Newborn Sleep Advice

Parents may also be interested in our Baby Sleep Safety Tips article. You can also view a wide range of books on baby sleep tips in the Online Store.

The sleep patterns of a newborn baby will be very different to that of an older baby. Newborns essentially will sleep if they are tired and cannot easily be coaxed into sleep if they are in a wakeful period. The length of time they remain asleep will vary greatly from infant to infant, but can be very short in the early weeks as their tiny tummies necessitate small and frequent feeds. While some parents may be lucky and get a newborn who goes around 4 hours from the start, it is very normal for new babies to wake for feeds around every 2 hours.

The period your baby remains asleep for should start to increase when they are about a month old and some babies will start sleeping through. Unfortunately, the definition of "sleeping through" is a stretch of 5 hours (so around midnight to 5am), and doesn’t mean your baby will go down at 7pm and sleep till morning.

Parents do find they get used to the sleep deprivation but it can be particularly hard in the early weeks, especially for those with a fussy baby or one whose natural sleep pattern means they sleep through the day but are wakeful at night. But there are things you can do to keep your newborn calm and comfortable, which can help him sleep for longer.

White Noise

This is a tactic which will soothe many crying babies and help others keep calm and comforted as they drop off to sleep. The theory is that silence can feel quite unnatural to a newborn because the womb they have spent 9 months in is a surprisingly noisy place, (for instance there is the constant background noise of blood pumping through their mother’s body). Therefore white noise makes their surrounding feel more familiar and safe.

The easiest way to use white noise to soothe your baby to sleep is to purchase a womb sounds CD designed for the purpose. This is not the only option, however. If you purchase a home fetal Doppler (baby heart monitor) during your pregnancy you may find there is a function to record the sound of the mother’s heartbeat. This can then be played to your baby to calm them after their birth. You may find certain sounds from around the home can pacify your baby, such as the vacuum cleaner or kitchen extraction fan, although these are not practical to use every time you want your baby to nap.

Swaddling a Baby

Like the white noise, swaddling works for many babies because it reminds them of their mother’s womb. Keeping their limbs tucked securely next to their body also calms the moro reflex (startle reflex), which can shock a baby into wakefulness.

Any square blanket can be used for swaddling, and there are also a growing number of specially designed swaddle blankets, such as the Miracle Blanket, which can make the process easier. How to swaddle a baby is covered in our article on swaddling blankets.

Rocking

Rocking soothes and aids falling asleep because, like the two previous suggestions, it mimics the conditions of being in the womb. When you were pregnant you may have found your baby slept most when you were active, and kicked and moved about more frequently when you were still. This is because your movements were lulling them to sleep. Babies will often fall asleep in a buggy for the same reason.

Holding your baby in your arms or on your lap and rocking them to sleep may work, but a baby will typically wake as soon as you try to put them down. Buying a cradle or rocking stand for your moses basket is a better solution. Unlike the two previous methods, rocking is not so effective as a sleep aid. Although it helps a newborn fall asleep it will not help maximise how long they sleep for unless you carry on rocking them till they wake.

Remember, no two babies are the same. The three newborn sleep aids mentioned above work for many parents, but there are always exceptions. Persist with a method for a while, but if it is not working it is not your fault, your individual baby just needs a different approach. Also bear in mind that while sleep deprivation is hard, this stage will pass.