This is a great trick that I discovered on my own when my daughter was five weeks old. Every baby is unique and will respond differently to each sleep cue, of course, but I really hope this is helpful to you!
- Set the stage. Do whatever you normally do to prepare your baby for sleep. For my daughter, I swaddle her, plug in the nightlight, nurse or give her the pacifier, turn on our Baby Shusher, and hold her while bouncing on our exercise ball.
- Put a little bit of oil or balm on your fingers. This will help your fingers move smoothly over your baby’s forehead.
- If your baby is fussy and is fighting the idea of relaxing, start with the lightest possible touch going in a large circle or oval on your baby’s forehead. A heavier touch might make your baby even more fussy–it certainly has that effect on my daughter if she is not yet ready to chill. You can alternate from this movement by making a tiny circle on the space between your baby’s eyebrows. Sometimes I make three circles on her forehead, and then three little circles between her brows. Do whatever seems to calm your baby down.
- Once your baby begins to relax, gradually add more weight to the two circles you’ve been drawing. The key idea here is weight, not pressure. Do not press on the baby’s skin; just relax and allow the natural weight of your hand to smoothly run over their forehead. This will help their facial muscles to relax, which in turn helps them to close their eyes. Do this movement, gradually adding more and more weight, and steadily moving slower and slower, until your baby’s eyes are heavy but not yet closed. This step is where that oil or balm will come in handy.
- Feel free to get creative now. Smooth their eyebrows, drag your finger down their forehead and bridge of their nose, draw another wide, skinny oval at their hairline, etcetera. Do a variety of different movements and see what effect each one has on your baby. If your baby is already calm and relaxed, you can start at this step and forego the oil or balm.
- Now that your baby’s eyes are either almost closed or closed all the way, stop the movement. Place your entire hand on their forehead and give it a bit of weight that pushes downwards and causes the eyes to close. Again–only use a little bit of weight and do not press on your baby. Lay your hand in this position and commit to it until you are sure that your baby’s eyes will stay closed without your help. Gently lay your baby in their sleeping place. Yay! You did it! Give yourself a pat on the back and some much-needed rest.
Cheek-to-Forehead variation for overtired or colicky babies:
Sometimes, your baby might be really worked up and cranky. Their little body is so tense and they can’t seem to relax no matter what you do. Again, although every baby is unique and will respond differently to each sleep cue, I hope this variation will help you.
- Set the stage again, but even more so. For my daughter, I do all that I normally do (swaddle, pacifier, turn on the Baby Shusher, and hold her) but I stand upright in our bathroom or kitchen with both the Shusher and fan running.
- I then begin a bouncing, swaying movement where I shift my weight from one leg to the other. I bounce twice on my right side, twice on the left, and so on.
- Then, I shush in my daughter’s ear along with the bouncing rhythm (shh shh right, shh shh left).
- I shush her while holding my cheek against her forehead. You have to hold the baby almost chest-to-chest for this to work, because you need to be shushing right into their ear. Lay your cheek on their forehead very gently without much weight. The goal at this point is for them to feel safe and surrounded by you.
- By the way, this cheek-to-forehead technique also works well while sitting on our exercise ball. Sometimes, though, our daughter just needs to be held standing. It all depends on the situation.
- Once the baby is no longer crying or stiff as a board, take them back to their sleeping place and start over with step one of the original forehead massage process.
Best wishes to you, new mom! You were made to do this!
Haley's Thoughts 