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Healthy Sleep of Your Baby
Getting a baby to sleep through the night is a goal every new parent works towards. Soon, warm baths, fluffy pyjamas and multiple readings of picture stories every night will become part of the whole family's routine and a cherished household tradition as well. Constant periods when your baby is awake increase from about 2 hours at 6 weeks to 3 and a half hours at 6 months of age and they are usually in the late afternoon. At 6 months virtually all infants have 2 or 3 naps during the daytime, with only about 50% of infants having more than one nap a day at 1 year. If the amount of sleep is much less than this, it is often due to difficulties sleeping and may influence as alert and open to interaction your baby is during the day. Parents have a lot of questions when it comes to sleep of their baby. The first and most important: How much sleep does my baby need?
Expectations: The biggest milestone related to sleeping is the first night (between midnight and 6 a.m.) that your baby has slept through the night. Some parents have babies that sleep through the night within the first 3 months; others are still trying at the end of the first year or beyond. The baby's how sleep is regulated in the brain is similar to that of the adult by about 6 months of age. For some babies (they are all individually different) it is harder to get to sleep at night and they need more (but the right) help to do so. They will need a regular daytime and sleeping routine. Babies that are breastfed do wake more often at night. Breast milk is best. There are tips, such as feeding before you go to bed to stretch the night-time period. In the long run, there is absolutely no difference in the sleeping habits of breast- or bottle-fed babies. Newborn Babies are not born with the ability to sleep through the night. They need to wake often and feed around the clock, including at night, to enable them to double their weight in the first 3 to 6 months. Your newborn baby does not know the difference between night and day. In general, your newborn will sleep for about 16 to 18 hours out of every 24. A newborn usually sleeps for two to four hours at a time, around the clock, and wakes up hungry. You can begin to teach your baby the difference between night and day by behaving differently at different times. During the day, talk to your baby more while you feed him. At night, be more subdued and quiet. Also, while you feed at night, do not switch on the light but just use a dimmed light source. Light and darkness and differences in noise and activity are the most powerful factors in building a day-night rhythm. Eventually, he'll catch on and start to sleep more at night-time. When your baby was in the womb, your walking motions lulled him to sleep. It's no surprise that your newborn still loves being gently rocked and swayed. Many babies also find comfort in music. 3 weeks Although your baby still wakes up to eat during the night, he's probably sleeping for longer stretches at a time, maybe for three or four hours. He'll also start to stay awake for longer periods. Starting in the first 4 weeks of life there must be a shift towards an increase of sleep at night and a reduction of sleep during the day. Remember, if you're breastfeeding, your hormones have reorganised your sleep patterns to match your baby's. These hormones may help you avoid sleep lack if you give yourself a chance. Nevertheless, quite a few mothers do feel the change in their sleep patterns and find that they just about manage to deal with all the demands. It's important that you try to slowly introduce a clear routine and day-night difference - the sooner you do, the sooner you will get your night's rest. Formula-fed babies may sleep longer because formula tends to stay in their stomachs longer, but in general, their sleep patterns are much the same. If baby tends to sleep all day, dozing through his feeds, try waking him up to eat. He needs to learn that the longest sleeping period is during the night. Help him get a little bit more organised at this point by taking him into the centre of family activity at around 4 p.m. Even if he dozes, keep him upright in an infant seat. Then give him a bath at around 7 or 8 p.m. This will simultaneously keep him awake and relax him for his long sleep ahead. 2 months Your baby is starting to settle himself down to sleep, but probably still needs to wake up to eat during the night. There are huge differences between babies at this age, but typically a 2-month-old still needs to eat during the night. Although his pattern is starting to regulate itself, you still need to follow his lead while keeping a clear difference in lighting and behaviour between day and night. It's too early for a set schedule and trying to force too strict an agenda on him wouldn't be healthy. Babies at this age sleep a little less each day than they did as newborns, about 14 to 16 hours on average. Your baby will sleep most of these hours at night and will stay awake much longer during the day, although he'll be working his way towards three naps a day. As always, this varies with the baby. A little cry on waking is normal. Although you should still go to him when he cries, give him a little time (five minutes or so) to whimper and cry. He may settle down on his own. 4 months The average 4-month-old baby sleeps about 9 to 11 hours each night and takes about two one- to three-hour naps each day. This is a time of gradual transition towards two regular daily naps. Your baby is now capable of doing a lot more to settle to sleep. Routine is very important to your 4-month-old, so try to make sure things like naps and bedtime happen at more or less the same time and in the same way every day. You don't have to be strict, just as steady as possible. Your baby will now roll over a bit and will probably move around in his cot. Place him on his back. Consider using a blanket sleeper or he'll often end up outside his covers - and wake up cold. Put him in his cot awake. Soothe him with your voice or music and gentle strokes but do not take him out of the cot, rock him to sleep or feed him into passivity. 6 months Everyone's sleep examples are different and the same goes for your 6-month-old. Special circumstances such as illness or sleeping in a strange bed at Grandma's could affect your baby's pattern; otherwise, his sleeping patterns are settling down. The average 6-month-old sleeps about 11 hours each night and has settled into two naps of about one to two hours, usually in the morning and afternoon. Almost all healthy 6-month-olds can sleep through the night, with no need for midnight snacks or early-morning conversations unless you want to spend this time with your baby or are trying to keep up your milk supply. Your baby is starting to get more opinionated, however. This is the last chance to decide where you want him to sleep without him beginning a vocal part of the decision-making process. Developing firm bedtime routines will help him get himself to sleep. Here are a few good habits to help make bedtime easier: • Put your baby to bed while he's still awake. This way he'll have practice of falling asleep in his own bed. If he's fed or rocked to sleep, he'll expect the same service in the middle of the night. • Don't allow any sleeping early in the evening (e.g. after 5-6 p.m.). To make it through the night, your baby has to be tired. • Give your baby a favourite soft toy or "comforter" to help him get to sleep. Although you'll want to keep your baby's cot free of lots of toys, one special blanket or stuffed toy is fine. 9 months Sleep concerns are very common at 8 or 9 months. Your baby may wake himself up in the middle of the night and then wake everyone else up in the household after previously sleeping through the night. This can put a big strain on parents and make them feel that life with their little one is backsliding. Babies at 9 months sleep about 11 to 12 hours per night. Just as before, your baby will wake up every few hours all night long. The difference now, however, is that he remembers you and misses you when he wakes up. If he's used to being rocked or cuddled to sleep, then he'll wait for the same in the middle of the night. It's up to you to decide whether you're prepared to go along with this routine or whether you want him to learn to fall asleep again on his own. Your baby will usually have two naps at this age. Both the afternoon and the morning nap typically last one to two hours. As his parent, you know best how much sleep your baby needs. But no matter what his personal average, he'll sleep less at night if he takes extra-long naps. 1 year At 1 year your baby is so excited by his new abilities that settling down for bed gets harder and harder. He may tease you and try to get you to go and pick him up - and he's so adorable, he's hard to resist! He is also testing the limits - how much he can get away with. The typical 1-year-old will sleep between 10 and 11 hours at night and take a couple of one- to two-hour naps during the day. As always, the amount of sleep a baby needs depends on the baby. You may notice that your baby's afternoon nap is getting a little shorter, but that he seems comfortable to play in his crib a bit before calling for you to come and get him. Put a few small toys in his cot to encourage this behaviour.
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