What should we expect of a newborn sleep pattern?

Expectations of newborn babies sleep patterns are often very high. For some reason as a society we seem to expect babies to spend a lot of time lying still and quiet, sleeping. While many babies will spend 16 to 18 hours of a 24 hour day asleep this is not true of every infant.

Your baby's sleep is affected by four main things;-

1) What was your, and your partner's sleep pattern BC (Before Children)?
2) The learned experiences your baby has around sleep.
3) Baby's own body clock.
4) The sleep environment.

We know that some sleep difficulties have a genetic component. Narcolepsy is perhaps the difficulty most commonly linked to genetic make up. If you, and your partner had a similar sleep pattern the chances are that baby will follow that pattern to some extent. If one of the parents has had difficulties getting to sleep it is possible that baby may demonstrate this. This does not mean that this cannot be improved upon. Perhaps if all children developed good sleep patterns there would be fewer adults with sleep difficulties.

Newborns have very little experience of life in the world. Consequently it takes them a few weeks to learn the differences between night and day. We know from studies, that by 60 days of life, before there is even a true feeding pattern, babies have mastered the basics of night and day.

Initially an infant which requires feeding every 2.5 to 3 hours will manage a maximum of 5 hours uninterrupted sleep through the night. This is not true of every child but is an accepted "rule of thumb". As baby manages to go to a 4 hourly feeding regimen this night sleep extends to about 6/7 hours. Most children are able to sleep through the night by between 6 to nine months of age.

After 9 months infants should not physically require feeding through the night. They may have learned that the best/easiest way to get to sleep is while nursing. That is a learned behavior, as adults we generally do not wake and need to eat through the night. If an infant is taking good feeds through the day, by 9 months the physical requirement for night feeds should be eliminated.

What does your child believe they need to help them get to sleep?

If you would like help to improve your child's sleep pattern, contact us on info@dream-angus.com