Where Should Our Newborn Sleep
Your newborn can sleep in a bassinet or a crib. This can be located in a parents room, a siblings room or in the newborns own room. Its important that you have your baby sleep in a safe place. Your baby should not sleep in your bed with you. This is dangerous because of the risk of suffocation, strangulation and sudden infant death syndrome .
You can bring the baby into your bed for feedings, but should return the baby to a crib as soon as you are done. Many experts recommend feeding your child while in a chair to avoid any injury that can happen while sleeping in a bed with the baby. Room-sharing with your baby is recommended, but not bed-sharing.
Helping Your Baby Sleep
If you haven’t already, start a bedtime routine that will be familiar and relaxing for your baby. Bathing, reading, and singing can soothe babies and signal an end to the day. Some babies like to be swaddled , which can be done until they start to roll. Be consistent and your baby will soon associate these steps with sleeping.
If you rock your baby to sleep before bedtime, your little one may expect to be rocked to sleep after nighttime awakenings. Instead, try putting your baby into a crib or bassinet while drowsy but still awake. This way your baby will learn to fall asleep on his or her own.
Some babies squirm, whine, and even cry a little before falling back to sleep on their own. Unless you think that your baby is hungry or ill, see what happens if you leave your baby alone for a few minutes he or she might settle down.
If your baby wakes during the period that you want him or her to sleep, keep activity to a minimum. Try to keep the lights low and resist the urge to play with or talk to your baby. Change or feed your baby and return him or her to the crib or bassinet.
If your baby is waking early for a morning feeding, some small changes may allow a slight shift in schedule. You might try waking your baby for the late-night feeding at a time that suits your sleep schedule:
It may take a few nights to establish this routine, but being consistent will improve your chances of success.
Newborn Sleeping Feeding And Play: Letting Your Baby Lead The Routine
With newborn sleeping and feeding, the key is being flexible and following your babys lead. Your baby will let you know whether they want to sleep, feed or interact with you its OK to go with whatever feels right at the time.
Its also OK to try to do things in a similar order if that feels right for you and your baby. For example, you could trya simple routine of feed, play, sleep. Heres what this might look like:
If you try this kind of routine, its still important to watch your babys cues and respond.
For example, your baby might show tired signs soon after a feed. This means that its time for your baby to sleep, even if you and baby havent had much time to play.
Or your baby might show signs of being hungry after a play. In this situation, just give your baby another feed before settling baby for sleep. Your baby will sleep better with a full tummy.
Or your baby might have an extra-long sleep every now and then. Thats OK too. Unless your doctor or child and family health nurse has told you otherwise, theres no need to wake your baby for feeds.
And at night, a good option might be settling your baby straight back to sleep after feeds, rather than trying to play.
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What If Your Baby Cries As Soon As You Leave The Room
As pediatricians and as parents, our advice is to wait several moments before you go back into your babys room after putting him/her down. Each time your baby cries, wait longer before responding. After three times of going in the room or picking him/her up to soothe, we think its best to not respond again and if need be, let your baby cry him/herself to sleep. Hopefully, this will teach your baby to be self-soothing and encourage him/her to become independent of you.
Dont Rush Into Solids
Parents used to start solids pretty early, thinking that if their baby was extra full, thered be less chance shed wake in the night. But serving up solids too soon can actually hinder sleep, potentially triggering food allergies and gastrointestinal issues. According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, babies arent ready for solids until the six-month mark, and theres no research linking the start of solid foods to better sleep.
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Teach Your Baby To Self
When your baby wakes in the middle of the night and cries for you, its always okay to go check on them. However, try and limit your time in there with them. Make it clear that its still time to sleep, not play or eat. Place your hand on their chest for a few moments to calm them, then leave the room . The Zen Swaddle and Zen Sack are gently weighted on the chest and sides, which make your baby feel like youre still there. This can help ease separation anxiety, break the sleep association to be held to fall back asleep, and help your baby learn to self-soothe.
Baby Number 2 Was Sleeping Through The Night By 12 Weeks
Second, came our ever-fussy baby girl, who had reflux. She brought up a lot of milk, at nearly every feed and often I could not put her down for hours at a time such was her discomfort.
I used the same strategies for her. They didnt all work and some I adapted slightly. She first slept through the night at 12 weeks.
Im not going to lie, she was consistently inconsistent with her sleep, depending on how much milk shed managed to consume vs. how much shed deposited all over herself and myself and how uncomfortable she was. But as soon as solids were established at around 8 months , the reflux calmed down and she slept 12 hours straight fairly consistently.
Not that sleeping is ALL about eating but if a baby is hungry, they will wake to feed.
Check out the last section, after the 10 strategies, for more on tackling sleep when your baby has reflux, colic or is very gassy.
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What Sleeping Through The Night Means
In addition to new parent concerns, many parents aren’t even sure what it means for a baby to sleep through the night. According to sleep experts, sleeping through the night means different things depending on your baby’s age. “Sleeping through the night” for a 3-month-old is different from that of a 10-month-old.
Generally speaking, your baby will start sleeping through the night when the natural wake-sleep cycle begins to stabilize. Instead of waking every two to four hours at night to eat, your baby may sleep for five hours at night, wake to eat, and then sleep another two or three hours. Additionally, time spent awake during the day may grow longer.
Sleep experts find that by 6 months of age, consolidated nighttime sleep patterns, which include at least six consecutive hours, are seen in over half of the infant population in studies. And by 9 to 12 months of age, 72% of infants sleep at least six consolidated hours at night.
Keep in mind that to be physiologically able to sleep for longer durations, your baby needs an ability to store calories to fuel nighttime growth processes.
This increased calorie consumption occurs when your baby can not only handle larger feedings but also store fat and carbohydrates. But resist the urge to rush this process and overfeed your baby. If your baby is uncomfortable or experiences reflux, this will interfere with sleep, too.
Put Your Baby Down Drowsy
Instead of waiting until shes out, put her down when shes almost asleep, says Nieman. Learning to fall asleep on their own is essential to helping little ones snooze for longer stretches. Thats because when they rouse and notice things arent the same as when they drifted off theyre likely to get confused and upset.
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Helping Your Newborn Sleep
Newborns follow their own schedule. Over the next couple of weeks to months, you and your baby will begin to settle into a routine.
It may take a few weeks for your baby’s brain to know the difference between night and day. Unfortunately, there are no tricks to speed this up, but it helps to keep things quiet and calm during middle-of-the-night feedings and diaper changes. Try to keep the lights low and resist the urge to play with or talk to your baby. This will send the message that nighttime is for sleeping. If possible, let your baby fall asleep in the crib at night so your little one learns that it’s the place for sleep.
Don’t try to keep your baby up during the day in the hopes that he or she will sleep better at night. Overly tired infants often have more trouble sleeping at night than those who’ve had enough sleep during the day.
If your newborn is fussy it’s OK to rock, cuddle, and sing as your baby settles down. Swaddling can also help to soothe a crying baby. For the first months of your baby’s life, “spoiling” is definitely not a problem.
How To Sleep Train Your Baby
Are you a slave to the baby monitor? Breaking your child’s bad sleep habits is one of the most important things you can do for their healthand yours. Follow these tips to get your baby to sleep through the night.
During the early days of life with a newborn, you’re focused on what’s best for the baby, so sleepless nights seem like a small price to pay. By week six, however, waking up every few hours starts to get old. And by month three, you’re pretending to be asleep, hoping that your partner will get up first and fetch a bottle. You can’t remember what it feels like not to be tired.
The good news is that most babies begin sleeping through the night between 3 and 4 months of age if you let them, says Charles Schaefer, Ph.D., author of Winning Bedtime Battles: Getting Your Child to Sleep. The key is avoiding bad sleep habits that can stick with you for years. Our expert seven-day plan will guarantee a good night’s sleep for you and your baby, with a minimum of crying along the way.
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How Long Should I Let My Child Cry Before Coming To Them
Its different for every child and parent. Perhaps start with two minutes to start to allow the child to self-regulate, with gradually increasing times for the following nights. Then for the 4 to 12 month-old child, the parent can return and pat or sing to them.
For those older than 8 or 12 months, we recommend that the parent returns to the room to show them they are still there. But dont be entertaining. Just reassure them that you are present and dont lift them out of the crib. Maybe sit in a chair, then leave. Sometimes this takes a lot of work.
When Should I Seek A Doctor’s Help
Contact your healthcare provider if:
- Your baby seems to be extremely fussy/irritable or cannot be soothed he/she may have a medical problem such as colic or reflux .
- Your baby appears to have a breathing problem.
- Your baby has a difficult time being awakened from sleep.
- Your baby is uninterested in feeding or persistently shies away from activity.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 03/17/2020.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. . Accessed 3/23/2020.Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
- National Sleep Foundation. . Accessed 3/23/2020. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Sleep
- American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. . November 2016, 138. Accessed 3/23/2020. SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment
- American Academy of Pediatrics. . Accessed 3/23/2020. Safe Sleep
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Sleep Education. . Accessed 3/23/2020.Healthy Sleep Habits
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Sleeping Through The Night
Are your babies sleeping through the night? If not, how often are they waking?
My boy has only completely slept through the night probably 10 times in his life so far! . He typically wakes up once still for a bottle in the middle of the night with an occasional wake up around 11
No, and my daughter has never slept through the night. We have had two nights where she only woke up once. Most nights she wakes 2-4 times but only eats twice and needs rocked back to sleep lately with the regression, its anywhere from 4-10 times Im not in any rush for her to sleep through the night if she still needs me though itll happen when shes ready!
Yes, my LO started sleeping through the night since 7 months
My girl has been sleeping through since about 3 months but lately with her starting daycare and subsequently getting sick from daycare we have been anywhere from 2-20 times a night. She turned 9 months a week ago
Mine been sleeping through the night since 6 months. Goes to bed at 7, wakes up at 8am.
Yep, my son sleeps from 630ish to 7ish. Hes been doing this since 14 weeks
Check Out Our Sleep Tips
In Baby Sleep Simplified you’ll find sample schedules for every age through the first year, as well as tips on what you should focus on during every sleep stage to help your baby become a good sleeper. You can also check out our 7 Tips and Tricks on How to Get Your Newborn to Sleep or our 7 Highly Effective Sleep Tips.
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