Sleeping patterns of your Baby

When your baby is waking several times a night, you’ll do anything for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately there is little you can do in the early days to get your baby to sleep when you want her to, but the good news is there’s a lot you can do to encourage good sleep habits for later.

Sleeping patterns for newborn babies.
Newborn babies usually sleep about 18 to 20 hours a day for the first few weeks and 15 hours a day by month 3.
They’re almost never asleep for more than 2 to 3 hours at a time day or night, during the first few weeks, It’s not normal for a very young baby to sleep longer than 4 or 5 hours at a time, because they need to feed at frequent intervals.

There are normally not awake more than 30 – 60 minutes at a time during the first few days. The fact that your sleep is interrupted, as you need to get up for feeds and nappy changes, is exhausting. The good news though: Babies may start to drop one of he night time feeds quite quickly. Some even sleep through the night as early as 6 weeks.

YOUR BABY’S FIRST WEEK:
If you are breastfeeding, the 1st week of your baby’s life will be spent establishing a good flow of milk. To do this, you need to spend a lot of time together and feed your baby as often as she needs. It’s exhausting for you, but as her suck becomes stronger and your milk supply improves, she will start going for longer periods between feeds. The key is – to sleep when your baby is sleeping. Feed her when she is hungry.

NIGHT AND DAY:
Newborn babies have no concept of night or day. Sleep patterns change as your baby develops and there are some things you can do, even at a very early age, to help her recognize the difference between night and day. Essentially you want to give her the message that daytime is social time, when you play and chat, eat, bath and change. Night time is for sleeping. Daytime naps should feature day clothes, daylight, and daytime noises such as music playing and talking in a normal volume. Don’t keep everything in the house totally silent). Introduce a night time routine to help your baby recognise that this is the time for serious sleeping!

A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP:
You can help your baby learn good sleep habits. Babies start establishing sleep habits in the first 4 months, and it’s during this time that you can gently help your baby learn – how to go to sleep.
Understanding how sleep cycles work is a good start point. For both adults and children, sleep goes in cycles, some deep and some shallow. However, babies and young children have a different cycle pattern to adults. Adults spend 75-80% of their sleeping time in deep “slow wave” sleep (SWS) and only 20-25% in shallow dreaming or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, where you will see the eyes flickering around underneath the lids. By contrast, full-term newborn babies split their sleep evenly – half in REM and half in SWS. In a REM state, one wakes more easily. We all awake or almost wake, a number of times a night – most of us don’t even notice or remember.

At the peak of the REM cycle, your baby will be sleeping very tightly, if she feels safe in a familiar environment and her tummy is still full, she is more likely to go back to sleep. If she wakes up in a strange environment, she will feel insecure, so instead of going back to sleep, she will wake up and cry till mom picks her up and sooths her back to sleep with a breast or bottle. If your baby has fallen asleep on the breast while you were watching TV, and wakes up in a cot in a silent room, she’ll be aware that something is different and will call for you. That’s why it’s important for your baby to go to sleep where she is going to sleep. Put her in the same place so that she associates that place with sleep. Another good seep habit is to try to put your baby to bed drowsy but awake. If your baby always goes to sleep rocking in your arms, or sucking at the breast, she may be unable to go to sleep without that stimulus. If she is slightly awake when you put her down, she learns the important skill of actually falling asleep. It’s important to choose a routine that suits your family.

COT DEATH:
SIDS – or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome – is one of the leading causes of babies dying without obvious reason. Also called cot death, it’s uncommon in babies less than a month old, but rises to peak at 2 months. The risk then diminishes as the baby grows older. Nearly 90% of cot death has occurred by 6 months. Vey few occur after a year. Putting your baby at sleep on her back is the single most important thing you can do to help protect her. When your baby is a newborn, you can keep her happily positioned on her back by swaddling her snugly with her hands up near her mouth so she can comfort herself. As she gets older, she’ll start to move around a bit at night and will be frustrated at being swaddled.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO LOWER THE RISK OF COT DEATH:
Don’t smoke and do not let anyone smoke near your baby.
Place your baby on her back to sleep.
Do not let your baby get too hot.
Keep her head uncovered.
Place your baby with her feet to the foot of the cot to prevent her wiggling down under the covers.

IT'S A RISK TO SHARE A BED WITH YOUR BABY IF YOU OR YOUR PARTNER:

1. Are smokers (no matter where on when you smoke).
2. Have been drinking alcohol.
3. Take medication on drugs.
4. Feel very tired.

WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE YOUR BABY SHOULD SLEEP?
It’s a personal decision and it will need to suit you, your partner and your baby. In the first weeks and months, you will want easy access to your baby, as you’ll be feeding her during the night. As she cuts down on night time feeding, you might want to make a change. Remember routines are easier to change when you baby is younger – a toddler is likely to object to being removed from the marital bed or room.

POSITIVE SIDE OF LETTING YOUR BABY SLEEP IN HER OWN BED AND OWN ROOM :

• You sleep better.
• Your baby is more likely to go to sleep on her own .

NEGATIVE SIDE OF YOUR BABY SLEEPING IN HER OWN BED AND OWN ROOM:

• You have to get up to go to your babies room for night feeds .
• You cannot monitor your baby closely if she is sick .

POSITIVE SIDE WHEN YOUR BABY IS SLEEPING IN HER OWN BED, BUT IN YOUR ROOM:

• You can keep an eye on her if she is sick.
• Night feeds are a breeze.

NEGATIVE SIDE OF YOUR BABY SLEEPING IN HER OWN BED BUT IN YOUR ROOM:

• You may still be concerned about disturbing her .
• She will learn to see “your space” as “her space” .
• Her grunts and snuffles may disturb your sleep .

POSITVE SIDE OF LETTING YOUR BABY SLEEP IN YOUR BED:

• Breastfeeding couldn’t be easier.
• The physical contact is a perfect bond .

NEGATIVE SIDE OF LETTING YOUR BABY SLEEP IN YOUR BED:

• Your sex life could suffer.
• You have to be constantly aware of a little body in bed with you.
• It becomes difficult to get your baby in to her own cot or bed.