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Sleeping like a baby is likely the most inaccurate idiom in the English language. Your newborn will sleep in fitful bursts, radically altering the schedule just when you think you had it down and were in a routine.
If you're struggling to maintain a newborn sleeping schedule and wondering how a newborn should sleep — in bed with you, alone in a crib, or somewhere else — these newborn sleep basics provide a good starting point toward building and maintaining a successful infant sleep routine.
How much do newborns sleep?
A baby will sleep as many as 16 hours or more in a 24-hour period, broken into chunks of varying lengths. She might doze for 10 minutes, wake up for a few hours, then sleep four hours at a stretch. In total, your infant will likely sleep for approximately nine hours during the day and eight at night.
Generally, a newborn will wake up to eat every three hours and many parents can expect their baby to begin sleeping through the night at around a year old. Of course, every newborn is different and your pediatrician can help you sort out the details if you're wondering how a newborn should sleep in relation to their age, daily routine and feeding schedule.
Is sleep training newborn babies a good idea?
In the never-ending debate on how to get newborns to sleep, many new moms grapple with the logistics of sleep training. Duke University Pediatric Neurology Sleep Medicine Program Director Dr. Sugay Kansagra separates facts from myth and encourages caregivers to explore all sleep training options before discounting sleep training as an option.
"Most of the debate around sleep training stems from the process of allowing an infant to cry," Kansagra wrote in a Duke University KidsFirst article. "For those that are adamantly opposed to letting a child cry, but are frustrated by the lack of consistent sleep, there are other sleep training techniques that don’t involve simply leaving an infant in the crib to cry endlessly. Two examples of such methods are fading and scheduled awakenings,"
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Fading — With fading, the caregiver is in tune with the baby's sleep patterns and cues. They work around those to determine the best time to put the newborn down for a nap or begin the bedtime routine.
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Scheduled awakenings — The caregiver wakes and soothes the infant at specific times throughout the night. Usually, awakenings occur about 15 to 30 minutes from the normal time baby would stir. Over time, the caregiver gradually increases the time between awakenings. The purpose of this method, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, is to alleviate spontaneous wake-ups throughout the night.
"One of the ways I sleep trained my baby — though I'm not sure it was sleep training, it was just something that felt natural and made sense — was that I would recognize when he would show me he was sleepy," Ellie F. told Mom.com. "If he started rubbing his eyes and yawning, I'd rock him for a bit and put him down in his crib so he could learn to fall asleep on his own."
Sleep safety for newborns
While more than 60% of parents admit that they co-sleep with their newborn or young child, the American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes that having a new baby in the home takes some adjustment. AAP guidance suggests placing a bassinette or crib nearby in your bedroom to make nighttime feedings and care easier rather than bed-sharing with an infant.
Approximately 3,500 babies die each year from sleep-related deaths including sudden infant death syndrome, often simply called SIDS. SIDS in newborns is an unexplained death that normally occurs during sleep in a child under a year old.
So, once settled in his own bed, how should a newborn sleep when you put him down to rest? Roger Kirk, pediatric nurse practitioner for Preferred Medical Group, offered some insight.
"The best position for your baby to sleep in is on his or her back and in an empty crib. An empty crib means a crib or bassinette — while they're really small — that is free of pillows, assisted lifting devices," Kirk explained. "No bumper pads no, no occlusive coverings, no extra teddies or stuffed animals, no extra blankets or anything that may cover the baby's face, nose, or mouth."
The use of newborn sleeper gowns and sacks can help decrease the chance of suffocation and provide a feeling of security for baby. Infant sleep aids, like white noise machines, can replicate womb sounds, calming your little one so he can settle down and rest.
Finally, if your newborn sleeps on his side after you've put him down on his back the AAP indicates that it's OK to let a baby stay that way only if he is able to roll over on his own. Otherwise, you'll want to gently nudge the baby over to his back.
