Wouldn’t it be lovely if your baby slept soundly throughout the night? Sadly, most babies don’t, but if you’re struggling to help them get into a routine (and are struggling to get much sleep yourself), here are some useful tips helping for your newborn baby sleep. 

 

Although newborn babies sleep a lot – up to 17 or 18 hours during their first week and then on average 15 hours a day up to three months of age – they sadly don’t sleep for that long at a time. In fact, most newborn babies only manage three to four hours in any stretch, regardless of whether it’s during the day or night. It may take until six months or longer until babies are able to sleep all the way through the night.

 

This inability to sleep for long is what can easily take its toll on mum and dad. No sooner have you settled down to sleep at night, then your baby is awake – crying, wanting a feed, needing a nappy change or wanting to be held for a while.

 

It is possible for babies to learn good sleeping habits when they’re as young as six weeks old, although many babies take longer. By putting these sleeping tips into action as soon as possible and developing a familiar routine, your baby will hopefully learn to sleep through the night.

 

 

Ultimately you’d like your baby to sleep well at night, but how does he tell when night is? You can help him to learn this by your actions and attitude during the day and night (this may not be hard at night, when you’re tired anyway!). When he’s awake during the day take lots of time to play with him and do active things. He’ll gradually get to recognise the light and sounds around him and associate this with day.

 

In contrast, when he wakes during the night, avoid playing too much with him. Be calm, avoid turning on bright lights, don’t talk too loudly and keep sound to a minimum. Slowly he should get to realise that night differs from day and is a good time to go to sleep. 

 

 

To help prevent your baby waking up frequently in need of feeding, try and make sure you give plenty of feeds during the day. It won’t stop him waking up entirely, but it should help reduce the number of times you need to feed him during the night.

 

 

It’s never easy for your baby to sleep if he’s already over-tired. As a parent, you can learn to spot the signs that he’s getting tired and put him to bed before he reaches this stage, as this will help him sleep better. Maybe he rubs his eyes or gets a dopey look on his face; whatever the signs, start looking out for them as soon as you can.

 

 

Babies will love being cradled in your arms and gently rocked to sleep, but in the long term it’s not a good idea to do this every night. It may seem hard, but your baby needs to learn how to go to sleep in their cot on their own. Try putting your baby into his cot in the safe sleeping position when he seems tired, but isn’t yet showing signs of falling asleep. Create the perfect night-time environment, with dimmed lights and little noise. At first, you can stay in the room for a while with him if you choose, but otherwise you should leave him to go to sleep on his own.

 

Try this from about eight weeks of age and continue to use the same method each night. Babies need to get into a routine for any chance of developing a sound sleeping habit.