How do I get my Newborn to Sleep Longer Stretches at Night?
I often have mamas reaching out to me in desperation in the newborn stage, which is exactly why I work with newborns for the first 12 weeks of life! Families need help in that first, brief portion of their baby’s life, but there is a lot of contradictory information out there.
I recall, when I had my first, people would tell me “It will get better after week 12.” They may as well have said in a few YEARS, because that’s how it felt to hear that I’d need to endure another several weeks of the newborn stage. So, I wanted to share some of my best newborn sleep tips for the first 12 weeks of life.
#1: Have realistic expectations.
I’m putting this one first! Let’s remember, newborns are busy learning how to keep their bodies at the right temperature and HOW TO BREATHE, so give them, and yourself, a little grace when it comes to expectations. Before I gave birth, I read about 100 google searched guides/blogs/journals that made me feel like if I did A + B, then my 8-week-old should definitely be doing C. If he wasn’t, it was because I was doing something wrong. That’s crap.
If your newborn isn’t sleeping well DO NOT SWEAT IT! Even if you’re doing everything you’re supposed to there are a myriad of other factors at play. Over half of all newborns suffer from painful reflux, others lack the gut bacteria to properly digest many of the trace amounts of common foods found in breast milk and thus have excruciating gas, and many are just unhappy being newborns. It’s okay mama. You’re doing the best you can.
#2: Set up a perfect sleep environment.
This will matter more and more as baby gets past the 6-week mark. Set up a room for your baby to sleep for naps and bedtime. The sooner your baby starts to associate darkness and loud white noise with sleep, the easier his or her life will be. People always worry their baby will become addicted to or dependent on darkness and white noise and then won’t be able to sleep without it. Newsflash, adults have sleep preferences too! I don’t like to sleep in bright and noisy places—I prefer sleeping in my bed, with my pillow, fan, etc. Many adults swear they sleep just fine through any errant noise, but studies show that constant pink/white noise helps the brain go into more stable levels of sleep. Most (not necessarily all) babies sleep better with loud white noise and as-dark-as-possible darkness.
#3: Don’t let baby sleep past 2 hours.
Yep. You heard me right. Between the hours of 7a and 7p, wake that baby if its been 2 hours! This has got to be the single most effective thing you can do encourage your newborn to have longer stretches at night. It’s extremely important that they are feeding regularly during daylight hours, as well as using up their stored energy (this will help with sleep pressure at bedtime). Granted, this will literally be impossible to accomplish for most babies before 4 to 6 weeks. When those new newborns want to sleep, try as you might, they will not wake up. But, as soon as they start waking up and lengthening their wake times, do it! Take off their clothes, expose them to cooler air, take them outside/expose them to sunlight, put them in a baby tub filled with lukewarm water. Simply put, do anything you can to wake them up if they’ve been asleep for longer than 2 hours.
#4: Keep wake times to a minimum.
Wake times matter! Keep those newborns awake for about 45 to 60 minutes (yes, this includes feeding and changing time) and then start to get them ready for a nap. Swaddle them, take them to their sleep environment, and actively try to get them down for a nap. Ideal wake times range depending on the age of your newborn and time of day, but in a nutshell, the younger they are, the less time they’ll be able to stay comfortably awake (ie. 30-60 mins), and as they get older awake time can stretch to as long as 90 minutes.
#5: Create a nap-time/bed-time routine.
I know they are still little. But never underestimate the power of ROUTINE! A routine can help to cue your little one into sleep. When you’re dealing with a newborn who can’t yet communicate, this is one of the best ways we can communicate its bedtime to them. Once you establish a consistent routine of diaper change, swaddle, cuddle, kiss, sound machine on, curtains drawn, etc. your little one will know exactly what to do next!
#6: Feed your baby every 2.5 to 3.5 hours during the day.
If possible, try to establish a schedule where your baby wakes up and eats (while staying as awake as humanly possible), remains awake to complete the 45-60 minutes of wake time, sleeps for some amount of time (no more than the 2 hours), then wakes again and eats. This is a great way to ensure your little gets as many calories during the day as possible, and hopefully sleeps longer stretches at night.
And there you have it mamas. I hope these quick tips help.