Things No One Tells You About Newborn Sleep
Besides the usual, “Get sleep while you can!” or “Sleep when the baby sleeps!” or “You’ll never sleep again!” there isn’t much that people tell you upfront about newborns - and specifically - newborn sleep. I’ll let you in on a few things no one told me as a first time mom…
Newborns sleep a lot, but only a little at a time
That’s right…newborns sleep A LOT. Newborns need approximately 14-17 hours of sleep per day, but this often comes in spurts or two-hour chunks at night. Daytime naps can range from 10 minutes to 3 hours (P.S. I wouldn’t recommend anything longer than 2.5 hrs at a time in order to help develop baby’s circadian rhythm). At night, most newborns need to eat every two hours. Especially in those first two weeks as they work to get back up to birth weight. On average, a newborn baby should be napping 4-6 times per day totaling 5-6 hours per day, eating on demand and have an awake window of only 45-60 minutes between sleeps.
Newborns are noisy sleepers!
Newborn babies will grunt, groan, flutter their eyelids, breathe irregularly, fuss and move around often in their sleep. Note, I said “in their SLEEP”. These behaviors do not mean they are awake or even necessarily about to wake up. This is called “active sleep",” which is one of the two phases of newborn sleep. Newborn sleep consists of “quiet sleep” and “active sleep”. Quiet sleep is when a baby’s breathing is slow and regular and a fire alarm couldn’t even wake them. Trust me…it’s happened to me in the middle of the night. “Active sleep” is similar to REM sleep for adults, however there is a difference. In adults, our skeletal muscles are paralyzed during this stage. Newborn babies, instead, move around and make noise. Often times parents can mistake this phase as waking up, but give it a minute. They may just seamlessly transition back into quiet sleep. FYI - I moved my first baby into his own room at just five weeks old because he was such a noisy sleeper.
Humans are carrying mammals living in a nesting mammals world
“What the heck does this mean?” you ask. There are two types of mammals: 1) Nesting mammals, such as dogs, cats and deer and 2) Carrying mammals, such as apes and marsupials. Nesting mammals can nurse their babies and leave them from anywhere from 4-15 hours before needing to feed again. Their milk is high in fat and protein and lower in water. Carrying mammals keep their babies close to them at all times and need to feed them continuously throughout the day. Their milk is low in fat and protein and high in water. Human milk composition is amongst the lowest in fat and protein and highest in water. We are carrying mammals, meaning our babies want to held ALL THE TIME. However, we live in a society where we are encouraged to and in most cases are required to nest our babies in order to go to work, follow safe sleep guidelines, clean, cook, exercise, drive a car, etc. I am a huge baby wearing advocate, but unfortunately in our modern world we do have to nest our babies in most cases. That’s just the world we live in and that’s why we have sleep consultants like myself to help guide and support you in the transition from carrying to nesting your sweet newborn baby in the safest, healthiest and happiest of ways.
Download my “Newborn Sleep Survival Guide” or book a free consult to learn more!