Take Turns With Your Partner
Sometimes the best help is in plain sight: your partner or spouse! A bit of teamwork can make a major impact. At night, take turns with your partner getting up with the baby so that you can each get some uninterrupted sleep, recommends Kesatie.
If youre a nursing mom, once the nursing relationship is established, try to go to bed at the same time as the baby and see if your partner can feed the baby a bottle of pumped breast milk at the first wake-up so you can get a solid chunk of sleep during the first portion of the night.
If youre rocking parenthood as a single mom, remember the advice we gave you above: accept help even for the overnight shift! Ask a friend or family member to bunk with you to listen for babys wake-up while you sleep peacefully, earplugs in.
When To See A Doctor
Always consult your babys pediatrician before making any major changes to your babys sleeping habits, routine, or environment. Similarly, call the doctor if you notice a sudden shift in your babys sleeping pattern as it can be due to an illness, such as an ear infection.
If your baby experiences sleep troubles regularly despite adherence to an optimal bedtime routine, it is always a good idea to consult a pediatrician.
How Much Sleep Do Babies Need
Sleep patterns will change over the first year of a babys life, including the number of hours of sleep needed and the duration of sleep periods throughout the day and night.
- 0 to 3 months: Its normal for newborns to spend 14 to 17 hours asleep in a 24-hour day, broken into shorter periods to accommodate feeding, diaper changes, and interaction with their family. Breastfed infants usually need to eat more frequently than bottle-fed infants, about every 2 hours versus every 3 hours. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises parents not to worry if their newborns sleep pattern doesnt match the projections, as these amounts can vary before the first 4 months.
- 3 to 6 months: Starting at around 3 months of age, an infants daily sleep needs drop to 12 to 15 hours. Around this time, sleep also starts consolidating into longer periods as babies are able to go longer without feeding. Sometime during this period is when most babies start to sleep through the night, though there are exceptions to the rule.
- 6 to 12 months: From 6 months onward, babies do the bulk of their sleeping at night. However, other issues such as teething, growth spurts, illnesses, or sleep regressions may start leading to nighttime awakenings. Parents may opt to use more specific sleep-training strategies if babies arent sleeping through the night at this stage.
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Emphasising The Difference Between Night And Day
From 3-4 months of age, babies start to have their longest sleep at night. Here are some things you can do to help your baby get used to the idea that night is different from day and that night is a good time to sleep:
- During the night, keep the room dark or dimly lit and quiet.
- Use a dim light when you attend to your baby during the night.
- At night, respond to your babys cries quickly and settle or feed baby as soon as you can.
- Give night-time feeds in the bedroom. This helps to keep these feeds brief and make them different from daytime feeds.
- At night try to be soothing and quiet when youre with your baby. Keep play for daytime.
What Are The Sleep Patterns Of A Newborn
The average newborn sleeps much of the day and night, waking only for feedings every few hours. It is often hard for new parents to know how long and how often a newborn should sleep. Unfortunately, there is no set schedule at first, and many newborns have their days and nights confused. They think they are supposed to be awake at night and sleep during the day.
Generally, newborns sleep a total of about 8 to 9 hours in the daytime and a total of about 8 hours at night. But because they have a small stomach, they must wake every few hours to eat. Most babies dont begin sleeping through the night until at least 3 months of age. But this can vary a lot. Some babies dont sleep through the night until closer to 1 year. In most cases, your baby will wake up and be ready to eat at least every 3 hours. How often your baby will eat depends on what he or she is being fed and his or her age. Make sure you talk with your healthcare provider to figure out if you need to wake your baby for feedings.
Watch for changes in your baby’s sleep pattern. If your baby has been sleeping consistently, and suddenly is waking more often, there may be a problem such as an ear infection. Or your baby may be going through a growth spurt and need to eat more often. Some sleep disturbances are simply due to changes in development or because of overstimulation.
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Sleep Train When Youre Ready
Opinions vary on the subject of infant sleep training, but there can be a time and place for helping baby lengthen his sleep stretches. My suggestion is for parents to do what they are comfortable doing, advises Wenworth.
Once a baby is 4 months old, you can begin doing some sleep training if it suits your family. This can look different for everyone, but the most important piece is that you have your pediatricians okay, and that parents choose a method that theyre comfortable with and can be consistent with for at least 2 weeks.
Drown Out Soundwith Sound
“Blackout shades and a white-noise machine transform a nursery into a womb-like environmentand muffle the noise and light from outside. Half of a baby’s sleep is REM, or rapid eye movement. This is the light-sleep stage in which dreams occur, so it can seem as if almost anything will wake him: Your phone rings in the living room, you laugh too loudly at your Netflix show, you pull a tissue out of the box. But that is less likely to happen with a white-noise machine running because the background noise covers it all. Some have timers, but I prefer the ones that plug in so they stay on all night. The Marpec Dohm is my favorite. I tell parents to test the volume by having one person stand outside the doors and talk. The white machine should muffle the voice but not drown it own completely.” Brooke Nalle, a sleep consultant and founder of Sleepy on Hudson in Dobbs Ferry, New York
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Where Should My Baby Sleep
For the first 6 months your baby should be in the same room as you when they’re asleep, both day and night. Particularly in the early weeks, you may find your baby only falls asleep in your or your partner’s arms, or when you’re standing by the cot.
You can start getting your baby used to going to sleep without you comforting them by putting them down before they fall asleep or when they’ve just finished a feed. It may be easier to do this once your baby starts to stay alert more frequently or for longer.
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.
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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.
Be Aware Of Food Sensitivities
Exposure to different foods and flavors begins in utero, and your babys ability to process certain foods will develop and get stronger throughout the first year of his life. As your baby grows, he may develop one or more food sensitivity. This is especially true in breastfed babies. For example, a newborn baby may have a difficult time digesting garlic or other spices within breast milk. If your baby is crying, arching her back, and has a stiff belly, then she may be experiencing a food sensitivity. The good news is that these symptoms typically pass after a bowel movement.
Once you identify which food caused this discomfort, you can eliminate it from your diet while breastfeeding. This should ensure that your baby will sleep at night more comfortable and uninterrupted.
If your baby is at least 6 months old, and you have concerns related to how solid foods may be interfering with her sleep, please refer to “How Certain Foods Can Affect Your Childs Sleep.”
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How To Help Babies Toddlers Sleep Through The Night
Sleep is on every parents mind. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that sleep problems affect 25 to 50 percent of children and 40 percent of adolescents. UC Davis pediatrician Lena van der List comes to the rescue to answer some frequently asked questions to help parents sleep through the night.
Keep Your Babys Bedroom Sleep
Create a dark, relaxing space to try and help your baby sleep. Blackout blinds are invaluable for helping with daytime naps and look into relaxing sounds to play such as white noise or natural soundscapes. Not only can these help relax both baby and you, but they can signal sleep-time, which can be helpful.
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Why Newborns Dont Sleep Through The Night
The biological process that controls our feelings of being sleepy or awake in a 24-hour period is called the circadian rhythm, or body clock. It’s controlled by an area of the brain that responds to light, which is why most of us are most alert during daylight hours and are ready to sleep when its dark outside.
Babies arent born with a circadian rhythm, and they dont understand the difference between night and day. It’s quite normal for newborns to get things backwards being sleepy in the day and wide awake at night because they don’t know night is time for sleeping. Within the first three months, most babies gradually begin to organise sleeping and waking according to daily cycles of light and darkness.
What Can I Do To Help Drop Nighttime Feedings
Increase daytime calories
Once you eliminate any discomfort that may be waking your baby, you want to ensure that your little one is well-fed before bed. Increasing calories during the day may reduce feedings at night.1
To help increase calories during the day:
- Minimize distractions and feed in a quiet place to help keep baby feeding longer18
- Offer the breast or bottle feed more frequently throughout the day, paying close attention to babyâs hunger and fullness cues
- Feed a few times in the hours before bed to help baby have a full stomach
Read more: Understanding Your Babyâs Hunger and Fullness Cues: Responsive Feeding
Can I put cereal in a bottle?
The idea that feeding infant cereal in a bottle before bed helps baby sleep has been around for quite some time. However, studies have not indicated that cereal in a bottle helps with sleep, and that in fact this practice may be dangerous.20,24
The American Academy of Pediatrics states that cereal in a bottle can be a choking hazard, may lead to over feeding, and if given too early may put your little one at risk for allergies.19,21
Try to wean from one nighttime feeding at a time
Weaning gradually by eliminating one feeding at a time, every few days, may help prevent discomfort and gives your baby and your body time to adjust.22,23
Stopping the one feed should not affect milk production at other feeding times.
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Try shortening breastfeeding sessions gradually
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Week : Show Your Newborn The Difference Between Night And Day
Newborns dont know the difference between night and day when they are born. Thats one of the reasons why they are up and down at all hours. To acclimate their body clocks to the rhythms of your day introduce your newborn to the concept of night and day.
This important newborn sleep tip will help them set their internal clocks to be awake more during the day and sleep for longer stretches at night eventually.
To do this create a stark contrast to day and night in your home.
During the day keep lighting and noise at a normal level. Where ever baby naps keep the room from being pitch black. Play music in the background. Do most of your activities during the day.
At night soften the environment. Turn down the lights and the volume. Slow down the pace of life. When putting baby down at night draw the shades closed and make the room dark.
Over time your newborn will adjust and with it adjust their awake and sleep hours.
Put Your Baby Down Drowsy But Awake
New parents often make the mistake of lulling their baby to sleep in their arms and then placing him/her in the crib. This makes the child completely dependent on the parents touch to fall asleep.
Moreover, if the baby wakes up in the middle of the night, he/she will be unable to go back to sleep unless held by the parent. Thus, parents are advised to put their baby in the crib while he/she is drowsy but still awake.
Once babies develop a habit of being rocked or nursed to sleep, it can become difficult for them to grow out of it. So, you must start early and encourage your little one to go to sleep on his/her own.
A recent study showed that 9-month-old babies who were made to sleep alone in their separate rooms got an hour and 40 minutes of extra slumber on average than those who still shared a room with their parents.
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