Newborn Sleep Habits You Should Understand

Newborn Sleep Habits You Should Understand

Every mother and father will be concerned about how their new-born baby goes to sleep. There will be some kind of excited anxiety for first-time parents when the new member of the family arrives home. They prepare ahead of time for the basic essential needs of the infant. But, they have no preparation on how to handle newborn sleep habits.

Irregular patterns of sleep

If you were told that babies in the first few weeks sleep long hours, you might think that you would not be deprived of sleep. Well, it is not so with newborn sleep habits. Babies may sleep as much as twenty hours a day, but they sleep in spurts. They may sleep for two hours and wake up to be changed. Then, they sleep for only thirty minutes and wake up again.

The best advice is for you to take the opportunity of preserving your strength and saving your energy by taking a rest/nap or by sleeping with your baby.

Remember that the baby has been in her mother’s womb for nine months in a dark and quiet environment. But, since the baby came to this world, she has been awakened and shocked by voices of other people, louder sounds outside the womb, and lights that blind her to make her eyes squint. The infant wants to cocoon for some weeks in the same environment as before when she was in her mother’s womb.Take note, too, that the baby has no idea of day and night or about the number of hours that had passed. It indicates the newborn sleep habits.

Steps to reduce your stress and lack of sleep

First, you should not worry why the baby has irregular patterns of sleep. It is normal for an infant to get used to waking up under bright light of the day and to sleeping under low light or darkened room. Therefore, you would have to make your baby sleep more at night and less during the day by setting the right environment. You soften the brightness of the bedroom lamp during the night to induce sleep. Some babies fall asleep with the monotonous drone of a fan or from soft music. You place the baby slowly out of the bedroom and into the living room with people talking, music playing, and with the rays of sunshine coming into the house.

Next, it would help you not to carry your baby and rock her to sleep. Once the baby gets used to it, she will ask for that sleep-inducing routine forever. You will be at the losing end. It is also one of newborn sleep habits.

Final word is for you to decide where your baby sleeps. It could be in the crib or a special bed near your bed or bedroom. Wherever she sleeps, let her lie on her back to lessen the risk of SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. You should also remove pillows, loose sheets, stuffed toys and blankets in her bed or crib to avoid accidental suffocation.

You will be able to experience better and longer sleep for you and your baby when you condition her to proper newborn sleep habits. After some weeks, your baby will have sleep shorter than the first time. In any case, you would have been able to reduce your stress by that time.