Preventing sleep concerns (8) – babies 6 to 12 months

Babies can also develop a fear of people they don’t know or get upset when you leave them with other people. It is important that you keep talking to your baby, making eye contact and playing with them. By learning about your baby, you will understand their cues and be able to support positive sleep patterns.

Learning about your baby and their tired signs will help you to settle your baby. Understanding their tired signs can help to respond to their sleep and settling needs. Babies still wake overnight between sleep cycles and if they need to be fed or changed.

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

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

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 6 to 12 months might be tired after 2 to 3 hours of being awake. Tired signs for this age group can include: fussiness with food. Things you can do to help settle your baby include: Gently patting or stroking your baby in their cot.

Using gentle shushing noises, settling music or white noise. Use a dummy (if your child is already using one).

However, this may be hard to do for a long time if your baby wakes when they drop it.

If one approach doesn’t work after five 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.

If your baby still does not settle, you can: give your baby a bath or massage. 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 behaviours and patterns 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. Babies need a cue to tell them it is time to go to sleep.

This is usually something in their external environment

It could be a dark room or having familiar objects around them. 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 behaviours and patterns 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:

positive bedtime routines including pre-sleep associations (such as reading
taking your baby to where they usually sleep). Bedtime routines help your baby develop positive sleep patterns
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.

They are predictable and calming for your baby

Some things you can do include:

keeping the routine short – no more than 15 to 30 minutes. 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. Research shows that 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 establish positive sleep patterns and behaviour.

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

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 if 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 tired, but still awake.

This helps them learn to associate being in bed with settling and falling asleep. This is when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly. Although it can happen at any time, it often occurs during sleep.

To help your baby sleep safely follow these simple rules from 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 four 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. This fact sheet is available for download in the following community languages: Arabic - ورقۀ معلوماتی 8: جلوگیری از نگرانی های خواب: نوزادان 6 - 12 ماهه (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Burmese - အချက်အလက်မှတ်တမ်း 8 - အိပ်စက်ခြင်းဆိုင်ရာစိုးရိမ်စရာများအား ကာကွယ်တားဆီးခြင်း - နို့စို့အရွယ်ကလေးငယ်များ 6–12 လ (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Dari - صحيفة المعلومات 8، منع مشاكل النوم: الأطفال من عمر 6-12 شهراً (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Khmer - សន្លឹកព័ត៌មានទី៨៖ កិច្ចការពារការព្រួយបារម្ភអំពីការគេង៖ ទារកអាយុ៦-១២ខែ (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Persian - برگه اطلاع رسانی 8: پیشگیری از نگرانی های مرتبط با خواب: نوزادان 6 تا 12 ماهگی (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Punjabi - ਤੱਥਸ਼ੀਟ 8: ਨੀਂਦ ਦੀਆਂ ਚਿੰਤਾਵਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਾਅ: ਬੱਚੇ 6-12 ਮਹੀਨੇ (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Spanish - Hoja informativa 8: Prevención de los problemas de sueño en bebés de 6 a 12 meses (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) Vietnamese - Tờ thông tin 8: Ngăn chặn các lo lắng về giấc ngủ: trẻ sơ sinh từ 6 đến 12 tháng tuổi (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 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 Learning about your baby To strengthen the bond with your baby Responsive settling and your baby Your self-care is important Recognising your baby’s tired signs clumsiness clinginess grizzling or crying demands for attention boredom with toys Helping your baby settle If your baby still does not settle check they do not need a nappy change check they are not too hot or too cold check that they are not hungry try going for a walk in the pram Creating a sleep routine and environment for your baby Routines and environments play a big part in helping babies get to sleep Your baby’s sleep environment darkened and quiet environments having a bath at night consistent and predictable bedtimes and wake times Bedtime routines for your baby Feed, play, sleep and your baby Feed , play , sleep Feed Encourage play floor time reading singing Watch for the first tired signs Feed , play , sleep Feeding Self-settling and your baby make sure the room is dark and quiet Helping your baby to sleep safely Many parents worry about their baby’s risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) sleep baby on their back keep their head and face uncovered keep your baby’s environment smoke free have a safe sleep environment sleep baby in a safe cot in your room Sharing a sleep surface Information in community languages Easy English - Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months docx 4 KB docx 94 KB doc 5 KB docx 12 KB docx 03 KB docx 56 KB docx 49 KB Simplified Chinese - 信息说明书8：预防睡眠问题：6–12个月婴儿 (Preventing sleep concerns (8) babies 6 to 12 months) docx 01 KB docx 62 KB docx 3 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

important that you keep talking to your baby, making eye contact and playing with them
It’s up to you to decide whether you can maintain these types of routines
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
is a very important part of the routine