Baby Sleep Breakdown

Baby Sleep Breakdown

Baby sleep breakdown will give you some guidelines to follow with your little one.  One of the biggest problems that new parents face in the first year with their new addition is sleep issues. A baby that is not getting enough sleep is often fussy and hard to deal with. This may impact his eating and playing habits as well and can leave you feeling like you are failing as a parent. Getting to the bottom of your baby’s sleeping habits and establishing a routine starts with knowing what you should be expecting from your baby. You may be surprised at how much sleep your baby needs and may realise that the reason you are both having so much trouble is because you are both not getting enough zzz’s.

Newborn to One Month

Babies will need a total of 16 hours of sleep (give or take) and this is often broken down into quick cat naps. You can expect very little routine but hopefully your baby will sleep 4-6 hours at a time during the night. In general, newborn babies will only be able to stay awake for about an hour before it’s time to go back to sleep.

Three Months

Babies will start to develop a little more of a routine by this age. They will probably be sleeping ten to twelve hours at night (and most likely still waking up for a feed or two) as well as three to five hours of sleep during the day for a total of 15 hours of sleep. Your baby may have three naps, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the late afternoon. However, some babies will only have two bigger sleeps in the morning and afternoon. In general, when your baby is three months old, he should be able to stay awake for two hours at a time before its back to sleep.

Six Months

Babies at six months need a total of 14 hours of sleep. Your baby may sleep 12 hours during the night and only have two naps during the day or he may sleep ten hours at night and still have three longer sleeps during the day

Nine Months

Your baby will probably be down to two sleeps a day by now (one in the morning and another in the afternoon) and will be able to stay awake for longer periods of time in between. He should be sleeping eleven hours at night and three hours during the day for a total of 14 hours of sleep.

One Year

Sometime in the first year your baby will drop the second sleep (usually the morning sleep) and keep the afternoon rest. However, he should also be sleeping through the night with no feeds and be getting a total of 13 hours of sleep. Children will need 12 to 13 hours of sleep until they are three years of age and most children will continue to nap until they hit this age or even longer (if you’re lucky)

So, your baby doesn’t sleep enough? Now what? How can you get his sleeping on track? Here are a few suggestions:

Set up a log book and write down how much sleep and when. See if you can find any patterns and work around your findings.

Stage a Sleep In and spend an entire week dedicated to getting your child on a sleeping routine. This means cancelling all appointments and staying home. This can be almost impossible if you have other children but if it is possible, dedicate several days to focusing on getting your baby to sleep and stay asleep. If baby wakes up after one sleep cycle and cries, then he needs to go back to sleep. Practice self-soothing methods to try to get him on track with a napping and bedtime routine that suits your life.

Consider sleep training. There are several different methods to try including no-sleep options as well as CIO methods.