How Many Hours Does A Newborn Baby Sleep

Months Hours Of Sleep

The second month of your infants life will bring plenty of changes in her appearance and abilities, but the sleep situation will look much the same as it did the first month. Your infant may shave half an hour or so off of her overall sleep time, but still expect around eight to nine hours at night and at least three or four naps during the day.

If your baby suddenly starts waking up more often than normal at night for food or comfort, dont worry. Sleep regression occurs in many babies during the second month. Its a normal, if exhausting, stage. Try a pacifier to help your little one self-sooth and decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Total Baby Sleep Hours

So how many hours does a baby sleep each day? With newborns, it will seem like all the time. Actually, its around 18 hours initially, with the other time devoted to eating, burping, diaper changes, and probably some crying. This decreases slowly but steadily by six months, its probably around 16 hours a day, and by 12 months, your baby likely sleeps about 12 hours between overnights and 1-2 naps.

Dont worry if you feel like your baby is sleeping too much! A lot of parents seem concerned by this, but as long as your baby eats on a regular schedule and is gaining weight, you should just count your blessings.

How Should Babies Sleep

During the first weeks of a baby’s life, some parents choose to room-share. Room-sharing is when you place your baby’s crib, portable crib, play yard, or bassinet in your own bedroom instead of in a separate nursery. This keeps baby nearby and helps with feeding, comforting, and monitoring at night. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends room-sharing without bed-sharing.

While room-sharing is safe, putting your infant to sleep in bed with you is not.Bed-sharing increases the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths.

Follow these recommendations for a safe sleep environment for your little one:

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Put Your Baby To Bed When They’re Drowsy

The ideal time to put your baby into their crib is when they’re sleepy but not asleep. Letting them fall asleep in their crib helps them associate the space with sleeping.

After you put them down, give them time to settle. Babies might cry, fuss, or move around. Many times, you can leave them alone for a short while, and they’ll fall asleep on their own.

References: What Scientific Studies Say About Newborn Sleep

Anders TF. 1979. Night-waking in infants during the first year of life. Pediatrics 63: 860-864.

Bennett C, Underdown A, and Barlow J. 2013. Massage for promoting mental and physical health in typically developing infants under the age of six months. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Apr 30 4:CD005038. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005038.pub3.

Cheruku SR, Montgomery-Downs HE, Farkas SL, Thoman EB, and Lammi-Keefe CJ. 2002. Higher maternal plasma docosahexaenoic acid during pregnancy is associated with more mature neonatal sleep-state patterning. Am J Clin Nutr 76:608-13.

Cubero J, Valero V, Sánchez J, Rivero M, Parvez H, Rodríguez AB, Barriga C. 2005. The circadian rhythm of tryptophan in breast milk affects the rhythms of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin and sleep in newborn. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 26:657-61.

Cubero J, Narciso D, Terrón P, Rial R, Esteban S, Rivero M, Parvez H, Rodríguez AB, Barriga C. 2007. Chrononutrition applied to formula milks to consolidate infants sleep/wake cycle. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 28:360-6.

Custodio RJ, Junior CE, Milani SL, Simões AL, de Castro M, Moreira AC. 2007. The emergence of the cortisol circadian rhythm in monozygotic and dizygotic twin infants: the twin-pair synchrony. Clin Endocrinol . 66:192-7.

Dement W and Vaughan C. 1999. The promise of sleep. New York: Random House.

Doan T, Gardiner A, Gay CL, Lee KA. 2007 Breast-feeding increases sleep duration of new parents. J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 21:200-6.

Image credits for Newborn sleep patterns

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Newborn Sleep Cycles: Why Newborns Are Light Sleepers

When adults first fall asleep, we pass through a couple of light sleep stages, and then plunge into a bout of deep sleep.

Afterwards, we switch into REM, or rapid eye movement sleep, a sleep stage famous for its association with dreaming, and the loss of muscle tone. We dont move much during REM.

When REM is over, we either awaken, or return to light sleep and begin the cycle again. For the average adult, a single sleep cycle lasts about 90-100 minutes. We may partially awaken many times during the night. But were more likely to wake up all the way during transitions between stages, during light sleep, and during REM.

Newborn sleep is also characterized by sleep stages and cycles, but there are crucial differences.

First, babies typically begin their sleep bouts in the newborn equivalent of REM .

Second, newborns in REM dont usually experience muscle atonia.

Unlike us, they may thrash around, stretch, twitch, and even vocalize. The results can fool parents into thinking their babies are waking up, when they are actually experiencing normal REM sleep.

Third, newborn sleep cycles are shorter around 50-55 minutes for the average infant and REM makes up a much bigger proportion of sleep.

Its not unusual for newborns to spend more than half their total sleep time in REM . Indeed, several studies suggest that, over the course of a 24 hour day, some newborns spent may spend as much as 75% of their sleep time in active sleep .

Make Nighttime Dark And Days Bright

In the day time, keep the rooms bright. Dont close the curtains for sleep time, and dont keep things quiet. Everyone should talk freely throughout the day. Thats a difference between night and day.

At night, try to make his room as dark as possible. A nightlight should be okay, but dont turn on the TV or play with your cellphone too much at night. Blue light can affect your babys sleep just as much as it can change your sleeping patterns.

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Newborns Communicate By Crying

The average newborn cries and fusses almost three hours a day until around 3 to 6 months of age. Some newborns cry more than this.

Newborns are usually the most unsettled during their first three months. They also have their longest periods of crying during this time.

A lot of this crying and fussing tends to happen in the late afternoon and evening.

Crying is a newborns main way of communicating, you should respond calmly and consistently.

Sometimes, there is no clear reason why a newborn is crying. They may not stop crying even though you try to help them settle.

From approximately two weeks to three to four months of age, newborns go through a stage of increased crying, which peaks around 6 to 8 weeks of age.

The crying may be difficult to soothe. If you need to take a break, place your newborn in their cot or another safe place and take a break for a few minutes. Your self-care is important.

This is a completely normal part of newborn development. There is no need for concern, as long as your baby is growing, gaining weight and is happy at other times.

However, if you are worried about your newborns crying, please talk to your maternal and child health nurse, doctor or phone the Maternal and Child Health Line on 13 22 29.

Baby And Children Sleep Chart

How much sleep does your baby need? When will your child sleep through the night? How many naps are normal now? Check out our age-by-age sleep guide.

Here’s a ballpark estimate for how much your baby or child should be sleeping, but remember that all kids are different, and some may need a little more or less than others.

Newborn-4 months

Naps: 7-9 hours

4-12 months

Naps: 4-5 hours

1-2 years

Naps: 2-3 hours

3-5 years

Nighttime Sleep: 10-13 hours

Naps: 0-1 hours

6-12 years

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How Much Will My Baby Sleep In The First Year

Over the first year of life, your baby will sleep and nap a lot from 12 up to 18 hours a day. The amount of sleep an infant gets at any one stretch of time is mostly ruled by hunger. Newborns will wake up and want to be fed about every three to four hours at first. Do not let your newborn sleep longer than five hours at a time in the first five to six weeks. Thereafter, you can keep the following general milestones in mind:

• By six months, many babies can go for five to six hours or more without the need to feed and will begin to “sleep through the night.”
• Daytime naps reduce in number as the baby grows. A 2-month-old may nap up to four times a day, whereas an older infant may nap only one to two times a day.

Can A Newborn Sleep With A Pacifier

While many parents find pacifiers helpful in soothing a fussy baby, a newborn napping with a pacifier may also contribute tooversleeping during the day and inhibit feeding. If you find your child is not napping well then you may need to feed longer and use the pacifier less. The reliance on nighttime pacifiers may contribute to more frequent waking when the pacifier falls out of the babys mouth.

The newborn period of childhood is but a blink of an eye that feels like an eternity while youre living it. Knowingthe natural progression of infant sleepwill help you have the confidence to meet your childs needs and help them grow into healthy sleep patterns that will benefit them throughout their lifetime.

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What Happens During Baby Sleep

Sleep is important for a baby because of their rapidly developing brain and body. A variety of research studies demonstrate that infant sleep is crucial to both cognitive and physical growth. In fact, newborn infants learn during sleep. Infant sleep is positively associated with improvements in memory, language, executive function, and physical development.

Perhaps surprisingly, sleep might also provide babies an opportunity to develop motor skills. Researchers think the twitching babies do during sleep is more than movements related to dreaming. Sleep twitches could be a result of the infant brain strengthening its circuitry and learning how to control various body parts.

When Should I Talk To My Doctor

• Loud snoring: If your child regularly snores loudly, this can be a sign of a problem.
• Sleepwalking: Sleepwalking is a disorder where a child is partly awake, but not completely, during the night. Your child may sit up in bed and repeat certain movements, such as rubbing their eyes. They may get out of bed and walk around the room. When you talk to your child, they usually wont answer you. If your child sleepwalks it is important that you ensure the area is safe. Gently guide your child back to bed without waking them. If the problem continues, contact your doctor.
• Night terrors: These are different from nightmares. Children with night terrors scream uncontrollably, may breathe quickly, and seem to be awake. If you wake your child, they will likely to be confused, and may take longer to settle down and go back to sleep. Night terrors usually happen between the ages of 4 and 12, but can happen to children as young as 18 months old. Most children will outgrow them, but talk to your doctor if they persist.

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Create A Positive Bedtime Routine

A positive bedtime routine includes multiple activities performed in the same order at the same time each night before bedtime. A few activities before bedtime include giving a bath, storytime, cuddling for a bit, and lights out. The routine should be comfortable for both you and the baby. Follow it consistently to see results. You may also ensure that your baby naps appropriately during the day to prevent overtiredness and difficulty with the bedtime routine at night.

How Much Sleep Do Newborns Need

Newborns sleep a total of 16 hours a day in various length fragments. Most newborns will only sleep 8-10 hours at night but in 2-3-hour chunks and need to eat every 2-3 hours. For this reason, most newborn babies will need a late bedtime until they increase their nighttime sleep.

And, while some naps during the day might be 1-2 hours, some naps will be short 30-45 minutes. Most newborns cant stay awake very long during the day so they have to sleep frequently. But, every nap cant be long and luxurious, otherwise, they would be up half the night! No one wants that, of course.

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Baby Sleep Schedule: 2

When to Feed: Your baby’s stomach is a little bigger now, so they’ll stay full for longer, but babies at this age still typically need to be fed every few hours – including throughout the night.

Zen tip: Here’s when you can start implementing a baby bedtime routine. You’ve probably already picked up on the things that seem to soothe your baby. Stories? Baths? Swaddling? Try some different calming activities out and develop a nighttime routine that helps relax your baby and prepare them for sleep. Having a consistent routine is SO important for healthy sleep.

The Zen Swaddle makes a great addition to any bedtime routine. It’s gently weighted center and sides help soothe babies more than a traditional swaddle blanket. The weight helps to mimic your touch, so they can feel your loving embrace, even once you put them down to sleep. Additionally, the Zen Swaddle is effective in combating Moro Reflex, which is prevalent in most babies until 5 to 6 months old.

Why Is Sleep Important For Toddlers

During the toddler stage, sleep continues to play a significant role in your childs developmental health. Young children who consistently sleep less than their peers are more likely to have poor physical, emotional, and social health outcomes .

The effects of lost sleep in the toddler years may stay with your child for longer than you think. One study found that sleep problems in the toddler stage were associated with emotional and behavioral issues in school-age children.

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Identify Why They’re Waking Up

Babies commonly wake up for two reasons:

• They’re hungry
• They need changing

If you find that your baby often wakes up, but isn’t hungry and doesn’t need changing, take note. They might be experiencing a growth spurt, illness, or another issue. You’ll want to check with your pediatrician if your baby repeatedly wakes up for unknown reasons.