Dream Baby Sleep® Founder Carolynne Harvey answers frequently asked questions about Newborns. Read below.
Sleep training is vital to creating a stable sleep schedule for newborns. Creating a sleep schedule early lays a strong foundation for the independent sleeping your baby should be doing at 4 months old. However, today’s sleep training focuses on using the baby’s own body to help them ease into a routine rather than the old method of letting them cry it out, although at times, that does become necessary to a certain extent.
How Babies Sleep During This Period
- Newborns typically sleep in short cycles of 2-4 hours throughout the day and night.
- Total hours of sleep per night: 15-18 hours
- They also usually sleep more during the day since they have their days and nights mixed up.
- Many newborns will only sleep while being held.
The #1 Sleep Issue or Pain Point for Sleep Training Newborns
Fostering healthy sleep habits right away allows you to instill a healthy sleep foundation from the start. This is important because adequate sleep is proven to help a child’s cognitive development, emotional balance, behavior and overall health. Some issues that you might encounter with sleep training include:
- Your baby is dealing with day/night confusion
- Your baby has short sleep cycles that are only 20-30 minutes
- Preparing your baby for independent sleep when they’re 4 months old is very important
Excellent Guiding Tips for Sleep Training Newborns
There are action items that you can take right now to begin setting a healthy sleep foundation for your baby.
- Use blackout curtains
- Use continuous white noise for all sleep
- To improve day and night confusion expose your baby to natural light during the day and make it as dark as possible at night. For more tips on fixing day/night confusion in your newborn, visit our blog.
Have a question about your newborn or want to learn more about how to put your baby down drowsy but awake? Sign up for your free 15 minute consultation with one of our certified infant sleep experts.
