RealMom.net

The Art of Sleep: The Newborn

Sleep for little ones is such a huge topic, I’m breaking it up into three sections: Newborns, Infants and Toddlers. Each has certain things that make their sleep patterns different and they have different quirks and solutions.

Newborn Sleep
When a baby is born and for the first eight to twelve weeks, his sleep is random, yet plentiful. Or at least is should be. The first few days, or weeks if your baby was early, are easy. Plop the baby down and he sleeps. He falls asleep easily and sleeps for decent amounts of time.

As he grows, he becomes more aware of the world and all there is to see and do. Who wants to sleep through that? He’ll be harder to put down, but don’t be fooled – he still needs plenty of sleep. Newborns need up to sixteen or eighteen hours of sleep a day. No wonder it seems like they sleep all day! They are supposed to!

Naps
Newborn naps are sporadic and vary greatly in length. They may eat every two hours and take up to an hour to eat each time. That leaves very little time for a decent nap in between meals. As they start to hold more at a feeding, their naptimes will lengthen, but will not start setting up anything routine until closer to ten or twelve weeks, although you might be lucky and see a pattern earlier.

Newborns don’t need to be awake for longer than a hour or two without falling asleep for some length of time. Keeping them up will make them sleep worse in the long run. Feed your baby, do a bit of snuggling and tummy time, then put him back to bed. When he wakes up, repeat. Your baby will also nap decently in the stroller, car or sling now. Take advantage of that and get your errands done – you’ll be stuck in the house soon enough.

Nights
Newborns don’t usually start sleeping through the night until close to six or eight weeks. Mine started in the hospital, but that is a benefit of carrying twelve plus pounds of baby. By the way, sleeping through the night for infants is five straight hours. Don’t be discouraged, it feels like heaven after a month or two of getting up every two hours.

When they are first born, babies don’t do much differently either day or night. They might have one slightly longer sleep period, but that could fall at any time of the day. Eventually the night sleep starts to lengthen, and by twelve weeks your baby should be in bed before eight and sleeping until at least six or seven. Granted, they may eat twice during the time, but they should not be playing. Eat and back to sleep.

Helping Baby Sleep Better
When babies first come home, they require a lot from Mom and Dad, which means parents don’t get to sleep as much as the little one. This is especially true if there are older children in the house.
To help your baby sleep longer, consider the following:

Swaddling – Little ones respond very well to swaddling.

Keep it Small – Newborns will freak if their bed is too big. Keep them in something small enough that they feel safe and secure.

Maintain a Routine – Not a schedule, but a routine can tell your baby what is coming. My favorite is Eat, Play, Sleep. The times vary a lot still, but a good meal, a bit of exercise and then a nice long nap help him remember what he’s supposed to be doing when.

Sleep More – The more your child sleeps, the better he will sleep. Do what you can to get quality sleep during the day and that will help nights.

Motionless Sleep – I use the car, swing and Bjorn a lot, but Brian sleeps much better in his bed than in my arms, the swing or anywhere else. Jake slept too much being held and got very overtired and couldn’t put himself to sleep later, but more on that another day.

Keep Days Bright and Nights Dark – It seems simple, but for those babies that have their days and nights backward, they need a bit of help. During the day, go out in the sun and open the blinds. At night, keep the house dark and quiet. Don’t coo or talk to your baby while feeding at night. Act like you expect him to go right back to sleep and he’ll get the message pretty quickly.

Try Noise – The womb was noisy. The nursery was noisy. So why should he sleep well in a silent bedroom? Run a loud fan or get a white noise machine. I personally advise against music since it has a beginning and an end. Something with a continuous drone is better. At the moment, it’s naptime here, so half my house is buzzing.

Get Good Meals – As tempting as it may be, don’t let your little one snack at night unless you’re into the family bed and breastfeeding. A good meal at the beginning, middle and end of the night will help lengthen the sleep in between. During the day, wake your baby every two, three or four hours for a feeding (depending on his preference.) At night, let him sleep as long as he wants without waking him up (unless your doctor tells you otherwise.)

August 24th, 2007 Posted by Rebecca | Freelance Writing with an Infant | 6 comments