Newborn sleep can often feel like a complex puzzle for parents, but establishing healthy sleep habits from the start is crucial for your baby's development and your own well-being. Here are some practical tips to help you navigate those early weeks and support your little one in achieving better sleep.
1. Routine
Keeping a regular schedule with consistent wake-up and bedtimes, along with daily activities like morning walks in the sunlight, helps your baby’s body learn when to sleep and wake. This is because their internal clock, called the circadian rhythm, relies on cues like light and darkness. Exposing your baby to natural light during the day and using calming bedtime routines at night can strengthen this rhythm. A well-set internal clock is key for helping your baby sleep better and develop healthy sleep habits as they grow.
2. Flexibility
A consistent sleep routine is important, but forcing sleep when baby isn't feeling sleepy can make them more excited. They may also begin to associate sleep with stress and conflict. Instead, focus on soothing activities such as a massage, cuddling, lullabies, and help baby to self-soothe early on, by swaddling with their arms free.
3. Monitoring Afternoon Naps
If your baby is having a hard time feeling sleepy at bedtime, check the timing of their afternoon naps. Late afternoon naps can postpone drowsiness that they would otherwise feel at bedtime. See if you can increase the duration that your baby spends awake before bedtime. It might be just the trick that can get them to fall asleep more easily at night.
4. Understanding Baby Sleep Cycles
Newborn babies spend most of their sleep time in Rapid Eye Movement, also known as REM sleep: a light form of sleep where one awakens more easily. During this stage of sleep, your baby will exhibit fluttering eyelids, relatively rapid irregular breathing, occasional body movements and vocalisations (grunts or brief cries). Parents observing their baby may mistakenly think their baby is about to wake and may pick them up. But despite their movements baby is truly asleep and you should not wake them up from this important sleep phase.
5. Gentle but Boring
Babies are highly aroused by their mother's voice. One study showed that babies aroused more easily in response to their mother's voice than to a smoke alarm. Researchers also claim that eye contact gives babies the impression of being interacted with, triggering brain waves of excitement. So keep things gentle, reassuring, but very boring by avoiding conversation and eye contact with your baby during your middle of the night call.
Mastering newborn sleep takes time, but small, thoughtful changes can make a big difference. With the right strategies in place, you’ll be on your way to calmer nights and a well-rested baby.
