Newborn baby sleep patterns

Newborn babies sleep a lot. But they follow a little-and-often, never-at-the-same-time-twice schedule. So although the average newborn baby has about 16 hours sleep in every 24, he is likely to do it in bouts of two, three or four hours throughout the night and day. As babies grow they need less sleep and take more of it at night and in bigger chunks. Some mature earlier, others later.

Babies take what sleep they need. So while your baby’s sleep pattern (or lack of one) may be a problem for you, it will not be a problem for him. But your baby will sleep through the night when he is ready to and when you show him how to do it.

When we sleep we alternate between active, dreaming sleep and quiet sleep. Babies do the same. But whereas adults take between one hour 40 minutes to two hours to cycle through each type of sleep, newborn babies whiz through in 50-60 minutes. The problem with this is that between these two types of sleep we all rouse slightly. Which means that your baby could potentially wake up (and wake you!) every hour.

Unfortunately, babies are most likely to wake up in the early hours of the morning and for adults, being woken repeatedly at this time of day can leave us confused and mentally unable to cope with the following day. (It’s during this phase of active sleep that we organise our thoughts and make sense of our lives).

In the early months all you can do is make sure you go to bed earlier so that you get enough active sleep to be able to cope the next day. And right from the start begin to teach your baby to get himself back to sleep so that he doesn’t need to wake you each time he wakes.

Learning to go back to sleep

• In the evening, start to put him down to sleep in his cot when he’s drowsy but still awake
• If he falls asleep during a feed, rouse him a little before you finally put him down, so that he feels himself drifting off to sleep separate from you
• Eventually, when he wakes in the night he won’t associate needing another feed with falling asleep. Instead, being drowsy and in his cot will be his clue for sleeping
• He may still need a feed during the night but should not need you to go to him every hour or so

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