What You Need to Know About Your Baby's Sleep Patterns (video)

What is a typical sleep pattern for a newborn?

A typical sleep pattern for a newborn is sleeping somewhere around 21 hours a day. They typically have one short period of awake time, awake and alert time, about 30 to 60 minutes other than breastfeeding, changing. Then it takes a little while before that sleep consolidation happens. Somewhere around four months, babies start to have more regularity to their morning nap. They start to move their nighttime bedtime forward and wake up less at night.

When will my baby start to sleep longer?

Some babies start sleeping longer in the first month of life, but that's not that typical. Most babies start to consolidate their sleep somewhere around three to four months old. There's a small sleep regression at four months old where they do a little more nighttime wakening, but still you see most of the sleep clustered more towards the evening around that age.

What are some top tips to establish good baby sleep habits?

Some important tips for establishing good baby sleep habits are looking for those early sleep signs, avoiding overtired states and putting your baby down to sleep before they're fully asleep so they get a little bit of practice putting themselves to sleep.