The relationship between your newborn and sleep can be tricky. Knowing these truths about newborn sleep can help!
You may have heard people warn you about the lack of sleep that comes with your baby’s arrival (or you may have already experienced it yourself!).
The exhaustion that can come with having a newborn can feel unreal. How can a human being survive on such little amounts of sleep?
The advice “sleep when baby sleeps” is meant to be helpful, but doesn’t often work in real-life situations.
Missing sleep isn’t easy- but it is a biologically normal part of a newborn.
How often should a newborn sleep right after birth?
Your newborn has just been completely reliant on you for the past nine months of their existence. Apart from you, they were helpless. And in every way, they still are! But now they’re outside of your body instead of inside.
Within the immediate 24 hours after birth, your newborn will probably sleep a lot. They’re tired and worn out from the birth process too.
After that, their biological norms will make their sleep patterns look a little different.
Their body clock may need adjusting, as they have gotten used to being rocked to sleep in the womb while you walked around. This means that sometimes their day is your night and their night is your day. With a little bit of help and time, they can readjust to sleep more at night rather than during the day.
How many hours of sleep does an infant need a day?
A newborn will need, on average, around 14-17 hours of sleep in 24 hours. But remember, that’s an average. Your newborn may sleep as little as 11 hours per day, or up to 20 hours per day.
This isn’t going to be in large, unbroken segments. A newborn’s stomach is small. It will be about the size of a cherry right after birth. Breastmilk is also high-sugar, rather than high-fat, which means that it will digest faster. Typically, a newborn will need to eat at least every 2-3 hours, even through the night!
An infant also has a shorter sleep cycle than an adult does. While an adult’s sleep cycle lasts for 90 minutes, an infant’s will last 20-50 minutes in total. And they spend less time in the REM stage (by cycle length) than adults do.
How many hours should they be sleeping at night?
This is really the question that most parents look to find the answer to. After all, sleep is incredibly important to physical and mental health. And we feel a lack of it quickly.
But our newborns were designed for night waking. They need to eat more often to fill their stomachs. Plus, more frequent night wakings have been tied to a lesser risk of SIDS.
All of that being said, how many hours should a newborn be sleeping per night?
A newborn will probably continue to wake every 2-3 hours through the night to eat. How many hours of sleep they get will differ, depending on how long it takes them to feed and settle back to sleep. This is normal!
When can I expect my baby to start sleeping through the night?
Research shows that infants do not begin to develop the biological ability to “sleep through the night” until starting between 8-11 weeks old. And the definition of “sleeping through the night” is sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch. Your baby will likely still wake an average of 2 or more times a night, but they will need to eat less often and begin developing the ability to sleep more deeply.
Most research shows that when left to their own natural rhythms, babies will continue to wake at night through the first year of life, and many even longer than that.
How many hours in total should they be sleeping at night?
In a newborn’s early weeks of life, they will often spend an equal amount of time sleeping during the day and the night. As they get older and their circadian rhythm develops, they will begin to sleep longer stretches during the night and less during the day.
How do I know if my newborn is actually having sleep problems?
When you’re sleep deprived and caring for a newborn who doesn’t want to go to sleep, sometimes it can be hard to tell if your newborn is having problems, or behaving like a baby.
Knowing what we do about infant sleep right now, it’s safe to say that if your newborn is waking frequently, it’s likely normal behavior.
But, frequent waking can also be linked to underlying health or feeding problems (such as lip or tongue tie, or gastrointestinal distress). Always check with your care provider if you’re concerned for any reason! You can also click here for signs that your baby is getting enough to eat.
But even if your newborn’s sleeping patterns aren’t technically a problem, a lack of sleep for you definitely can be. And it’s very tempting (and sometimes absolutely necessary) to take steps to solve it.
How can I encourage my newborn to sleep more?
We can always take steps to help foster a healthy relationship between sleep and our child. But in the early weeks, there isn’t much we can do. Their cortisol regulation and circadian rhythm are still developing, and they need to eat every few hours. This often means that the longest stretch of sleep we can hope for will only be a few hours.
But sometimes, that 3-hour stretch of sleep is very important! And there are a few ways you can begin to lay a foundation for good sleep with your newborn.
- Ensure that they are getting enough to eat
- Check for any underlying health problems
- Develop a naptime/bedtime routine (it doesn’t have to be complicated, but following the same pattern every time helps their body begin to anticipate sleep as they get older)
- Let them nap- it may be tempting to limit sleeping time during the day to try to get longer stretches at night, but the more tired your infant is, the harder they will fight going to sleep.
What to do if you’re exhausted and need more sleep
Like I said just above, even if your newborn’s sleep pattern is normal, it doesn’t mean that the lack of sleep isn’t a problem for you!
Sleep is incredibly important to your mental and bodily health. When we aren’t getting the sleep that we need, things can go downhill quickly.
But if newborns are going to continue waking, how can you make sure you’re getting rest when you need it?
Every person’s situation is going to be different, but there are a few options to think about.
- Roomshare: this is the current recommendation by the AAP, and has been found to help promote more sleep than parents who sleep in a separate room from their newborn
- Co-sleep: this is a controversial option for some people. There is research that supports both sides, and ultimately, it’s a personal decision that you will have to make for yourself. Many parents (especially those breastfeeding) have reported getting more sleep per night while bedsharing with their infant. If you are seriously considering co-sleeping, make sure to read the Safe Sleep 7 guidelines.
- Trade nights: if you have a partner and are able to share feeding duties, this could be a good option. It’s as simple as one night you get up with the baby while your partner sleeps, and the next night they will get up with the baby while you sleep.
- Ask for/hire help: If you have someone trusted who is willing to come over and take care of your baby for a few hours so you can catch up on sleep, ask them. It could be a sibling, parent, relative, or friend. Use the help they are willing to give you, because an extra 2 or 3 hours of sleep in a day can make a difference. If that’s not an option, you could look into hiring someone who can come and help occasionally. Newborn care specialists, postpartum doulas, nannies, and babysitters are all avenues to look into.
Sleep will come eventually!
While biologically normal sleep shows up in all infants, it won’t look the same baby to baby. Some will start sleeping longer earlier, some will wake more frequently than others, and some will have other elements going on that contribute to less sleep. Don’t compare your newborn to another, or feel that you’re doing something wrong because another baby didn’t have trouble sleeping. Work with your baby to help achieve the sleep you both need!
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