Table of Contents
Overview
Newborn sleeps a lot and spends their most of the time sleeping. There is no fix sleep schedule or pattern of newborns during the early weeks of life. Generally newborn sleep about a total of 16 to 18 hours a day in which 8 to 9 hours in day time and 8 to 9 hours during night time.
Newborn wakes up every 2 to 3 hours, take fee and sleep again in 30 to 45 minutes. Sometime newborn don’t wake up by their own for feed, but it is very important to wake them every 2 to 3 hours for feeding during the both day and night time. Mostly they do not start sleeping through the night without waking until the age of 3 month. Here I have divided newborn sleep schedule and pattern till they are 6 month old.
- Birth till 2 month old
- 3 to 6 month old
How to get newborn to sleep: 19 tips to try for new parents
Newborn sleep schedule from birth till 2 month
Now is a time when you are at home with your beautiful baby. The first few weeks are a time for you to get to know about your baby, learn about his needs for sleep, feed and play. During this time newborn sleep around 15 to 18 hours and the number of naps varies.
Newborn sleep schedule can be very irregular for first few weeks. They wake up every few hours, feed, and play and sleep again. You may feel like that you are constantly feeding, pooping and sleeping cycle. Your baby should be feed according to his demand for the first few weeks. They have very small stomach which can hold very little milk, so it is expected that you may need to feed them frequently.
At this time, it is very early to start sleep schedule for newborns. Put your baby on sleep whenever he wants to sleep and make them feel comfortable in outside world.
Read here how to handle and take care of newborn baby
3 to 6 month old: Sleep patterns
Now is a time when you can observe a sleep pattern or schedule in your newborn baby. Now he can be awake for longer duration and you can also get an idea about their behavior like when they want to sleep, feed or play.
A 3 to 6 month old baby sleeps around 14 to 16 hours and take 3 to 5 naps a day. Each nap can be between 30 minutes to 3 hours and they can sleep about 3 to 6 hours in one stretch during night time. That must me sounding good but it’s not easy to implement. Things won’t happen overnight, it takes a lot of time and patience.
Now is a time when you can start implementing a sleep schedule for your newborn. You can try some relaxing activities like singing, reading, bathing, or massaging during the bedtime and try some other activities during the day time to keep them active.
The other thing that you can do to differentiate between day and night time is to keep the lights brighter during the day time and keep the light lighter during the night time. Choose the activities wisely like relaxing activates during night time only and other activities during day time only. Slowly slowing they will start adopting the concept of day and night.
Read to know all about first month of a baby after birth, what can you expect?
Why a sleep schedule is important to establish for newborn
Sleep schedule is very important for babies. Basically sleep schedule is to establish a routine for day time naps and night time. Babies’ loves predictability and this predictability gives them comfort. A daily routine will help them to set their internal clock and allow body to release melatonin, which help them to sleep faster and deeper.
Research also shows that the babies who have a basic routine tends to sleep more longer in night and show better performance to achieve development milestones. Here is a sample sleep schedule for newborn which you can change according to your baby’s need. A good bedtime routine will also help them to learn the difference between day and night, which will help them to sleep longer in night time.
Read to know about 25 things you should not do with newborn babies
When to start sleep schedule for babies
You can start sleep schedule for your newborn when he is around 3 month old. Mostly babies get ready for sleep training between 2 to 4 months of age. Around this time you are aware about their sleep pattern and its bit more predictable for you. During that time you can start implementing a daily bedtime routine for newborn.
A sleep schedule will help everyone and prevent sleep problems later on. A daily bedtime routine helps baby to stay calm and prepare him for a good night’s sleep, which is very important for both of you.
