3 Tips for Newborn Sleep
Do you have a newborn? I recently did too! This past June I welcomed my baby girl and had the privilege of having Emily Fletke capture beautiful newborn photos for us!
To the mama out there struggling with newborn sleep—don’t worry, I’ve been in the thick of it too, you are not alone! Here’s 3 things that helped me navigate my own newborn’s sleep.
First and foremost you should know that their schedule is not a schedule at all and that inconsistency is actually developmentally normal at this age. Newborns are naturally unpredictable and inconsistent! We can certainly implement some things to try and get some consistency, but we can’t force it. And that’s okay! Don’t fret about having a schedule, but use the next 5 tips to help establish some routines. I know there are so many books out there with promises for schedules and sleeping 12 hours through the night, but I do not believe that we as parents should put that immense pressure on ourselves to make something happen that is just not developmentally or biologically ready to happen yet! You may start implementing some of these tips and notice your baby starts to fall into his or her own patterns and rhythms that are almost a schedule. If that happens, that is wonderful and you can totally follow your baby’s lead. For instance, many babies start to consolidate their first morning before other afternoon naps. So if your baby starts rocking a 8am-10am morning nap everyday, then that’s great and provides you with some sense of “schedule” or at least predictability. Or if your baby does best in the evening with contact napping, and dozing off and on with you from 7pm-9pm, then go with it! Or you may find your baby fights sleep between 6pm-9pm, (which if that's the case I recommend using a baby wrap or carried), but then does great with a 10 or 10:30pm bedtime! If your baby’s sleep is just all over the place and inconsistent though, please don’t fret. Consistency and schedules can come in just a few months once your little one is just 3-4 months old. Let’s dig in now to the following tips to help your newborn sleep!
1 .First, take a look at your newborn’s sleep environment. By about 8 weeks old, your baby’s sleep environment really does start to matter. Having a bright room or too many outside noises, can disrupt your baby’s sleep.
Dark: The room your baby sleeps in should be as pitch black as possible, especially for naps in the crib. Light impacts our circadian rhythm so while a newborn’s internal clock (aka circadian rhythm) is still developing, there’s actually a lot we can do to help them develop strong sleep rhythms by controlling light! If any natural light is currently coming through a window, you can work on covering it so that the room is as dark as possible. This sounds extreme, but I have seen how essential it is for helping babies fall asleep and stay asleep. You can purchase something from Amazon to black out the windows or get "creative" with black trash bags, cardboard, poster board, etc.
White noise/quiet: A sound machine that plays continuous white noise is a great investment! It is a positive sleep association and it blocks out noises that could disrupt sleep. I recommend a Hatch or Yoga sleep. And if you’re room sharing with your newborn, you can even double up on sound machines!
Temperature: The room should be what you consider comfortable and your baby should be dressed in a similar amount of layers/clothing as you (including your blanket). Most babies do well in footed pajamas with a 1.0 tog sleep sack. If your room is on the warmer side you may consider just a short-sleeve onesie under the sleep sack or a 0.5 tog sleep sack. If your room is on the chiller side, consider a onesie underneath the footed pajamas or a 2.0 tog sleep sack.
Safe: Your baby's sleep surface (crib or pack n play) should have nothing in it except for a tight fitted sheet. My recommendations come from the AAP’s guidelines for safe sleep, so for newborns I don’t recommend crib bumpers, blankets, or a lovey.
2.Second, let’s talk about normal newborn naps. It’s normal for a nap to last anywhere for 20 minutes to 2 hours. If a nap is shorter than 1 hour, I do recommend trying to lengthen the nap. The first thing I recommend you do when your newborn wakes up in less than an hour is to pause. Is he or she crying? Is he or she just cooing or looking around, or maybe just fussing a little? If your baby is not really crying, I actually don’t recommend you intervene at all! I know it can feel like we have to rush in and get our baby back to sleep, I mean it is still “nap time”, right!? But sometimes when we intervene too soon, we actually mess up our baby’s natural ability to try and go back to sleep on their own. I can’t even begin to tell you how many parents I’ve spoken to that are literally shocked by what happens when they just pause and observe before intervening. Newborns do have natural sleep abilities already and by giving them space, we can watch and see what your baby is already capable of. Of course, if your baby does cry I totally want you to go intervene! You can stay by the crib and pat or shush your baby. Sometimes putting a hand on their chest and gently rocking side to side can help. If that’s not helping, try picking up your baby and rocking him or her back to sleep. If you have other children you need to be with too, then you can try baby-wearing (or even quickly load up everyone in the car or stroller for a spontaneous outing just to get your newborn back to sleep on-the-go, I’ve done that myself many times!) However, if trying to lengthen the nap just doesn’t happen, that is totally okay, you really don’t have to stress over it. You can offer another nap again soon!
For newborns, it's a great habit to offer naps frequently. Watching for sleepy cues such as rubbing eyes, red eyebrows, slow movements, yawning, etc are all great practices. Keep in mind though that sometimes sleepy cues show up really early or even really late, when your baby may already be overly tired! For those reasons, it can be helpful to watch the clock. In the first couple months your newborn will likely need a nap every 40-60 minutes. It’ll vary a bit from baby to baby and vary depending on exact age. For example a 10-14 week old may be approaching 75-90 minutes of awake time between sleep.
I know many people say “never wake a sleeping baby”, however I disagree. I actually suggest capping naps at 2-2.5 hours. This is to preserve overnight sleep and to help you stay on a consistent pattern of feeding every 2.5-3 hours. You can also think of it like this, if your baby is going to sleep 3+ hours straight, wouldn’t you rather her or she do that at night when you’re sleeping too!?
3. Lastly, let me share a few tips for practicing independent sleep in the crib. We all love those snuggles with our newborn, but I know from experience that for many parents, contact-sleeping is not sustainable long-term. Soak up those snuggles as much as you’d like, but if you have other children to care for or you’ll be going back to work, then it's a great idea to start practicing independent sleep in the crib from the very beginning! You can practice independent sleep 1-2X a day. This is easier said than done because some babies may fall asleep alone more easily than others do, but that’s okay. When your baby is ready for a nap, whether based on sleepy cues or just based on how long he or she has been awake, then practice a short nap routine and place your baby down awake. Your nap routine should include putting on a clean diaper, turning on the sound machine, swaddling, turning off the lights, and then a snuggle perhaps accompanied by a lullaby. Place your baby down awake, not drowsy, then step out of sight and just observe. When practicing independent sleep time in the crib, I recommend to intervene as little as possible (unless he or she is crying) and even leave the room if possible! You’d be surprised at what many babies can do with the right timing and the right sleep environment.
If you need further help to get your newborn sleeping in the crib, or you get to 3 months old and are ready for more predictability, schedule a free consultation call to get started!
