Written by Batya the Baby Coach

The most important thing with newborns is establishing healthy rhythms from the beginning. This is particularly true when it comes to newborn sleep patterns. When you have a foundation set in place with their sleep, then you can build upon it with healthy patterns to ensure successful sleeping as they grow older. Below please find 7 Newborn Sleep Secrets that you can begin implementing even from birth. Although there is no magic formula to helping them sleep, these ideas will help establish consistency and the proper patterns to help get sleep on the right track…for everyone!

1) Prevent Day/Night Confusion

More often than not, newborns come home from the hospital with their days and nights confused. In utero your baby slept most of her days away, with the constant rocking motion of mom’s belly; while walking, moving about, driving in a car, etc. At night, however, when mom was asleep, there was less movement to put the baby to sleep and she was therefore awake more of the time. After birth, your baby still has the same day/night association she had in utero and can very often still have her night and day mixed up. Don’t worry, though, this is an easy problem to fix! Simply start by waking your newborn every few hours during the day to eat. As the days progress she will gradually become more alert between sleeping sessions and if you’ve been consistent at waking her up during the day to eat more often than the night, she will automatically have her longer sleep spells at night and her alert time will be during the day.

Eating: Wake him up every 3 hrs to nurse during the day…even if he’s sleeping! Try your best to ensure he stays awake while eating and if he falls asleep, tickle his toes, undress him a bit etc. This is to ensure he eats well and isn’t hungry before the next 3 hr mark.

(*If you’re ever concerned about your newborn’s weight gain or liquid intake, consult with your doctor immediately. A full-term newborn that is gaining healthily and eating well can generally last 3 hours, but not all babies can! Speak to your doctor to decide what is best for your baby…)

2) Light Association

To further help prevent day/night confusion it’s important to help newborns’ brains have certain light associations. Around 3 months of age babies start producing a chemical in their brains called melatonin. This chemical is one of the many ways that our bodies naturally help wind down for sleep. The production of this has a direct correlation with the amount of light we see (brightness, timing, etc). Therefore, it’s helpful with babies to keep the nights dark, non-stimulating, and calm – while the days should have bright lights, activity and noise.

3) Swaddle to Sleep

While in the womb babies are held tightly, snug and warm. Swaddling helps mimic the womb and gives them that familiar, secure feeling they had in utero. Doing this also promotes healthy development by enabling them to sleep longer stretches. Additionally, swaddling helps prevent a newborn’s moro reflex (also known as the startle reflex) which can last until around 3-4 months of age. This reflex can often make an infant feel as if he is falling and startle him to the point where he is unable settle back to sleep. There are many ways to swaddle using a regular receiving blanket, but I highly recommend purchasing something similar to the Miracle Blanket or Swaddlers to ensure you are doing it correctly, and also that your baby can’t squiggle his way out! Things with Velcro area really good!

It is also important to always consult with a health professional to ensure your baby is being swaddled safely.

4) Keep Wake-Time Short

I once heard a father jokingly remark that his newborn could stay asleep being hung upside down by his left foot! I hope he wasn’t serious, but his statement definitely holds some truth. Newborns are difficult to keep awake and spend the majority of their days sleeping.

When babies are kept awake for too long they become irritable and overtired, often making it difficult to resettle and have good quality sleep. After your newborn’s initial few weeks of life, the most important piece of advice I can give you is to keep the time he is awake short. Depending on each baby, the range should be somewhere from 1-1.5 hours of awake time…and no more. If you wait until your baby is cranky and fussy you may have actually missed the opportune time to get him down, so keep your eyes peeled for tired signs to soothe him to sleep sooner than later.

Wake time includes everything: Diaper changing, eating, playing, etc. Don’t pay attention to how long each nap is, but focus more on the time that elapses in between…when your baby shows the initial signs of being tired, don’t keep her awake longer. These little ones can’t stay awake too long and get over stimulated very easily so it’s important to help them wind down and sleep.

5) Consistent Sleep Times

In addition to how long awake time is, do try to help body regulate with the clock. You don’t want one day to start at 5 am and the next at 12 pm! It’s important to establish healthy rhythms that will ensure your baby’s internal clock can fall into a pattern with sleep. That’s why so many people with newborns have no consistency! It’s a myth that you should never wake up a sleeping baby – b/c otherwise no consistency will come about. Each child has a certain quota of day and night sleep to be met, and want to make sure you can consistently.

Try to begin establishing predictable wake time and nap times. It’s kinda difficult when he’s so little, but if he’s napping well during the day he should be able to stay awake for 45 min- 1 hr between naps.

6) White Noise

White noise is simply a constant noise like a vacuum cleaner, fan whirring, or a mild, light vibration. This helps newborns sleep because it is similar to the noise they heard in a mother’s womb of her heart beat and blood flow. You’re obviously not going to run a large machine like that all day, so there are various products on the market called white noise machines that can help simulate a similar sound.

7) Keep Baby Close for Night feedings

One of the keys to ensuring that you’re not an exhausted mess in these early weeks is to keep your baby close by at night. Whether or not you choose to co-sleep, it is always a good idea to have your baby close by in case she needs something. This way when she wakes frequently at night to be fed, you wont’ need to walk from room to room disoriented and can simply pick her up, feed her, and go back to sleep!

In the night, if he wakes frequently, try to space the feedings by at least 3-4 hrs (assuming he can last that long during the day). Try using other means possible to help him fall back asleep so he doesn’t become accustomed to eating so frequently. If he is truly hungry in the night – obviously feed him, but it’s helpful to try adjusting his body to eat more during the day and less in the night

Only once all of these things in place can you begin teaching a baby to fall asleep independently. It’s ok if your baby needs to be rocked, held, nursed to sleep in the beginning, as it’s more important to establish these patterns. Under 2 months of age and once you have consistency in place, you can aim at putting your baby to sleep ONCE/daily…then as get older work from there.

To really see progress with such little babies, you have to be ready to be consistent for a good 3-4 weeks. From there you will have him onto a decent routine and know what his body needs and when. At this point if further issues arise, they’re much easier to tackle already having the proper “sleep foundation” set in place.

Sleep Well!

Batya Sherizen is a professional baby sleep coach who has been helping tired families sleep since 2007. She creates personalized sleep plans catered to your family and your child’s needs. To learn more about her gentle, proven method visit: batyathebabycoach.com

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