Many parents hear that they won’t sleep when the baby arrives, but what they don’t realize is that this is really on a totally different level from what they thought it was going to be. TOTALLY different!
In the beginning, your newborn’s sleep will have no real pattern. It comes with many ups and downs and for some, it may seem like sleepless nights are never going to end. Rest assured that things will settle down around 3 to 4 months of age. Because sleep is so sporadic during the first few months of life, it can become very confusing and overwhelming for parents.
Some of the major reasons why sleep can change so often with babies at this age, can be due to the following factors:
Newborns need a lot of sleep! Keep those wake windows short to help keep them well rested – 45 to 60 minutes to start.
Make sure the room is conducive to sleep. Using blackout curtains and a sound machine (white noise) will definitely help.
They will need help falling asleep and THAT’S OK!!! Don’t worry about creating “bad habits” at this age. As long as you are providing your baby their own SAFE sleep space to sleep in, use all the tools in your toolbox to help your baby sleep. Swaddle, baby wear, shush, rock, use a pacifier, nurse to sleep and continue to snuggle your baby to sleep during the first few months. It’s a time to bond with your baby and to get the sleep everyone needs.
As the weeks pass by, your newborns sleep will begin to show a little more of a pattern but can still shift slightly from one day to the next. Night sleep begins to organize leading to one longer period of consolidated sleep of around 4 to 6 hours. Morning wake time will become more consistent and you will start to see your baby waking up around the same time each day within a 15 to 30-minute window. Day sleep often takes much longer to organize but you may begin to see a more regular morning nap emerge, lasting anywhere from 1 to 2 hours in length.
Bedtime will soon begin to regulate and happen at around the same time each night. It will also start to get much earlier! Now that’s good news for everyone!
Kim Davis is a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant and founder of Babes & Beyond Pediatric Sleep Consulting. For more than 7 years she has been helping families become healthier, happier and amazing sleepers through her customized sleep programs.