Parents, especially the new ones, have to understand the baby’s sleep schedule and their sleeping pattern.
It is completely normal when new parents are sleep deprived, considering that the little creatures will wake up pretty often and they have to attend the little ones.
Is it normal to have your black coffee before it’s even 6 AM?
Yes, it’s completely normal.
And it’s normal too to be anxious about their sleeping patterns.
Although each baby is unique and different, they share almost a standard pattern.
Knowing their pattern and then set up a schedule should be helpful.
Early Life
Newborns are like koala; they spend most of their time sleeping.
While they are sleeping, you should have your own sleeping time.
You should enjoy it.
In general, you have to spend 15 to 16 hours sleeping within a day.
And while they are it, their life cycle revolves in a pattern of sleeping, eating, urinating (and pooping), and that’s about it.
Within the first days of their lives – up to 14 days – they only know the basic needs of feeding.
The original birth weight may drop so you will have to boost the feeding time.
Don’t be overly happy when a baby sleeps too long – longer than 3 hours.
You may have to wake it up for feeding.
Newborns generally sleep quite a lot. Well, a lot, actually.
But they do it in short intervals.
But as long as they have their sleep, you don’t need to worry about a thing.
Moreover, you need to realize that little newborns have a very small stomach so they can’t have too much.
In order to stay full and content, they need to feed often.
So, don’t be too surprised if they wake up once every hour or two.
This is probably the most dreadful time for parents because they won’t be able to enjoy their night sleep.
But there is no need to worry. Just bear with the condition and go along with it.
To make up your lost night sleeping time, you can have nap with the babies.
Forget other things like doing household chores or working.
Now is your time to focus on the baby (and providing its basic needs) as well as your own sanity.
You NEED sleep too so it is only logical if you can spend sleeping time together with the little ones.
3 Months to 5 Months
At this age, you may notice that your baby seems to have this interest to interact with you more.
It is more alert too. In an earlier age, they may not sleep as often as before.
They may cut off one of their sleep and they somehow sleep longer.
At this stage, it would be a good idea to introduce the day and night cycles.
You can stimulate them to light and dark environment so they recognize the cycle.
You can open the window and let the light come into the room so the baby understands that it is day.
On the contrary, you can dim the light and create a dark setting to introduce your baby to night time.
Babies are smart creatures; they will soon understand.
Not only they understand sleeping habits, but they can also follow a planned baby sleep schedule.
This is also the stage where the baby may not feed too often.
As they grow, the capacity of their stomach will grow too so they can take in more food.
When they are full and content, they will have better sleep – and longer too.
It means that you may not have to wake up every one or two hours anymore.
6 Months to 8 Months
This is another developmental stage where babies can go for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep because they don’t need to feed for that long.
But don’t be discouraged if they still wake at least once during the night – some babies still need their food at night.
At this stage, you will notice that your baby will have less sleep during the day and more at night.
But in the overall sense, they will have around 4 hours of total sleep by day.
This is the stage where you don’t need to be around too much.
They will learn how to self soothe themselves, after all.
If the baby is fussy, you can sing softly or rub their head (or their chest) to calm them down.
And then you can leave the room.
9 Months to 12 Months
If you have developed a good baby sleep schedule, both you and the baby can enjoy established sleeping daytime and nighttime moment.
Don’t you love it when the baby is possibly sleeping for at least 9 hours?
You are getting your night’s sleep back!
At this age, babies may sleep between 9 and 12 hours, so it is quite long.
It is also possible that they may have a morning nap as well as afternoon nap that takes a total of 4 hours.
Keep in mind that such pattern may not be always smooth.
It is possible that babies may be ill along the way or they may experience a growth spurt that affects their sleeping time.
Don’t worry if you experience not only one but several sleep regressions.
They are part of the babies’ developmental milestones, after all.
Just stick to the pattern and the schedule – you can always overcome it.
The key is never to let the regression to affect you or discourage you.
Final Word
Besides introducing them to day and night, you can also set a comfy situation and cozy atmosphere.
Make sure that the bed is firm and safe; the crib is well set and there is nothing loose about it.
You should also pay attention to proper sleeping position so not only your baby will be able to sleep well, but it will stay safe too.
Keep in mind that babies are unique.
Don’t expect each of them to follow the above-mentioned timeline – those are just the standard and general facts.
Be ready for changes and accept everything that happens.
As long as you can manage a good plan for baby sleep schedule, you are good to go.