Babies and Sleep

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What is normal?

All babies have their own sleep patterns and often do not have regular patterns until they are older.

Newborn babies can vary greatly in their sleeping patterns. During the day some babies may only sleep for short times, while others sleep for longer periods of three to four hours.

Some babies sleep for longer periods at night while others wake several times feeling hungry and needing frequent feeds.

Is my baby tired?

If your baby is only having short sleeps they may become overtired. Overtired babies can be harder to settle. Some signs to look for that may indicate that your baby is getting tired are:

Becoming grizzly.
Rubbing their eyes.
Having less eye contact staring into space.
Yawning.
Clenching their fists.
Startling easily.
Having tense movements.

It can be easy to mistake these tired signs and think your baby has wind or is hungry. If you notice some or any of these signs in may be time to try to settle the baby for a sleep.

My baby seems very restless when sleeping

A babys sleep cycles are a mix of light and deep sleep. During active dreaming (light sleep) your baby may twitch, have irregular breathing, smile or make sucking motions with their mouth. During deep sleep there is little movement.

It is common for babies to move about, open their eyes, cry or wake during their lighter sleep cycle then settle themselves back to sleep. If your baby wakes during this lighter sleep, it may help to give them a chance to resettle themselves.