Sleep Habits of Newborn Babies
Parents will have plenty of trouble synchronizing their personal sleeping pattern to that of a newly born baby. They will often feel tired and sleepy at a time when the little one seems to be wide awake and in the mood for some playtime. On another occasion, a parent might want to gently nudge or playfully touch the cheeks of the little one at a time when all that is on the little one's mind is sleep. The truth is, during the first few weeks it can be a nightmare just keeping track of a baby's sleeping patterns.
Babies will typically sleep in short spells (2-3 hours) and will generally sleep when they are tired. New parents probably wonder why babies often wake up in the night and can't seem to get sleep. It is simple – they don't know the difference between night and day. Sleep specialist Dr. Shelly Weiss, recommends that at night, when feeding her baby, a mother should make it quiet and short and should put the baby back to bed in a dark place. During the day feeding should be more fun and lively to give the child the impression that they should be up during the day and sleep during the night.
In the first 3 to 4 months, it is difficult for newborns to put themselves to sleep. There will however be signs that a baby is tired because normally after 10-20 minutes of playtime, which might be just a quiet cuddle or some time stretching out (or even kicking on a blanket), they get tired and want to sleep. Parents need to be on the lookout for signs of wanting to sleep – for instance crying. With time, babies will slowly begin to associate certain activities or processes to sleeping and this will eventually become the routine, but it also takes them a few months before they actually realise that they need rest. Oftentimes a newborn will be fussy because they need sleep, but continually wake themselves just as they