Baby sleep: in a nutshell

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By the time babies are three months old, they tend to sleep more at night and stay awake longer during the day. But it’s amazing just how different babies can be. Some will sleep for hours on end. Others hardly seem to sleep at all. There’s no such thing as normal when it comes to sleeping babies.

Average sleep pattern for babies

All guides to babies’ sleep patterns are just that – guides. You know your baby best. If your baby is awake and happy, baby has had enough sleep. If baby is awake and unhappy, more sleep might be needed.

Moving baby to a cot
If your baby has been sleeping with you for the first three months, you might want to move baby to a cot. With a little luck, this will go without a hitch, and your baby will doze off happily in the new bed. But if your baby is having trouble adjusting to bedtime without you, read our article on independent sleep.

Dropping off to sleep is one thing most babies can cleverly do for themselves. But if your baby is having trouble falling asleep or settling, you could try the patting settling technique.

Bedtime routine

By the time babies are six months old, they often appreciate the soothing ‘sameness’ of a bedtime routine. Babies love routine, and it won’t take long for your baby to understand what is expected. A typical bedtime routine might look like this:

1. Give baby dinner.
2. Give baby a bath.
3. Have a short play.
4. Give baby the last feed of the day (breast or formula).
5. Change baby’s nappy.
6. Give baby some quiet time with you in the bedroom (reading a book or telling a story)
7. Put baby into the cot while singing a lullaby such as Rock-a-Bye Baby.
8. Say goodnight.
9. Turn lights out or night-light on (whatever baby is used to).

Night waking

All babies wake during the night as part of their normal sleep cycle. Problems start when they can’t get back to sleep without your help. Every night, many parents suffer the sudden jolt awake as they tune in to their little night owl’s cries. Once a baby knows how to fall back to sleep independently, everybody in the house can enjoy nights of relatively unbroken rest.

Help your baby learn how to go to sleep independently by putting baby to bed sleepy but still awake. If baby can learn to go to sleep without you, baby is more likely to drop off again after waking during the night. This means putting baby into her bed before she falls asleep on your lap or on the bottle.

Sleep tips

• Help your baby learn to settle and fall asleep independently by:
  • emphasising the difference between night and day
  • putting baby to bed drowsy but awake
  • stating a feed, play, sleep routine.

• You can help your baby to associate darkness with sleep by minimising activity, noise and light when you’re feeding or changing a nappy during the night.
• A milk bottle in bed is not a good sleep aid. It can cause illness if milk goes down the wrong tube. As babies get older and develop teeth, it can also cause severe tooth decay. Read more about the dangers of bottle-feeding in bed.

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  Newsletter snippet: Baby sleep: in a nutshell
  

   

  By Raising Children Network

  All babies are different but there are average sleep patterns.

  • Up to three months: your baby might be sleeping more during the night and staying awake longer during the day.
  • 3-6 months: your baby might be having two or three sleeps of up to two hours each during the day, and perhaps waking at least once during the night.
  • Six months: there might be no need for a night feed.
  • 7-12 months: your baby might be sleeping 2-3 hours during the day, split between morning and afternoon sleeps. At this time, many babies also start sleeping from between 6 pm and 10 pm until 5 am or later.

  Night waking

  Your baby needs to learn to go to sleep independently. Encourage this process by putting baby to bed while baby is sleepy but still awake, rather than letting baby drop off while feeding or cuddling. Baby might then be more likely to go back to sleep after waking during the night.

  This article is an extract only. For more information, visit raisingchildren.net.au/sleep/babies_sleep.html

  Sourced from the Raising Children Network's comprehensive and quality-assured Australian parenting website www.raisingchildren.net.au.