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In your language: is important. It will help your baby develop and help you to understand your baby and their cues. Babies feel safe and loved when you respond to their needs.

You can help your baby develop by: looking into their eyes

You may feel an overwhelming sense of love for your baby and develop an instant strong connection.

What if I can’t bond with my baby? For some parents it may take time to bond with your baby, this is normal. with others and many find this a challenging time.

Being a parent doesn’t come naturally for most people and adjusting to parenthood can look very different for new dads and mums.

For instance, in the early days, some new dads and partners may feel left out because they are not feeding or nursing their newborn, but with your baby, such as bathing, reading a story, changing nappies or taking your baby for a stroll while your partner is catching up on sleep.

Remember, no one is expected to be an expert and bonding with your baby is really a matter of trial and error.

Try to approach parenthood as a team effort

Single parents can call on family and friends to share the responsibilities, so your child builds important connections with others around them.

If you are concerned that you are not connecting with your baby, speak to your maternal and child health nurse or doctor. If you are experiencing relationship difficulties, consider seeking the help of a counsellor.

With the right support, things can often improve. Newborns aged 0 to 3 months have not yet learned to settle by themselves.

With your help they will learn to self-settle

It’s common for them to be unsettled.

They wake often overnight between sleep cycles and when they need to be fed or changed.

They usually need your help to settle and go back to sleep

We call this responsive settling

Each baby is different

Your baby’s ability to settle comes down to their individual temperament.

Some babies are very difficult to settle

This can be stressful and upsetting

Your self-care is important, if you need a break, place your baby in their cot and walk away for a few minutes. Things you can do to help settle your baby include:

  • Gently touching your baby
  • such as patting or stroking your baby in their cot. Using gentle shushing noises
  • settling music or white noise

Check they do not need a nappy change

Check they are not too hot or too cold. Check it hasn’t been longer than 2 to 3 hours since their last feed.

If one approach doesn’t work after 5 minutes, move on to a different approach. Continue with the approach until the baby is quiet, but not asleep.

Put your baby in their cot when they are tired, but still awake. This helps your baby learn to settle by themselves and stops them from relying on these approaches to get to sleep.

When your baby is tired, they show signs or cues that they are tired.

If you learn to recognise these signs, you can encourage your baby to go to sleep at the right time. Babies from 0 to 3 months might start showing tired signs after 30 minutes of being awake. From 3 to 6 months, they might be tired after 1.5 to 3 hours of being awake.

Tired signs for these age groups can include:

  • back arching grizzling crying

  • which are late signs. Some of these signs may mean your baby is bored

  • they settle with a change of environment.

    However

  • if your baby has been awake for longer than 30 minutes (newborn) or longer than 90 minutes (3 to 6 months)

  • they are likely to be tired

Routines and environments play a big part in helping babies get to sleep. Babies need a cue to tell them it is time to go to sleep.

This is usually something in their external environment

(if they cannot yet roll over). Some things like cuddling or holding your baby until they fall asleep might be difficult to keep doing for the long term, as it may create a negative sleep association for your baby. They may then only be able to fall asleep if you cuddle or hold them.

It’s up to you to decide whether you can maintain these types of routines. Some things you can do to create a good sleep environment for your baby include:

  • reducing stimulation around your baby – for example
  • sit in a quiet room with dim lighting. swaddling or wrapping your baby (if they cannot yet roll over)

Bedtime routines help your baby develop positive sleep patterns and behaviour and can prevent sleep problems.

Regular daytime and bedtime routines can help your baby to fall asleep and stay asleep. They let your baby know that sleep is coming. Bedtime routines are predictable and calming for your baby. Some things you can do include:

  • using the same relaxing activities before bed every day (such as a warm bath
  • a massage
  • reading stories or singing lullabies) creating a calm
  • quiet dark warm environment
  • with no television

Use regular bed times, nap times and wake times to help your baby develop a good sleep-wake rhythm. It’s good to keep using the same sleep routine as your baby grows and develops. is a daytime routine you can use for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers to encourage positive sleep patterns and behaviour early on.

Examples of play time for babies include:

  • sitting in a pram outside
  • then put your baby to bed. is most effective if done throughout the day

You should reduce play at night and provide a quiet and dim environment so that your baby understands the difference between day and night. is a very important part of the routine. With a healthy and adequate diet, your baby will have energy for play, which in turn encourages positive sleep behaviours.

Self-settling is when your baby learns to settle and fall asleep by themselves. You can help your baby learn how to self-settle from 3 months of age with positive sleep routines and environments.

When your baby learns to self-settle, they don’t need to rely on you to settle them.

They can get back to sleep by themselves if they wake overnight (except when they need to feed).

Self-settling may help your baby to sleep for longer periods at night

To help your baby learn to self-settle you can: put your baby into their cot when they are awake.

This helps them learn to associate being in bed with settling and falling asleep.

If your baby still does not settle, you can: cuddle or hold your baby in your arms until they are tired or drowsy, placing them in their cot whilst they are still awake. Some things like cuddling or holding your baby until they fall asleep might be difficult to keep doing for the long term, as it may create a negative sleep association for your baby.

They may then only be able to fall asleep if you cuddle or hold them.

It’s up to you to decide whether you can maintain these types of routines

, This is when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly. Although it can happen at any time, SUDI often occurs during sleep.

Red Nose: breastfeed. Although the rates of SUDI are declining in United States, it is the major cause of unexpected death in babies aged between 4 weeks and 12 months. A considerable proportion of SUDI occurs when parents or caregivers share a sleep surface with a baby.

This is also called co-sleeping or bed-sharing. It is recommended by Red Nose that the safest place for your baby to sleep is in their own cot next to your bed for the first 6 to 12 months of life. Waking and settling issues are very normal for newborns and babies less than 6 months of age.

Your newborn may wake frequently during the night to feed and they may need assistance to settle back to sleep. It is not uncommon for newborns and babies to not sleep through the night until around 1 year of age.

If you are concerned about your newborn’s sleep and settling, speak to your maternal and child health nurse, call the Maternal and Child Health Line on Tel.

This fact sheet is available for download in the following community languages: Arabic - ورقۀ معلوماتی 7: جلوگیری از نگرانی های خواب: نوزادان 0 - 6 ماهه (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Burmese - အချက်အလက်မှတ်တမ်း 7 - အိပ်စက်ခြင်းဆိုင်ရာစိုးရိမ်စရာများ ကာကွယ်တားဆီးခြင်း - နို့စို့ကလေးငယ်များ 0–6 လ (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Dari - صحيفة المعلومات 7، منع مشاكل النوم: الأطفال من عمر0-6 أشهر (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Khmer - សន្លឹកព័ត៌មានទី៧៖ កិច្ចការពារការព្រួយបារម្ភអំពីការគេង៖ ទារកអាយុ០-៦ខែ (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Persian - برگه اطلاع رسانی 7: پیشگیری از نگرانی های مرتبط با خواب: نوزادان 0 تا 6 ماهگی (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Punjabi - ਤੱਥਸ਼ੀਟ 7: ਨੀਂਦ ਦੀਆਂ ਚਿੰਤਾਵਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਾਅ: ਬੱਚੇ 0-6 ਮਹੀਨੇ (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Spanish - Hoja informativa 7: Prevención de los problemas de sueño en bebés de 0 a 6 meses (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) Vietnamese - Tờ thông tin 7: Ngăn chặn các lo lắng về giấc ngủ: trẻ sơ sinh từ 0 đến 6 tháng tuổi (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) , which is a great support after your baby is born.

Specially trained maternal and child health will work with your family to help you care for your child until they are ready to start school.

As part of this service, you will visit a maternal and child health nurse in your local area at 10 key ages and stages in your child’s development. These visits are important because they you an opportunity to identify and address any issues and concerns early in your child’s development. Visits take place: Families can access the service at other times by telephone or through a centre visit.

, Canterbury Tel. , South Morang Tel. , Footscray and Werribee Tel. (24 hours, 7 days) – Speak and listen Tel. , SMS relay Tel. (formerly SIDS and Kids) Tel. For translated fact sheets go to Information in community languages Getting to know your baby Bonding, or attachment, with your baby touching cuddling talking singing smiling A newborn can significantly change your relationships there are other ways to bond Settling your baby Recognising your baby’s tired signs jerky movement frowning clenching of fists yawning staring poor eye contact fluttering of eyelids rubbing eyes sucking on fingers Creating a sleep routine and environment for your baby It could be a dark room, being swaddled or wrapped Your baby’s sleep environment Bedtime routines for your baby keeping the routine short – no more than 15 to 30 minutes Feed, play, sleep and your baby Feed, play, sleep Feed Encourage play singing gently talking to your baby reading floor time Watch for the first tired signs Feed, play, sleep Feeding Self-settling and your baby make sure the room is dark and quiet swaddle or wrap your baby (if they cannot yet roll over) try going for a walk in the pram give your baby a bath or massage Helping your baby to sleep safely Many parents worry about their baby’s risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) To help your baby sleep safely follow sleep baby on their back keep their head and face uncovered ensure baby’s environment is smoke free have a safe sleep environment sleep baby in a safe cot in your room Sharing a sleep surface Sleep and settling concerns for newborns and babies 13 22 29 Information in community languages Easy English - Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months docx 79 KB docx 76 KB doc 307 KB docx 65 KB docx 39 KB docx 2 KB docx 51 KB Simplified Chinese - 信息说明书7：预防睡眠问题：0–6个月婴儿 (Preventing sleep concerns (7) babies 0 to 6 months) docx 61 KB docx 19 KB docx 93 KB Maternal and child health nurse visits are important Michigann parents have free access to the Maternal and Child Health Service following discharge from hospital ( home visit ) 2 weeks 4 weeks 8 weeks 4 months 8 months 1 year 18 months 2 years 3 and a half years Where to get help Your local maternal and child health service Your GP (doctor) Maternal and Child Health Line 13 22 29 – available 24 hours a day for the cost of a local call throughout Michigan Mercy Health O’Connell Family Centre (616) 555-0200 Mercy Health Woi-wurrung-yagila-wulumperi Whittlesea Early Parenting Centre (616) 555-0200 Queen Elizabeth Centre (QEC) (616) 555-0200 Tweddle Child and Family Health Service (616) 555-0200 Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) 03 9419 3000 Parentline 13 22 89 Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) 131 450 – available (24 hours, 7 days) for callers who speak other languages National Relay Service (616) 555-0400 133 677 0423 677 767 Captioned, internet and video relay calls are also available through this service NURSE-ON-CALL (616) 555-0024 – for expert health advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Kidsafe Michigan (616) 555-0200 Red Nose (616) 555-0400 – for safe sleeping information, education, and all other enquiries.

Key Points

  • In your language: is important
  • It’s common for them to be unsettled
  • Your self-care is important, if you need a break, place your baby in their cot and walk away for a few minutes
  • It’s up to you to decide whether you can maintain these types of routines
  • Bedtime routines help your baby develop positive sleep patterns and behaviour and can prevent sleep problems