How Much Do Premature Babies Sleep
Preterm infants can spend up to 90% of each day asleep. Although most infants younger than three months old tend to sleep between 16 and 17 hours per day, parents of preterm infants should expect their baby to sleep longer. Preterm infants are also more likely to act drowsy rather than alert when they are not sleeping.
Parents of preterm babies shouldnt compare their babys sleeping habits to those of full-term babies. Instead, they should discuss their specific circumstances with a doctor if they have concerns.
Day : You Sleep Soundly Too
Give yourself a big pat on the back. Not only have you regained your sleep, but you’ve given your baby an important gift: Good sleep habits are as critical as good hygiene to a child’s well-being. Of course, there will be setbacks, such as an illness, a new sibling, or an unfamiliar hotel room. “Even children who are good sleepers will have problems now and then,” says Dr. Givan. But fall back on our foolproof plan whenever the need arises. Your child will respond with even less difficulty the second time around because they already know the drill.
Perfect Your Swaddle Technique
I cant tell you how many parents tell me their kid hates the swaddle. But nothing could be further from the truth. In my experience, while there are a few babies that truly hate the swaddle, most parents mistake their childs fussing for hate. Try to implement use of the swaddle for naps and at bedtime. Try it for several weeks for each sleep period before writing it off.
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Set A Bedtime Routine
A study of 405 mothers with infants between 7 months and 36 months old showed that babies who followed a nightly bedtime routine went to sleep easier, slept better, and cried out in the middle of the night less often.
Some parents start their babys bedtime routine as early as 6 to 8 weeks old. Your babys routine can be any combination of regular bedtime activities. The keys to success:
- Play active games during the day and quiet games in the evening. This keeps your baby from getting too excited right before bedtime but gets them tired from the days activities.
- Keep activities the same and in the same order, night after night.
- Make every activity calm and peaceful, especially toward the end of the routine.
- Many babies enjoy bathing right before bedtime, which calms them down.
- Save your babys favorite activity for last, and do it in their bedroom. This will help them look forward to bedtime and associate their sleep space with things they like to do.
- Make nighttime conditions in your babys bedroom consistent. If they wake up in the middle of the night, the sounds and lights in the room should be the same as when they fell asleep. If you need to feed or change your baby during the night, keep the lights low and the talking to a minimum. Too much stimulation can make it hard for them to settle again.
Continued
Day : Brace For A Few Tears
Steel yourself: Day three involves putting your child down in their crib while they’re still awake. “It’s the single most important thing you can do,” says Dr. Schaefer. “If they fall asleep at your breast during their bedtime feeding, for example, arouse them enough that their eyes are open when you place them in the crib.” Of course, a littleâor a lotâof crying may ensue. But rest assured, it will be tougher on you than on your baby.
Parents naturally find it agonizing to listen to their little one cry, but just keep reminding yourself that the end resultâsleep!âwill benefit the whole family. “Get over the worry that ignoring your baby while they cry will do psychological harm,” emphasizes Dr. Schaefer. If you’ve been meeting their every need in other ways, this situation certainly won’t lessen their sense of security.
If some nighttime tears do ensue, periodically check on your baby and reassure them that you’re there aim for every five minutes the first night. But keep your visits brief: Don’t turn on the light, remove them from the crib, or offer them a pacifier or a bottle. “If they fall asleep with one of these crutches, they’ll cry for it again if they wake up or at bedtime tomorrow night,” Lerner says.
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Swaddle To Get Your Newborn To Sleep Through The Night
Swaddling typically starts in the hospital and often continues through the first several months of a babys life. This soothing technique has been proven to help newborns sleep through the night, and babies who are swaddled tend to cry less than babies who are not swaddled. In addition to keeping your little one warm and toasty in those early months of life, swaddling also keeps your baby from being disturbed by her own startle reflex.
Week : Show Your Newborn The Difference Between Night And Day
Newborns dont know the difference between night and day when they are born. Thats one of the reasons why they are up and down at all hours. To acclimate their body clocks to the rhythms of your day introduce your newborn to the concept of night and day.
This important newborn sleep tip will help them set their internal clocks to be awake more during the day and sleep for longer stretches at night eventually.
To do this create a stark contrast to day and night in your home.
During the day keep lighting and noise at a normal level. Where ever baby naps keep the room from being pitch black. Play music in the background. Do most of your activities during the day.
At night soften the environment. Turn down the lights and the volume. Slow down the pace of life. When putting baby down at night draw the shades closed and make the room dark.
Over time your newborn will adjust and with it adjust their awake and sleep hours.
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Your Baby Doesnt Know If Its Night Or Day
Some babies start sleeping on whats called a day/night reversal schedule. Your baby sleeps well during the day, but is awake and busy at night. Its frustrating and exhausting, but its temporary.
Here are a few things you can do to help your baby learn that day is for play and night is for rest:
- Keep them awake a little longer during each waking period during the day. This will help increase the need for sleep later. Some sleep experts recommend playing with your baby for a few minutes after a feeding instead of letting your baby fall asleep.
- Get your baby outside and in the sun . Natural light helps reset their internal clock. If you cant get outside, place your babys crib or sleeper near a window that gets steady, bright light.
- Avoid sleep-inducing activities, if at all possible, during the day. Dont fight your babys need to sleep. But if you can keep them out of the car seat for a bit, that extra time awake will help them later.
- Keep lights low or turn them out at night anywhere near babys sleeping area. Likewise for sound and movement. Your goal should be zero disruptions.
- Consider swaddling your baby at night so their arms and legs dont move and wake them. You can also try putting them to sleep in a small crib, so they feel snug and secure.
Carefully Choose When To Start
It may be tempting to sleep train your baby right out the gate for a deep desire to gain back those precious zzzs. Equally, it can be easy to fall into a bad habit of rocking your infant to relax every night until theyre three years old.
Suddenly, youre stuck training your kid to go to bed at an age when they can verbally say, No, thanks.
You can start teaching your kiddo when they become mobile, can roll over on their own, are no longer being swaddled, and can snooze for at least one four to six hour stretch of time, generally around five months of age.
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Dealing With Baby Sleep Pattern Changes
All babies change their sleep patterns. Just when you think you have it sorted and you’ve all had a good night’s sleep, the next night you might be up every 2 hours.
Be prepared to change routines as your baby grows and enters different stages. And remember, growth spurts, teething and illnesses can all affect how your baby sleeps.
If your baby is having problems sleeping or you need more advice about getting into a routine, speak to your health visitor.
Begin A Bedtime Routine
Nighttime feeds and getting ready for nighttime sleep are a different matter and there should be a clear distinction between the two.
Once your baby is about a month old you can start a simple bedtime routine by bathing your baby before the early evening feed.
to jump to my 6 step baby bedtime routine.
After the bath, move to a darkened room, get them dressed for bed while talking softly and have a quiet time with your little one.
You can look at a book together , sing a lullaby or just talk softly.
Then it is time for the early evening feed in a quiet darkened room before putting your baby to sleep in their crib.
The energy level needs to be low and your movements slow-paced and calm.
All of these actions will help to teach your little one that this is bedtime rather than nap time.
All subsequent night feeds should then be very low energy with low light and no talking.
This will ensure that your baby does not become too alert in the middle of the night and will hopefully settle back to sleep quickly.
A white noise machine is very useful for nighttime sleep as a quiet house is more likely to wake your baby if a sudden noise occurs.
A white noise machine will keep the noise constant for them much as it was in the womb.
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Learn More: Sleep Training
Read our complete Sleep Training Guide and our Q+A with Sleep Consultant Taking Cara Babies to learn more about sleep training and how it can help your family.
Use these tips if youre having trouble getting baby to fall asleep. And remember, the Zen Swaddle and Zen Sack are effective tools for helping babies sleep better and longer and they could be the key to teaching your little one to self-soothe!
Dont Rely On Soothing Methods
If you put your baby in the crib when theyre already asleep and they wake up in the night, which all humans do, they wont recognize their surroundings and will need your help getting back to sleep, notes Dr. Givan. Try to put your baby down drowsy but awake. This will help them learn to self-soothe and fall asleepand, more importantly, fall back to sleepon their own, which is the main goal of sleep training.
Adrienne Porzio of Centerport, New York, can attest to this. She began driving her newborn around at night to get her to fall asleepand she was still relying on that crutch when her daughter was 5 months old. The issue we get the most calls about is parents automatically repeating soothing habits to the point that the baby is hooked, says Los Angeles sleep consultant Heather Turgeon, coauthor of The Happy Sleeper. Newborns benefit from rocking, bouncing, and soothing to sleep, but babies develop quickly and dont need those things forever.
By about 5 months, most babies have the capability to fall asleep on their own, and if were still doing it for them, were getting in their way, says Turgeon. Start practicing in the early months to put Baby down awake, at least once a dayusually the first nap is the most successful. Keep your cuddle time, but gradually stop the patting and shushing and rocking to sleep.
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Keep Your Newborn Close At Night
This will allow you to quickly feed your baby before shes fully awake during the night. Co-sleeping parents often get more sleep because mom and babys sleep cycles align with one another. If you choose to co-sleep, please follow safe co-sleeping guidelines.
Rooming in with your newborn?Read: Room Sharing For The First Year: Is It Right For You?
Week : Look For Sleep Cues
Your cruising into having a 1-month-old! By now you might be feeling a bit more adjusted, recovered, and bonded to your infant.
Newborn sleep might be sporadic but now that you know your baby better, start looking for sleep cues. Take notice of the things your baby does to show that they are tired. Do they cry a certain way? Get fussy and then ratchet up the noise? Get extra snuggly or rub their eyes?
This newborn sleep tip will help you recognize when youre baby is telling you they want to sleep and will help you put them down with success!
Many times an over-tired infant is hard to get to sleep. However, when you see they are ready to sleep and you take action you will get better results!
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Easy 6 Step Baby Bedtime Routine
Bedtime for babies is as important as it is for the toddler and older child.
Here are my 6 steps to getting into a consistent baby bedtime routine.
It is worth pointing out, however, that newborn babies sometimes have their own plans for the day and you will not always get a perfect routine in!
BUT
After a month or so, Id encourage you to try and stick to a bedtime as it will make your life so much easier as they grow up!
Check Out Teething To Tantrums Youtube Channel here!
How To Keep Your Newborn Awake During The Day
It isn’t uncommon for newborns to establish a routine of sleeping the day away and then being awake when the sun goes down. There are a few things you can do to help your baby reverse this habit.
- Differentiate between night and day. Just as you’re trying to keep nighttime calm and quiet, create an environment during the day that lets your baby know it’s time to learn and play. Open blinds and curtains, play and interact with your baby, and don’t be afraid to be a little noisy.
- Establish a wake-up time and stick to it, even if your baby was up most of the night. Sleeping in may seem like a good thing, but it won’t help you reach your goal of sleeping soundly at night.
- Wake your baby for regular feedings during the day. Your little one needs to eat between 8 and 12 times every 24 hours. If those feedings don’t happen during the day, many babies will make up for it overnight.
- If your baby often drifts off during a feeding, they might not eat as much as they need to during the day. Keep your baby alert during daytime feedings by rubbing their back, playing with their toes, and undressing them so they don’t get too cozy.
American Academy of Pediatrics. 2009. Reversing Day-Night Reversal.
Nemours Foundation. 2019. Sleep and Your Newborn.
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Week : Review Newborns Sleep Schedule
At a month and a half, your baby may have developed new patterns. Do you notice any changes? Perhaps youre transitioning into a more consistent feeding schedule. Maybe you notice your newborn is more awake and alert in the morning.
Now is the time to review your newborns sleep pattern and schedule. Do you find them getting tired at the same time at different points in the day? This could clue you into making that time a naptime.
Are they getting drowsy after dinner at the same time? Thats cue to make it bedtime. Do they get up to eat at the same time? That can clue you in when you should get some shut-eye before getting up in the night.
Following this newborn sleep tip will help you get into the habit of noticing when your baby is getting sleepy and is ready to be put down with ease.
Restless Sleep Due To Frequent Late
What it looks like: Most 2- to 3-month-old babies, particularly breastfed ones, still need to fill their tummies at least once or twice during the night. Waking up every two hours for middle-of-the-night chow-downs, on the other hand, is typically too much of a good thing by this point and for most babies, not necessary.
What to do about it: First, talk to your childs pediatrician about how often baby should be eating overnight. If you get the go-ahead to cut down on overnight feeds, ensure babys eating enough during the day by offering a feed every two to three hours. Then, work on slowly stretching the time between nighttime feedings.
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Lights On During Day Off At Night
When youre feeding during the day, keep the lights on or curtains open. This helps communicate daytime to baby. As you approach naptime with baby, dim the lights and close curtains, but help baby associate day with light.
When youre feeding, changing, or situating at night keep lights off.
This means dont turn on a lamp. It definitely means no overhead lights.
Get out your flashlight or a flashlight app on your phone. Seem drastic? Well not as drastic as being up for 3 hours for the next month.
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Grab this sample newborn routine, tweak it, and have calmer more peaceful and predictable newborn days.