Sleep - newborns

You thought you knew what tiredness was but nothing prepares you for the sleep deprivation that you experience with a newborn. Our mums describe it as being a member of the living dead. Hope the following is of some help.

A newborn will spend around two-thirds of each day asleep, their stomach is tiny and as a result they wake every few hours to refuel. Sleep in general is important for physical recuperation, physical growth, the immune system, brain development, learning, memory, and information processing as well as many other systems of the brain and the human body. During REM (rapid eye movement) sleep your child's brain cells are making important connections. These synapses, as they're called, are the pathways that enable all learning, movement, and thought. They are the key to your child understanding all they are seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling as they explore the world.

Babies who don't get enough sleep or sleep poorly often have a difficult temperament and this can be very stressful to their parents. It has been suggested that this can lead to sleep problems in later life so it is important to try to learn about their patterns and to try to develop a routine, it is not really worth trying to set a sleep routine in the first few months, it is best to be led by your baby's needs. During these months your baby's sleep, or lack of it, will be affecting you. It's totally normal to feel tired, irritable as broken sleep and night feeds interrupt your routine, our mums say it is best to try to get sleep where you can, stuff the cleaning.

Unlike us newborn will tend to sleep through most noises and wake only when hungry it is worth noting that a baby who seems very sleepy a lot of the time and who doesn't wake to feed may be ill, so don't assume a baby like this is 'being good'. Contact a health professional if you're worried. Also it is worth bearing in mind that although nutritionally, breastfeeding is viewed as being better for babies, breastfed babies do sleep more lightly, and will probably wake more often.

By the age of about eight weeks, your baby can probably manage without a night feed and might sleep for six to eight hours, the average age for a baby to sleep through the night is 6 months but remember, not all sleep and feeding patterns are the same. Your baby has to learn how to fall asleep and how to get back to sleep when she wakes during the night.

It is important that you teach you child good sleeping habits as early as possible here's some tips on how to do that

Help your baby to distinguish between day and night-time, this can be achieved by keeping your child's room dark and quiet at night, and having half an hours quiet play, or a bath before they go to sleep, giving them a quiet last feed or to read to your child in a quiet gentle voice or play them a lullaby, whatever you choose to do but try to do the same things so they get used to the routine.
If you want your baby to learn to settle themselves, it's best to try to put them down in their cot before they fall asleep, this builds an association between sleep and their cot. Try to identify when they are tired and respond appropriately with the same routine. If your child gets used to falling asleep in your arms with you cuddling or stroking them, they may have problems settling alone.
Try to stick to the same simple routine before bedtime every night and try to make it around the same time every night.
It is normal and best to allow your child to cry for a short period when you put them to bed you must stop yourself from rushing to them or fussing over them, it can be hard but it is in their best interests and yours, but do not leave a crying baby for too long. In many cases just waiting a few minutes will see your baby calm down and fall asleep without any help.
If you do not want your child to be in your bed, do not start a routine where they come in if they wake as this will escalate and is difficult to change, try to feed in their room if they are still feeding during the night and then put them back in their bed and wait a few moments for any tears to subside. There is no need to purposely wake-up a baby for feedings if the babies are healthy and developing well, as their sense of hunger will dictate the schedule.
Sleeping during the day will not usually influence their nighttime sleep, and therefore, try not to prevent this happening they need the rest.
It is not a good idea to use a duvet, quilt or pillow until your baby is over one year old.
Try to get your child outdoors during the day, studies have show that they are twice as likely to sleep if they have been outside

As with most things in life there are no hard and fast rules about sleep it is a case of what works best for you and your child, all children are different and some may be great at sleeping others can suffer from a myriad of sleep problems, some are listed below

Night terrors - the child wakes up screaming, it appears terrorized with its eyes open or closed and it does not seem to respond to you

Waking during the night - This is the most common complaint, the baby wakes up many times during the night this may be for short or extended periods.

Problems getting to sleep - The baby requires long and often highly demanding rituals before it will fall asleep.

Nightmares - the child wakes up frightened but responds quickly to the parents and calm down with their help.

Rocking backwards and forwards and or head banging movements - the child uses body rocking and or head banging as they are trying to fall asleep or during the night.

If you have tried to get your child into a routine and have failed or if you are in any way worried about your child’s sleep problems it is best to raise the issue with a medical professional just to rule out any possible medical causes for the problems. If there are no medical causes there are many ways to help with these problems its just a matter of persevering till you find the right one for you so don't despair you will sleep again.