Infant Sleep Facts

Babies have varied temperaments, and families have varied lifestyles. Developing a ‘nighttime parenting’ style that fits these needs is a challenge for many families.

Newborn infants have irregular sleep cycles, which take about 6 months to mature. While newborns sleep an average of 16 to 17 hours per day, they may sleep only 1 to 2 hours at a time. As children get older, the total number of hours they need for sleep, decreases.

Babies enter sleep through a light sleep cycle lasting about twenty minutes. They have shorter and lighter sleep cycles than adults.

Though you cannot force your baby to sleep, creating a secure environment that allows sleep to overtake baby is the best way to create long-term healthy sleep habits. Most babes need help to go to sleep

Helping Your Baby Sleep

• Hold and soothe your baby frequently during the day. Many babies respond well to being held close in a sling or baby carrier.

• Consider daytime routines and sleep patterns.

• Have a consistent bedtime, especially for older babies.

• Keep a relaxing, nurturing routine leading up to bedtime, such as a soothing massage, singing, or reading a book. This helps prepare a baby for sleep.

• Active play will keep baby awake.

• Rock your baby. Nurse the bay at the breast or with a bottle.

• Watch for signs tat your baby has entered deep sleep, such as limp, dangling limps and a motionless face, before moving him. Then you can be fairly certain your baby will not awake during a move to cradle or bed.

• Newborn babies are comforted and calmed by swaddling (wrapping baby in a blanket with his hands to his face.

• Soothing continuous sounds like, bubbling fish tank, recordings of mothers heartbeat, soft background music can help baby go off to sleep.