Helping Your Baby To Sleep
Some babies sleep much more than others. Some sleep for long periods, others in short bursts. Some soon sleep through the night, while some don’t for a long time.
Your baby will have their own pattern of waking and sleeping, and it’s unlikely to be the same as other babies you know.
It’s also unlikely to fit in with your need for sleep. Try to sleep when your baby sleeps.
If you’re breastfeeding, in the early weeks your baby is likely to doze off for short periods during a feed. Carry on feeding until you think your baby has finished or until they’re fully asleep. This is a good opportunity to try to get a bit of rest yourself.
If you’re not sleeping at the same time as your baby, don’t worry about keeping the house silent while they sleep. It’s good to get your baby used to sleeping through a certain amount of noise.
When Can A Baby Sleep With A Blanket
Now that you know the risks of using a blanket, you might be wondering when your newborn can start sleeping with one. To reduce the risk of SIDS and SUID, the AAP recommends waiting until your baby is at least 12 months old to introduce a light blanket, and 18 months if youre using a heavy or quilted blanket. When the time comes, there are a few tips on how to safely use a blanket in the cribmake sure to choose a lightweight blanket that doesnt have any loose threads or pieces that could come detached. Also, dont put the blanket over chest level, and avoid putting stuffed animals, pillows, or any other objects in the crib, as these can increase the risk of SIDS.
Most pediatricians recommend :
- 412 months no blankets or soft bedding
- 12+ months slowly introduce blankets, pillows or a stuffed animal
If youre wondering when your baby can start using those fine fuzzy blankets you bought, talk to your pediatrician for personalized advice based on your childs health and development.
Coping With Disturbed Nights
Newborn babies invariably wake up repeatedly in the night for the first few months, and disturbed nights can be very hard to cope with.
If you have a partner, ask them to help. If you’re formula feeding, encourage your partner to share the feeds. If you’re breastfeeding, ask your partner to take over the early morning changing and dressing so you can go back to sleep.
Once you’re into a good breastfeeding routine, your partner could occasionally give a bottle of expressed breast milk during the night. If you’re on your own, you could ask a friend or relative to stay for a few days so you can get some sleep.
Also Check: What Color Is Newborn Poop
Dont Assume The Mellow Sleepy Newborn Phase Will Last Forever
We hate to break it to you, but your dozy, peaceful infant who simply falls asleep, milk-drunk, after a feeding may not always be this way. The first few weeks are not always indicative of the kind of sleeper you happened to score in the newborn sleep lottery. Some babies randomly sleep through the night early on but it doesnt mean this will continue indefinitely. Have you weathered the four-month sleep regression yet? Yeah, you might want to read up on that. And even though nursing to sleep or rocking to sleep before naps and bedtime might be working for you now, know that sometimes IT JUST STOPS WORKING. If youre one of the lucky parents with a unicorn baby , try not to gloat. It doesnt necessarily mean that youre doing it right, while that other mom with the colicky, sleepless baby hasnt figured it out. Believe us, shes trying.
Can A Bedtime Routine Help Your Baby Sleep
Yes. Your babys sleep schedule changes over time, but sticking to a routine can make bedtime easier for the both of you. Start setting a bedtime routine when your babys around 4 to 6 months old.
Heres how to get your baby ready for bedtime:
- Wind down any playtime fun.
- Turn off the phone, television, etc.
- Give your baby a warm bath.
- Softly stroke your babys back.
- Give your baby a pacifier.
- Sing to your baby or play soft music.
- Read your baby a bedtime story.
Stick to your babys sleep routine as much as you can. Plan ahead if your babys routine may need a temporary change, like if youre going out of town travel or attending family parties. Change his bed time the best you can but try to get back to his schedule and routine as soon as possible.
Also Check: How To Wrap A Newborn
Do Not Let Your Baby Sleep Longer Than 2 Hours At A Time From 7 Am To 7 Pm
This has got to be the single most effective thing you can do encourage your newborn to have longer stretches of sleep at night. Granted, this will literally be impossible to accomplish for most babies before 4 to 6 weeks. When those new newborns want to sleep, try as you might, they will not wake up. But, as soon as you see that youre able to wake them up a bit, do so! Take off their clothes, expose them to cooler air, take them outside/expose them to sunlight, put them in a baby tub filled with lukewarm water Simply put, do anything you can to wake them up if theyve been asleep for longer than 2 hours.
Trust me on this one.
When Do Babies Sleep Through The Night
Sleeping through the night doesn’t have a strict definition. However, people often say a baby sleeps through the night when the baby sleeps for six to eight hours at night , without waking up, in addition to daytime naps. By six months of age, roughly 62% of babies sleep for six or more uninterrupted hours at night. By one year of age, that percentage climbs, with around 72% of one-year-old babies sleeping for six or more uninterrupted hours at night.
Its important not to push your baby to sleep through the night too early. Prior to three months of age, virtually all babies sleep in three- to four-hour blocks of time , without regard to whether it’s daytime or nighttime. Around three months, some babies begin to do more of their sleeping at night, but this sleep is still interrupted.
Also, keep in mind that your night of sleep and your baby’s night are different. If you put your baby down to sleep and they sleep through the night uninterrupted, they will still likely wake up while you are sleeping. For example, with an 8 p.m. bedtime, six hours of uninterrupted sleep leads to a 2 a.m. wake time.
Read Also: What Bottles To Buy For Newborn
What Is Safe Sleep
Safe sleep means putting your baby to sleep in ways that can help protect him from dangers, like choking and suffocation , and sudden infant death syndrome . SIDS is the unexplained death of a baby younger than 1 year old. SIDS usually happens when a baby is sleeping. Its sometimes called crib death because the baby often dies in his crib.
Tips For How To Get Baby To Sleep
As baby grows and becomes more aware of their surroundings, its easy for them to cross that line between cautiously curious and decidedly overstimulated. In the first months of life, an infants social, emotional and intellectual skills are slowly maturing, says James McKenna, PhD, a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory. During these critical developmental years, new daily experiences can cause baby to construct new things to worry about, to be aware of, to think about and to be afraid of.
In other words, just like for Mom , babys daytime stressors can impact nighttime sleep. And that means baby craves the comfort only you can provide. So what can you do to help baby get some ZZZs? Here are some guidelines for how to get baby to sleep easier.
You May Like: When To Book Newborn Photos
How Long Will My Newborn Sleep
Newborns should get 1417 hours of sleep over a 24-hour period, says the National Sleep Foundation. Some newborns may sleep up to 1819 hours a day.
Newborns wake every couple of hours to eat. Breastfed babies feed often, about every 23 hours. Bottle-fed babies tend to feed less often, about every 34 hours.
Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 34 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks. After that, it’s OK to let your baby sleep for longer periods of time at night.
The first months of a baby’s life can be the hardest for parents, who might get up many times at night to tend to the baby. Each baby has a different sleep pattern. Some start to sleep “through the night” by 23 months of age, but some don’t.
Teach Your Newborn To Sleep
If you can get in the habit of putting your newborn to sleep while he is drowsy but still awake, then you will begin to teach him how to put himself to sleep. Like adults, babies go through several cycles of wakeful periods during the night. Adults can put themselves back to sleep with no issue. For babies, this is a learned skill. The sooner your baby can fall asleep on his own, the sooner your baby will sleep through the night.
Don’t Miss: How To Take Care Of Newborn Baby Girl
What Is Safe To Sleep
Since the AAP’s recommendation, the rate of SIDS has dropped greatly. Still, it is the leading cause of death in young infants. The “Safe to Sleep” campaign reminds parents and caregivers to put infants to sleep on their backs and provide a safe sleep environment.
Here’s how parents can help reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths:
For parents and families who have experienced a SIDS death, many groups, including First Candle, can provide grief counseling, support, and referrals.
Dont Buy Those Cute Crib Bumper Sets You See On Blogs And In Catalogs
This ones pretty easy to follow: dont use crib bumpers. They are a SIDS risk, the sale of them is even banned in some US states, and doctors have been lobbying against crib bumpers for years. Yes, some babies flail around a lot in their sleep, especially when theyre on the verge of learning to roll, crawl, or walk. But they probably wont seriously injure themselves by bumping their heads on a crib rail. While those breathable mesh bumpers do a good job of keeping soothers from poking out of the crib slats, they are not recommended due to the risk of entanglement and strangulation. And while were at it, you shouldnt use a DockATot or infant lounger for unsupervised sleep inside the crib, either. Theyre technically no longer available in Canada, but similar products are still on the market.
Read Also: How Often Should I Pump For Newborn
Why Do Some Parents Bed
Bed-sharing supporters believe and some studies support their beliefs that bed-sharing:
- encourages breastfeeding by making nighttime breastfeeding more convenient
- increases how many months a mother breastfeeds her baby
- helps babies fall asleep more easily
- helps babies and mothers get more nighttime sleep
- gives moms more time to be close to their infantsy
But the risks of bed-sharing can outweigh the benefits.
Dress Your Baby Appropriately
Overdressing a baby can lead to overheating which has been linked to sudden infant death syndrome . Babies do not have the ability to regulate their own body temperature like adults do, so its important to make sure theyre not overheating, especially sleep at night. Babies who are too warm or too cool will undoubtedly wake up. You can avoid this issue by dressing your baby in garments made from all-natural fibers like cotton, linen, or merino wool, which are breathable and absorb perspiration.
We suggest Woolino products, as they are made with supremely breathable merino wool and have unmatched body temperature regulation properties. This means a better, healthier, and safer sleep for your baby. If the temperature in your babys nursery in a concern, please refer to “Keeping Your Baby Cool During Hot Summer Nights.
Its important to remember that although there are many different ways to put a newborn to sleep, sleep routines are very child-specific. Children will experience changes in their sleeping habits, and most of the time these changes will be perfectly normal. However, if something doesnt seem quite right, and you are still struggling to find answers, we recommend consulting with your pediatrician.
You May Like: What Size Diapers Should I Buy For A Newborn
Putting It All Together
Your newborn baby cycles through his two sleep stages for 16 to 20 hours per day in small chunks. Those chunks arent consecutive or nearly as long as adults need to feel rejuvenated and rested. So, parents need to find ways to get more sleep to avoid sleep deprivation.
Using sleep aids, like swaddling and white noise, can help to lengthen the time between wake ups. Every minute counts! Start creating a sleeping routine to help your babys brain learn to signal its bedtime and start winding down.
In the weeks following your babys birth, make sure you take it easy and avoid too many visitors. Spend as much time as possible resting and napping, when possible. Head to bed earlier and take advantage of every second possible to maximize your sleeping time.
Being a parent is a great experience that can sometimes be scary and exhilarating at the same time when you watch your baby from sleeping soundly in your arms to crawling out of them to play freely. Watching those little active steps or that fast and excited crawl brings warmth to a mother heart and most times a chance to do finish that book you had pushed aside.That’s why we are there to advice & guide mothers to solutions that will keep their minds at rest.
How To Get A Baby To Sleep Through The Night
Fact-Checked
As a new parent, you might wonder when your baby will sleep through the night and allow you to do the same. If you’re craving a full night of quiet, you aren’t alone: parents tend to experience sleep loss and fatigue in the months after their child is born.
To help new parents reduce the stress of these changes, well cover how sleeping through the night is defined, when babies generally begin to stay asleep, and how you can get your baby to sleep through the night when they’re ready.
Read Also: Why Is My Newborn So Squirmy