Newborn Sleep Tips From a Local Consultant!
If you’re reading this and you’re expecting or have just welcomed your sweet baby into the world, I first just want to say congratulations! What a sweet (and stretching!) season of life you’re in.
As a parent, I know there is so much information to learn and to sift through once you have a baby, including postpartum care, feeding options, sleep, visits from loved ones, all the “must have” products, etc. And it can be overwhelming!
So before going any further, I want you to know that you are the best parent for your little one! Through the sleepless nights and challenges that come with newborn life, give yourself, your partner, and your baby lots of grace as you learn how to navigate this new time together.
As a sleep consultant, I want to help you quiet some of the noise that can come from endless Googling and walk you through the most helpful sleep information I think a newborn parent can have.
Safe Sleep
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, your baby’s sleep space should be a firm and flat surface (i.e. bassinet, pack ‘n play, or crib).
Your child’s sleep space should also be bare – there shouldn’t be any blankets, pillows, wedges, or stuffed animals in there. It’s not until 12 months old that you can start introducing some sort of lovey or comfort item to your child’s sleep space.
Finally, you should always lay your baby on her back to sleep. Once your baby is able to roll front to back and back to front independently, it is safe for her to sleep on her stomach if she chooses, but until then she should be on her back.
Sleeping Environment
Whether you plan to room share or transition your baby to her own room, your little one’s sleep environment is key to healthy sleep habits!
The good news is, newborns can sleep just about anywhere, so for those many naps you simply snuggle your babe, or that happen on the go, where you are and what’s going on around you likely won’t impact your little one’s sleep.
When you’re trying to help your baby get more comfortable sleeping in her own space, however, making sure she is in a super dark room is key! I tell the families I work with that the sleeping environment should be so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face, whether it’s the middle of the night or the middle of the day.
This darkness will help your baby fall asleep without lots of distraction, it could help lengthen some otherwise short naps, and it can help prevent really early morning wakings due to the sun rising and streaming through the window.
[As a sleep consultant, one of my biggest pet peeves is that most blackout curtains don’t actually black out a room. So an inexpensive but very effective way to black out your child’s room yet still have cute curtains over top is using Blackout EZ Curtains.]
In addition to having a super dark room, using white noise is helpful when it comes to your little one’s sleep!
In the first few weeks, especially, white noise is actually a comforting sound for newborns, as it’s similar to what the world sounded like as they were still in the womb.
As babies get older, white noise isn’t as comforting as it is helpful for you! It’s helpful to know you can still turn the TV on, empty the dishwasher, or have a friend over without worrying about the noise waking your baby.
About Newborn Sleep
Unlike babies (4+ months) and older children, newborn sleep is underdeveloped. Rather than having four sleep cycles, they have two sleep cycles, and spend about half of their time in a very active sleep and the other half in a very deep sleep.
Because newborn sleep is underdeveloped, they often need support getting to sleep! So as you swaddle up your infant and lay her down, you can pat her belly, make a shushing sound, pick her up and rock her, offer a pacifier, etc, all to help calm her.
As you try to help your baby become more confident sleeping in her bassinet or crib, having her finally close her eyes in her own space is great practice for as she gets older.
Sometimes laying newborns down while their drowsy/have heavy eyes can help them settle enough to be able to finally fall asleep once in their crib. (Note that around four months old we no longer want to lay our babies down drowsy, as it disrupts their sleep rather than assists!)
In addition to needing support falling asleep, when a baby is born, she does not have a concept of day versus night. It’s not until around 6-8 weeks that a baby starts to differentiate the two.
To help your baby recognize the difference, getting outside is really helpful, especially in the morning! Natural sunlight is key in setting a baby’s body clock.
Using the artificial light in your homes is also helpful. During the day, when your baby is awake and alert, having the blinds open, lights on, and engaging her with “play” will help her learn that it is daytime.
Similarly, once it’s bedtime, keeping the lights off (or low, when feeding or diaper changing) and interactions minimal throughout the night will help your little one recognize that it’s night time.
Newborn Sleep Tips
Awake Windows
An awake window is the amount of time your baby is awake and active between sleeps.
So if your baby wakes up for the day at 7:00 am and you lay her down for a nap around 8:00 am, that 60 minutes awake is considered her awake window.
During this awake window is when your baby will eat and play, and yes, sometimes it seems like all your baby does is eat and sleep, and that’s totally normal!
From 0-6 weeks old, 45-60 minutes awake is really all newborns can handle before becoming overtired. So look at the clock when your little one wakes up, and around 45 minutes later you should be moving toward sleep again.
That might mean cuddling your baby on your shoulder rather than practicing tummy time or talking to her. That might also mean swaddling her up and laying her in a bassinet, helping her to sleep.
When babies are awake much longer than their developmentally appropriate awake window, over-tiredness starts setting in. Once a baby is overtired, it is not only harder to help them fall asleep, but it is harder for them to stay asleep, so keep an eye on the clock!
For more guidance around awake windows and how to structure your baby’s day around them, both now and as they get older, checkout my (free!) Ultimate Guide to Sleep Schedules!
Routines
Did you know you can start establishing nap time and bedtime routines with your baby from day one?
Routines are really helpful in cueing your little one’s body and mind that it’s time for sleep!
A newborn’s bedtime routine might look something like:
1. Bath or clean face with a washcloth
2. Feed (opportunity for skin-to-skin time, and helps keep your baby awake during the feed)
3. Lotion and jammies
4. Swaddle
5. Song and cuddles
As your baby start nearing four months old, move the feed to the first step in the routine (before the bath) to help your baby learn she can fall asleep without needing to do so while breast or bottle feeding. This will also help ensure your little one is getting a nice and full feeding before bedtime.
Swaddle
As newborns are born with a strong startle reflex, it’s helpful to swaddle them for naps and nights, especially when not being held, so they don’t regularly startle themselves awake.
While it’s safe for your baby to be swaddled as long as she is not yet rolling, I suggest parents transition their infant out of the swaddle between 8-12 weeks old. This is because movement is such an important piece of learning to self-soothe, so giving babies the opportunity to start using their arms and legs to get comfortable and start learning to self-soothe is important!
You can read more about that transition here!
A few other blogs posts that will be helpful as your baby gets a bit older:
How to Give Night feedings and Still Promote Sleep Skills
What is the Four Month Regression?
A Guide to My Favorite Sleep Sacks
Bringing home a new baby is such a gift and also quite a wild ride, and some days you won’t be able to think beyond feeding your baby and eating a few meals yourself, while other days you’ll be ready to go for a walk and maybe even enjoy a long shower. If you’re struggling when it comes to breastfeeding, sleep, your mental health, getting groceries, physically healing after birth, etc., know that you do not have to do this alone and there are people who can help you establish a “new norm” that works best for your family!
About the Author
Lauren Engler, of Via Graces, is a certified pediatric sleep consultant who works one-on-one with families to personalize a holistic sleep plan to help parents and children approach sleep with both confidence and independence. As a mom of two young girls, Lauren has experienced both the exhaustion and the freedom that can come with sleep! If you’d like to hear more, visit her website or sign up for a FREE discovery call to share what your child’s sleep looks like now, what your goals are, and to hear more about how Lauren can help.
