It’s never too late or too early to learn to be a great sleeper. The huge health benefits of sleep are finally getting acknowledged as a necessity, not a luxury. While you would never use traditional sleep training methods with a newborn baby, there are several things you can do to help lay the foundation of healthy sleep from the get-go. Although it’s never too late to learn to be a great sleeper, it is a heck of a lot easier to learn as a baby than as a toddler, child, or adult.
Newborns need to eat frequently throughout the day and also several times at night, initially. Establishing a good daytime routine will aid in eventually getting those longer stretches of consolidated sleep at night. As a certified sleep consultant, my sleep philosophy is that sleep matters for the whole family and that great sleep makes up all happier and healthier parents.
Daytime Sleep Tips To Help Your Newborn Sleep Better At Night
1. End Day and Night Confusion
Think of your baby’s day broken into two chunks, 12 hours of the day and 12 hours of the night. Most newborns are going to bed sometime between 8-9 pm, so that would make morning about 12 hours later. Often, when a baby wakes in the early morning, it’s not easy to know if you should feed and then start the day or put baby back down. If that feed is happening before their 12 hours of the night are over, back to bed they go.
To help end the day and night confusion, keep the bedroom super dark and make sure there is no blue light. Blue light disrupts the production of melatonin, our sleepy hormone and nobody needs that.
Also, make sure to expose baby to as much natural light as possible during their daytime awake hours. But, keep the room extremely dark for naps as well. Science has proven that we all sleep best in a cool, quiet, dark environment.
2. Prevent Overtiredness
Newborns can only handle a small amount of awake time before needing to go down for a nap or the night. Once baby is overtired, the body produces adrenal and that makes it significantly more difficult to fall and stay asleep. Overtiredness also leads to fussiness and difficulty feeding. Watch those awake windows! For a brand-new newborn, it’s about 45 minutes to an hour. After 5-6 weeks they may be able to handle a bit more.
3. Eat-Play-Sleep Routine
During the day, establishing a pattern of Eat-Play-Sleep is very important. It keeps baby from developing an association with having to eat to fall asleep. If baby isn’t falling asleep while eating, they are more likely to have full feeds and that can help from creating a pattern of snacking and baby waking up early due to hunger.
4. It’s Never Too Early For A Bedtime Routine
Starting a bedtime routine is a great way to help baby understand day from night and start to sleep longer stretches at night. A perfect first step in a bedtime routine is a bath. It’s a significantly different experience from any other part of the day and can help baby understand the next steps, which eventually lead to nighttime sleep.
Example Of A Newborn Bedtime Routine
Bath
Massage or lotion
Jammies
Feed
Swaddle, cuddle, and kisses
In bassinet wake (with some drowsiness)
Remember you are not going to see major changes in a few days. With newborns, establishing good sleep habits is a slow and steady process. I work with my newborn families until baby is 18 weeks of age to make sure all is going in the right direction. More than not, baby starts sleeping long stretches within a few weeks and oftentimes 12-13 hour stretches by 13 or 14 weeks of age.
You can always reach out and book a call if you need help. I’m here, mama.