need to follow this ‘2 hours’ schedule. As long as your baby is urinating and passing the stool regularly and above all, if he is gaining weight properly, you don’t have to worry about waking him up.

Here we have rounded up the best ways to wake up your babies without annoying them.

When Baby is in REM Sleep!

Just like all the grown-ups, a newborn baby also has a lighter and a deeper stage of sleep. This lighter stage is also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. When you find your baby in that stage, go ahead to wake him up. There are ways to recognize this stage. The most obvious signs of REM sleep include:

• Moving of limbs

• Clenching of fists

• Fluttering eyelids

• Changing of facial impression (smiling in slumber)

• Movement of mouth as if he is sucking

Unswaddle Your Baby!

Set your baby free by unswaddling him/her slowly. A common observation shows that newborn babies don’t like getting undressed. So, once you do that, you might face some agitation on baby’s part. That exposure to air might be helpful in waking him up.

A Physical Stimulation

If the thoughts about how to wake up a baby are haunting you, don’t be scared. There are numerous ways to wake her up by making her feel your presence. Get your baby by your side in a feeding position. Let her taste a few drops of breast milk. That taste of milk may get her awaked. Or you can do things like:

• Gently stroke her face, head, palms of hands

• Tickle under the feet

• Rub her back slowly

Talk to Him/Her!

Hold your baby in an upright position to communicate with him in any way you want. This upright position is good enough to make them open their eyes from a deep slumber. Still if the baby is not responding, you can sing a song or talk to him. As he opens his eyes, try to make an eye contact.

Change his Posture

Normally, babies sleep in a very relaxed position. Give him some ‘tough time’ by straightening out his body and extending his arms. This change would instantly stimulate his brain and he is quite likely to open his eyes.

Change in Temperature

Using a cool (not too cold) washcloth to rub on his forehead, arms or face may help in waking your baby up. This sudden change in temperature would surely affect his sleep. If you don’t want to be that cruel, simply removing the blanket from his body can also work.

Change the Diaper

When nothing else works, simply change his diaper, even if it is not the requirement. Try to talk, sing a song and communicate with him in any possible way.

Switch Nursing Side

Try your best to not let him sleep until he is fed sufficiently. If you are feeding him and he is nodding off, you better switch him to the other side. Try to have him burp or simply rub his back while shifting him to the other breast.

A Little Bit of Light!

Changing the light in baby’s bedroom can make some difference, as their eyes are quite sensitive to any change in light. If baby is sleeping in a dark room, you better light it up by opening the blinds (avoid too much light as sudden exposure to light that’s too bright is harmful) or some say, if baby is sleeping in a bright room, simply dimming the light may help in waking her up.

What if Baby Is in Deep Sleep?

How to wake up a baby if it’s not a lighter stage of sleep? If it is so, don’t disturb the baby with all these methods. A mother should simply lay by the baby’s side and indulge in some quiet activities till the baby shows some signs of entering in a more conscious stage.

• For a newborn baby, 10 to 15 minutes on each side of breast are quite sufficient.

• Each time you repeat nursing, count the starting time of the previous nursing session and not the ending time.

• Donate first couple of weeks for establishing the milk supply. Spend as much time in nursing as possible. Get complete rest (very important in postpartum). For all other domestic tasks, get some help from others.

• For nursing, football hold is the preferred position over the cradle hold. Cradle hold causes babies to doze off.

Final Notes:

Moms with the babies of one or two months old should not worry too much about nursing schedule and sleep time of their babies. This whole discussion and questions like how to wake up a baby is not for you. All you need is to relax and follow whatever nursing or sleeping schedule your (one or two months old) has made for himself.