Your baby's sleep: everything you need to know

When was the last time you slept 8 hours in a row? The reality is that your baby's sleep in early motherhood is a topic that raises a lot of concern, which is why our team of Happymami midwives has prepared this post for you, based on the AEPED recommendations, about your baby's sleep and everything you need to know.

Your baby's sleep, everything you need to know

Sleep is a necessary process for all human beings, a mix of biology and behaviour, and heredity plays its part too. For your baby, it is the activity that takes up the most hours, and it is so necessary that not sleeping as much as they need will affect their learning and increase their irritability.

What does your baby's sleep depend on?

Well, let me tell you: your baby's good sleep is the result of a combination of 3 factors: biology, attachment and family.

By biology we mean your baby's genetic characteristics and temperament. Attachment is the close relationship your baby builds with you. And family refers to your shared attitude towards sleep and your baby.

What is more, your baby's sleep is influenced by many other variables: cultural norms, social expectations, the type of parenting, family work schedules and interests, etc. It is also shaped by external factors, light and darkness, and by internal factors such as hormonal secretions, the urge to wee or body temperature.

There is even a sleep regulation system of its own. These are the body's own mechanisms for keeping an internal balance between hours of sleep and hours of wakefulness. So the more hours a baby spends sleeping, the lower their need to sleep.

And, last but not least, there is age. In this sense, sleeping through the night is an achievement in your baby's psychomotor development. So when we talk about your baby's sleep, we are referring to the daytime or night-time period during which babies rest, process and organise what they have seen and learned, mature physically and psychologically, and begin and practise their independence from the outside world and their parents, for a length of time that varies according to their age and behaviour.

What is a sleep cycle?

To understand it all a little better, it is worth knowing in general terms what a sleep cycle is. Under normal circumstances, sleep is organised into several cycles repeated sequentially over the course of a day.

Sleep is divided into two distinct stages. One is NREM sleep or slow-wave sleep, and the other is REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep. Before sleep begins there is a period known as sleep latency. This is the time your baby takes to fall asleep, entering NREM sleep or deep sleep. The REM and NREM stages alternate in cycles that last around 90 minutes in an adult.

Every human being, from infancy onwards, has their own particular sleep cycle. It is advisable to respect these cycles without interrupting them. A newborn baby, for example, already has their own way of sleeping and waking up. As a mum, it is advisable to create the right atmosphere so that your baby can establish their own sleep rhythm. Bear in mind that the relationship you have around this subject can shape their behaviour when it comes to sleeping.

How many hours should your baby sleep for?

The answer is: as many hours as they need. If you have any doubts, your paediatrician will assess it. But the total number of hours of sleep and how they are spread throughout the day varies according to age and may or may not match what we think or would like. If we force them to sleep more hours, we reduce the depth of their sleep. In fact, there are different types of babies:

• Big night-time sleepers.
• Small night-time sleepers (they sleep the minimum number of hours for their age).
• Big nap-time sleepers, up to 90 minutes.
• Small nap-time sleepers, ten minutes is enough for them.

Your baby's sleep by age

When it comes to sleep, your baby follows a pattern similar to when they were inside your tummy. Your baby will sleep a lot, between 16 and 20 hours, with a similar split between day and night, but they cannot do it all in one stretch.

They wake every 3-4 hours, need feeding and need their nappy changed. They also need you to talk to them and to feel their mummy's affection, being held in your arms and stroked. And even though they are still a baby, it is important to start establishing routines, both daytime and night-time, while respecting their sleep rhythm.

At this stage, your baby's sleep is called active sleep, quiet sleep and indeterminate sleep. The average length of the baby's sleep cycle is around 60 minutes.

Your baby's sleep begins in the active sleep stage, where they may make small movements with their limbs, which is completely normal. After 30-40 minutes, they will enter a deeper phase called quiet sleep. Your baby will then be completely relaxed, for around 30-40 minutes. These types of sleep alternate until, after 3-4 hours, they wake up.

Once your baby reaches 3-4 months of age, they will be able to tell day from night. And from the 4th month onwards, your baby interacts more with their surroundings, synchronising their internal biological rhythm with the external rhythms of feeding, bath time and walks.

So by 5-6 months they can achieve a regular sleep pattern, once a stable daytime and night-time rhythm has been established. And what you most want to read… Over the first year of life, the periods of sleep during the night increase until they sleep 6-8 hours between 4 and 6 months, with daytime naps whose length varies according to the child's temperament and environment. These daytime nap periods will decrease until they almost disappear at around 3-4 years of age.

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Routines and good habits

It is important to bear in mind that good sleep is part of their learning. Every baby is unique, and there are no good or bad learning systems; rather, you should find the one that best suits your characteristics as a family.

Your baby will sleep better if you keep to routines before going to sleep. Try to create a sequence of actions that ends by leaving them in their cot or bed to start their sleep. We need to help the baby to associate the bedroom with sleep.

Bear in mind too that a baby's readiness to sleep depends to a great extent on the light they are exposed to, the time they woke up, feeding schedules, the physical activity they have done and the social stimulation they are exposed to before going to sleep.

Schedule

Keeping to a schedule is essential: always put your baby to bed at the same time. This way you will get their internal rhythm to help them settle into sleep. Keep this in mind when waking your baby too.

The right environment

Try to make sure they start their sleep in the place meant for sleeping; by that I mean that the living room is not the bedroom. This place should also be well ventilated and at a pleasant temperature. And your baby's clothes, like the cot linen, should be suitable for the time of year. Let light into the home during the day and then, at night, use dim lighting to get your baby used to the dark. The same goes for noise: during the day the usual noises of a home should not be continually avoided, but at night it is best to create a more relaxed and quiet atmosphere.

Feeding

But if we have to respect their sleep pattern, what do we do about feeds? Well, let me tell you. You should establish a regular but flexible schedule for your baby's feeding, helping your baby to settle into a stable sleep pattern. If you are breastfeeding, your baby will feed more often and will therefore wake for feeds more regularly. These night feeds can be shorter, although you should avoid excessive light and noise stimulation.

Where does the baby sleep?

In our society, babies usually sleep during the first months in a carrycot or cot in the parents' bedroom. Later they move into their own bedroom, at an age when the family situation allows it. But there are different ways of putting children to bed: alone, sharing a room with siblings, sharing a room with the parents, or sharing a bed with the parents (co-sleeping). Choosing one way or another will depend on the family, on the social and psychological meaning it has for you. The choice should be made by you and not forced by the baby's behaviour. When choosing, you should take into account the physical safety that the different ways of putting the baby to bed can offer in the first stages of life in terms of suffocation and sudden infant death syndrome.

Conclusion: your baby's sleep, everything you need to know

The key is knowing that every baby is unique and sets their own rhythm for sleeping, so it is important to learn to understand them, giving them the chance to enjoy falling asleep on their own. Be patient, pay attention to the signals your baby gives you, and whenever your baby sleeps, you sleep too. These are stages, and rather than seeing them as something to get through, try to enjoy them, and if you need anything else, our team of Happymami midwives will be delighted to help you.