Guest post
When you’re pregnant, a lot of people will warn you to catch up on your sleep before the baby is born. They try to prepare you for losing a lot of sleep and they are right! Waking up with a newborn can leave new parents very sleep-deprived. Learn these 5 facts about your newborn’s sleep patterns to get more sleep for you and your baby.
1. Newborns Confuse Day and Night
When your newborn is in your womb, they are often lulled to sleep while you walk around during the day. And, just as you are trying to go to sleep, your baby might start waking up and kicking. Once your baby is born, they might still have their days and nights confused.
If your newborn has days and nights confused, they might be awake a lot at night and sleep for very long periods during the day (e.g. 3-hour naps). This can mean new parents are even more sleep-deprived. It’s difficult for adults to take 3-hour naps during the day because our internal clock is set to sleep at night. Your baby might take short “naps” in the middle of the night, but you might find yourself awake a lot at night tending to the baby between these “naps.”
Don’t worry too much because most newborns will correct this day/night confusion within just a few weeks! To help them speed up this adjustment, however, you can limit any single nap to two hours so their brain will begin to adjust to sleeping more at night.
2. Newborns Can’t Stay Awake Very Long
Although you might want to limit some naps to two hours to help resolve day/night confusion, keep in mind your baby will need to sleep a lot each day. Newborns generally can’t stay awake very long between sleep periods because they are still adjusting to the outside world. There is a lot of stimulation and a lot for their brain to process. Therefore, most newborns need to sleep within 1-2 hours of being awake.
In my 12+ years of experience as a sleep consultant, one of the biggest mistakes I see is when parents keep a baby awake longer in hopes they will sleep more at night.
Unfortunately, this often makes sleep even worse.
Overtired babies tend to struggle to fall asleep and, most importantly, stay asleep. The more rested they are, the easier they fall asleep, and the easier it is to stay asleep. Therefore, you don’t want to keep your newborn awake too long before soothing them down for a nap or bedtime.
One final thing to consider is that there are some newborns who don’t fall asleep at nap time even though they’ve been awake for a long time. Occasionally, there are some babies who go through fussy periods and can’t seem to sleep no matter how tired they are. All we can do is our best. Do the best you can to soothe your newborn down for sleep for 20 minutes. If they can’t fall asleep, take a break, and try again in 20-30 minutes.
3. Swaddling and White Noise can Lengthen Sleep
In order to help your newborn adjust to the outside world, you can mimic a couple of things from the womb. First, swaddling a baby can help comfort your baby. But it’s important to learn how to swaddle a baby safely and correctly. Swaddling is wrapping your baby up like a burrito and reminds them of the womb. It also can help keep your baby asleep when their Moro reflex is still strong.
The second thing you can do to recreate the womb is to play white noise. White noise is traditionally the sound of static but you can also look for other sounds that your baby might prefer. There are ocean waves, the sound of rain, a heartbeat sound, and many more!
4. Newborns Don’t Have an Early Bedtime
If you’ve done any reading about baby sleep, you will likely see a lot about early bedtimes. And, yes, early bedtimes can help babies sleep much better at night. However, keep in mind that when your baby first comes into the world, bedtimes are typically later at night closer to 10 or 11 p.m.
The reason bedtimes aren’t early, yet, is because it will be some time until your baby will sleep 11-12 hours at night (with age-appropriate feedings). Newborns often only sleep 8-9 hours at night until they are older. The worst thing you can do is have an early 7 p.m. bedtime when your baby will only sleep 8 hours. That means you will start your day at 3 a.m.!
Early bedtimes usually begin around 8-12 weeks old. Be sure to put your baby on an appropriate newborn sleep schedule.
5. Newborns Don’t Always Sleep Through the Night
People often define “sleeping through the night” differently. The technical definition is 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep but most parents care more about 8-10+ hours of uninterrupted sleep.
The last thing you should know about your newborn’s sleep patterns is that babies won’t sleep for 8+ hours until they are 4 to 6 months old, on average. As you will find, all babies are different and whether they are breastfed or formula-fed can make a huge difference. There are some babies who will sleep through the night as early as 8 weeks old (often formula-fed) while others might not sleep through the night until 9 months old (often breastfed).
I hope these facts you learned about your newborn’s sleep patterns help you get your baby started on the right foot! I encourage you to set reasonable expectations for your unique baby. And, until your baby sleeps through the night, be sure to care for yourself.
Nicole Johnson is a married mother of two wonderful boys and owner of The Baby Sleep Site. When her eldest son was born, he had a lot of sleep problems – he would wake every one or two hours, all night long! Nicole got busy and thoroughly researched literature and scientific reports until she became an expert in sleep methods, scheduling routines, baby developmental needs, and more. She overcame her son’s sleeping issues in a way that matched her own parenting style, and knew it was her mission to help other tired parents “find their child’s sleep”. If you have your own sleep issues, Nicole and her team at The Baby Sleep Site® can help! Download the popular free guide, 5 Ways To Help Your Child Sleep Through The Night, to get started today.
