Your Infant Sleep

The baby will not be in a sleep schedule sometime. You’re a new parent and everyone gives you advice. Or maybe the baby will be different from his older brother. You have researched the options and tried everything to get your baby to adjust to the norm.

What is the norm, anyway?

Some babies sleep 3-4 hours, wake up, eat and go back to sleep again. Some babies do not just sleep a lot during the day but sleep most of the night. Some appear to be awake during the day and night.

Are You Getting the Idea?

Every baby is different. They have different physical and emotional pattern. They require different amounts of sleep, food and breeding.

Let your baby makes his own schedule, rather than trying to fit neatly into a particular one. While you may have to be flexible and adapt to its natural rhythm, your baby is likely to be happy and comfortable and therefore more enjoyable when you are awake.

There are some guidelines to consider. A newborn sometimes be too good of a sleeper. During the day the baby 0-3 months of age should not sleep for more than six hours without a feeding. If your baby wakes up at 6 am, eats, sleeps until noon, eats, she can decide that she is hungry again two hours later.

I think of it as they can make the extra long nap. Stretching six hours of sleep per day without food is fine, but if the baby does not wake up for the next feeding after another 4 hours, he/she can gently wake up and even offer to pick her breast or bottle to help stimulate leave sleep.

If the baby is awake for long periods of time, be sure not to overfeed. You can encourage sleep by cuddling and rocking, or swinging in a baby seat or swing. Playing with the baby, grimacing, and talk is stimulating and fun, but it should be done when the baby is awake. They need time to rest, especially if the pace is kept disturbed most of the day.

You may think that the baby sleeps through the night, but often it does not. The baby can sleep for a while and then wake up crying inconsolably. This may be because it was stimulated again during the day. My doctor gave me this advice. Try to lower the tone of the stimuli.

You can remove crib mobiles and bedding and toys in bright colors. One way of achieving this is to put the baby in the crib with no one else in the room and keep the house in silence. If your baby is quiet while awake, try to operate by, swaying gently in a rocking chair. Remember that the goal is not encouraging, so the baby should not be able to see your face (large stimulus) or see much. You can even partially protect the baby’s eyes with his hand or a blanket. Ensure that you are in a quiet environment. Soft hum, a slow pace, with one or two notes in the majority should be fine. This may not seem like much, but will give the baby time to process everything that has been taken in the morning, so when your period starts the dream, are more likely to stay asleep. It can be compared with the adult who says, “I could not sleep last night, I had too much on my mind.”