Newborn sleep

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Newborns will usually sleep for around 16 hours a day.

A newborn does not know that people sleep at night. Your newborn sleeps in short bursts through the day and night, in blocks of up to four hours. When she’s awake, she is usually feeding. Playtime at this age is very short; after feeding, your baby will probably want to go back to sleep.

Every time your newborn sleeps, she goes through a cycle of deep and light sleep and wakes up for a little while. During this time she may grizzle or cry. She might also fidget and squirm as she goes from deep sleep to light sleep and back again. This cycle will take about 40 minutes. Premature babies have trouble getting into deep sleep, and sleep lightly for around 80% of their sleep time. Full-term newborns sleep deeply half the time. See About sleep for more information on normal sleep patterns.

In the first few months, it is common for newborns to wake two or three times a night for feeds. Between one and three months, the number of wakings decreases and a baby’s longest period of sleep increases. By the time your baby is around three months old, she may have begun to settle into a sleep pattern of around 4-5 hours at night. However, up until six months of age many babies still require help and attention at night.

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