Sleep Schedule for Your Child’s First Year of Life

Not sure whether your little one sleeps enough? Join us to find out everything you need about your baby's sleeping schedule!

One thing everybody will tell you about babies is that they spend a lot of time sleeping! When you arrive home with your bundle of joy with this information, it is only natural to expect that everything goes smoothly. What nobody tells you, and they should, is that you have to be prepared for many sleepless nights at least during the first two or three months of your baby's life.

The fact is that, although babies sleep on the average 14 – 17 hours per day, they don’t do it all at once. Most of them, if not all, sleep in cycles that last approximately 40 minutes. In between, you have to feed them or change them if necessary. Besides that, babies, regardless of how young they are, spend the rest of their awake time wanting to play and learning new things.

What is necessary to know when it comes to baby sleep that not every baby is the same, and these patterns vary very much from one baby to another! It is most complicated with newborns, but when a child reaches about two months, you can start thinking about creating a schedule and a baby sleep chart. Unsurprisingly, a lot of parents get confused about this. To help you out, we asked experts for their advice on how to create an adequate baby sleep schedule and when to use aids like an infant to toddler rocker to put the little one to sleep. 

Changes in Baby Sleep from Newborn to Infant

As they are getting older babies:

● Sleep less during the day

● Spend more time being awake

● Sleep better during the night without waking up too often

● Don't need that much sleep in general.

Newborn to Two Months

It is the moment when you understand that your baby doesn't want to do anything else but sleep. In this period, little ones sleep approximately 17 hours per day. If it is possible and you know how to organize yourself to follow your baby's rhythm, you can enjoy this time. What can be a problem during this period is the fact that the baby will be waking up every 2-3 hours to eat, and this means you will too. Some babies might sleep longer, about six hours during the night. But keep in mind that as they don't differentiate between day and night, you will be woken up several times when they assess it is feeding time. Some babies of this age may experience colic, which can interrupt baby sleep. In this case, you can try using Colic Calm to alleviate the symptoms and soothe little ones.

Three to Five Months

After turning three months of age, your little one stops being a newborn. That is the moment when kids start to be more alert, and they want to spend more time with you. In some cases, though, there might be something called baby sleep regression – the situation when a three-month-old baby begins to sleep like a newborn again. If this happens, babies will want to play and do other awake things but you will be faced with the fact that your baby won't sleep alone. If you think that your little one doesn't get as much sleeping time as they should, then you can start using baby sleep music to help her fall back to sleep. Between three and five months, the sleep stretches are going to get longer, and sleep patterns will start to develop. Kids will probably sleep at least six hours at one go, and this is something that you need to encourage unless the doctor advised you otherwise. It is necessary to put them to sleep when they are drowsy but still not sleeping. That way they will learn how to soothe themselves back to sleep. During this period, you can start creating some baby sleep routines – for example, you can read a bedtime story or sing a baby lullaby baby sleep.

Six to Eight Months

Old Babies By this time, you will be coming to the end of the sleep training baby. Many, although not all, babies this age are already sleeping through the night. If your little one still wakes up to eat once during the night, keep in mind that this is not unusual. It is also when they ditch one more daytime nap. Even though they still sleep 3-4 hours during the day, at this age, they do it in longer stretches. When the little one is six months old, she or he can still have sleep regression. It is typical for those babies who didn't develop a habit of soothing themselves to sleep and experience separation anxiety.

Nine to Twelve Months

You can expect that your baby regularly sleeps through the night when she or he is nine months old. Usually, from this time, they start sleeping between nine and twelve hours and keep two daytime naps that last about an hour and a half each. Sleep regression can also occur during this period. Another thing that can cause a problem in baby sleep patterns in this period is teething. But, it is nevertheless vital that you stick to established routines, and after some time, the kid will return to usual sleeping habits.

Final Word

We know that introducing a baby sleep schedule can be a challenge and that it can often make you feel more exhausted than successful. However, you must arm yourself with patience and stay consistent with nighttime and daytime routines. If you manage to stay on track, you ensure that your baby develops healthy sleeping habits and doesn’t keep you awake at night. When did you start introducing sleep schedules for your child?