Ahhhh, newborns. They smell amazing and are impossibly cute, but their sleep can feel all over the place. As a pediatrician and Enfamil NeuroPro’s Infant Development Expert, I’m often asked the same questions about newborn sleep patterns.
When will they start sleeping in longer stretches? Why do they have nights and days mixed up? When can I get them on a schedule? Why do they startle so easily in their sleep? Understanding why newborns sleep the way they do can help parents approach this very normal phase with more patience and confidence.
Newborn Sleep Patterns
Understanding how newborns sleep and recognizing normal patterns can help parents respond with more confidence and patience during the early weeks.
Understanding Sleep Stages
The first step in understanding newborn sleep patterns is to understand the various sleep stages. During the fourth trimester (0-3 months), babies experience both light and deep stages of sleep. After four months, they transition to more sleep cycles (similar to adults).
In the light stage, infants’ eyes are closed, but they are asleep, and they are more likely to be aroused with noise or maybe even their own arms in their face. They startle much more easily in this phase, but as they grow older and develop additional sleep stages, this rapid arousal will become less prominent.
In the deep stage of sleep, it is much more difficult to wake them up.
Why is understanding these sleep stages critical? Well, newborn babies often start in light sleep, and they can make grunts, deep exhales, or noises during this light stage of sleep. Parents think their baby is ready to wake up and arouse them, disrupting their sleep.
As adults, we also go through sleep cycles and toss and turn. Babies can move through sleep cycles and make sounds, but they will go back to sleep independently. By pausing, we can see if they will, in fact, go down on their own or if they need something like a feeding.
Practice Pausing
It’s important in the newborn phase and beyond to practice pausing. Pausing means taking a moment before responding to your newborn when they are sleeping. If they make a grunt, wail, or sound, wait 30 seconds to 5 minutes before attending to them in their safe sleep environment.
If you know they are due for a feeding, you can shorten the pause. However, we often equate noises in sleep with hunger or a desire to be awake, so pausing can help ensure that they genuinely need our assistance.
Related: How to Teach Your Baby to Self-Soothe: Gentle Tips for Parents
Know the Signs of Tiredness
In the first three months, babies can sleep anywhere from 14-18 hours a day. This includes nighttime sleep and naps. Early on, they will be awake for shorter periods. Many newborns under eight weeks will be awake 45 minutes to 1 hour before going to sleep again.
It’s very important to watch for signs of tiredness in that time frame so you can lay baby down to sleep. These signs include rubbing their eyes, zoning out or staring into space, or having red eyes and eyebrows.
When you notice these signs, it’s essential to place them in their safe sleep environment, such as a crib or bassinet, to reinforce ‘downtime.’ When you lay them there, pause. If they cry, give them 30 seconds to 5 minutes before you pick them back up. If you lay them down and they’re looking around, allow them to do so. They become comfortable with their new sleep space, which is essential for teaching independent sleep.
Related: How Many Hours of Sleep Does Your Baby Need?
Help Baby Get Nights and Days Straight
Newborns are not born with a circadian rhythm, but parents can gently support the development of healthy day and night patterns.
Babies commonly have their nights and days mixed up, often sleeping more during the day and less at night due to low melatonin levels early on. Melatonin production typically increases after the first few weeks, helping babies settle into a more predictable rhythm. While many parents want to correct this right away, it’s important to be patient, especially during the first month. Your baby will learn the difference between night and day, and the following tips can help guide them toward longer stretches of sleep by around two months of age.
Embrace the Darkness
When your baby is sleeping, make sure the room is dark. Blackout curtains do wonders. During diaper changes or feeding in the middle of the night, keep lights to a minimum. Just enough to do what you need to do and lay them back down. When baby is awake, allow sunlight and get outdoors as well. Sunlight will help prime them for sleep and help establish that sleep-wake cycle (we sleep during the night and are more awake during the day).
Related: Must-Have Baby Sleep Products (0-6 Months)
Let Baby Sleep at Night
Once your baby has met their birth weight, you typically do not need to wake them overnight for feedings. Clear this with your child’s clinician if you are unsure. This means that if they are sleeping overnight, let them sleep. If they wake up and are hungry, feed them. For purposes of this rule, nighttime sleep is considered 7 pm to 7 am, although your baby will not sleep that long at one month of age. When you wake them up to feed, you are not allowing their natural sleep patterns to occur and are inadvertently disrupting their sleep.
Wake Up a Sleeping Baby During the Day
Wait, what? I just said to let them sleep! That’s at nighttime. During the day, wake them up every 2 to 3 hours to be fed. This rhythm can be possible after one month of age. A great rhythm is offering feeding times at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, and 7 pm for daytime feeds. Once breastfeeding is established, this will likely become their routine and can also be used for formula-fed babies. This helps reduce the day-and-night confusion that can take four to six weeks to sort out. Of course, babies may cluster feed or go off this routine, and that’s NORMAL! They’re not robots! Please feed them if they are hungry.
Practice Pausing
Yes, I’m repeating this because it’s important. If they are crying or making any sound, practice pausing to give them time to calm down. Pausing is very helpful in that by stopping and listening to the cry, you will begin to learn what each cry means. By jumping at every cry, you will never know if it means your baby is hungry, needs a diaper change, or is going into another sleep cycle.
Pausing can also help if you are trying to teach them to settle into a new sleep space. Additionally, it helps when they are between sleep cycles, and you are determining whether they are actually awake or if they will settle back down on their own.
By understanding newborn sleep patterns and using these techniques, many parents begin to see longer sleep stretches by around two months of age.
Every baby is unique, and sleep will continue to evolve. While there is no one-size-fits-all timeline, parents can help guide healthy sleep foundations by responding with consistency, patience, and confidence.
