If you’re a new parent, you may not have expected just how much of your brain would be immediately consumed by figuring out how to get your baby to sleep. Or, if this isn’t your first child, you may be desperately trying to put together a strategy to make sure sleep is less of a nightmare this time around.
Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, there are several foolproof things you can do to establish healthy sleep habits from the earliest days! These action steps will help you work with your baby’s rapidly developing body and brain so that you can avoid finding yourself in a place of sleep-deprived desperation months or years down the road:
Optimize sleep environment and timing
Start sustainable routines
Create a response plan
Establishing a sleep routine for a newborn starts with optimizing environment and timing.
The twin pillars supporting all your efforts to set up healthy sleep habits for your baby are sleep environment and sleep timing. When these two components are optimal, you’ll be in the ideal position of working with your baby’s sleep-wake hormones, sleep pressure, and circadian rhythm to ensure that they can get high quality sleep and you don’t have to fight them for hours to get there.
An ideal sleep environment should:
Be pitch dark – Find every possible light source, even down to the tiny green indicator on your baby monitor, and block it! When our brains perceive light (even through our closed eyelids!), the production of sleep hormones is interrupted. Do this once your baby is no longer dealing with day/night confusion for naps!
Have quality white noise – Use a sound machine that covers all frequencies, is non-looping, and has a volume of 60-70 decibels. Our brains also continue to process auditory stimuli while we sleep, and the use of white noise to block abrupt or ongoing background noise has been shown to improve sleep quality.
Stay within a comfortable temperature range – 68-72 degrees is ideal, but if your home is consistently warmer or cooler you’ll need to ensure your baby is dressed appropriately to avoid overheating or waking up chilled.
Likewise, optimal sleep timing should:
Be age- and development-appropriate – As babies grow and develop, their sleep needs shift and change rapidly. A newborn may only be able to tolerate 45 minutes awake between each nap, but then easily handle 2+ hours at a time just a few months later! Learn about the average wake windows and daytime sleep for your baby’s age group and start there.
Be individual to your baby – While averages can be a good starting point, in order to prevent the complications of overtiredness or undertiredness, you’ll need to find your own individual baby’s “sweet spot” of sleep pressure for naps and bedtime – and then keep finding it as the target inevitably moves! Wake windows aren’t evidence based, and there is an extremely wide range of “normal,” which is why it’s so important to dial them in for your baby specifically.
Step two: Start sustainable routines.
While a schedule may not be realistic right away, you can start establishing a sleep routine for a newborn anytime you want – and the sooner the better! Research indicates that even the newest of newborns can start to recognize patterns in sequences of events, and that predictable pre-sleep routines are strongly associated with better sleep throughout infancy and childhood. Here are some ways to harness the power of routine to build healthy sleep habits for your baby:
Building your days around a loose pattern of “eat, play, sleep” can improve sleep by fostering fuller feedings, preventing the development of a feed-to-sleep association, and reducing the impact of reflux symptoms on sleep.
Following the same 3-5 step bedtime routine every night can help your baby wind down, cue them that sleep is coming next, and prepare their brain and body for rest. You can also use an abbreviated version of the same routine for naptime.
To create a well-rounded routine, make sure that nutrition and hygiene are both addressed (e.g., a feeding, a bath, and a fresh diaper/PJs) and that communication and physical connection are included (e.g., a story, a song, and a snuggle).
Step three: Create a response plan.
No matter how well you set up your baby’s sleep environment, timing, and routines, their sleep will sometimes be imperfect, just like anyone else’s. Maybe it’s the four-month regression; maybe it’s teething; maybe it’s an off day where they refused a nap and got overtired–whatever the root cause, it’s important not to react in a panic, but to be able to respond to your baby in a calm and supportive manner as needed.
A solid response plan should include:
A pause – Whether it’s for 30 seconds or 10 minutes, always take a beat to breathe, listen, and tune into what your baby is trying to communicate. You’ll soon find that you can distinguish between an “I need support immediately!” cry and an “I’m working through it myself” cry. Your pause will probably be a lot shorter with a newborn and on the longer end for an older baby with strong independent sleep skills – but again, it depends on what you hear.
A response – If your baby clearly needs something, you’ll go find out what it is and calmly support them through it. This may look like offering a feeding, giving an appropriate pain medication, evaluating for illness or discomfort, changing a diaper, or just giving them a snuggle and the reassurance of your presence.
A boundary – Know ahead of time where your boundaries are once their needs have been met. For example, after your hungry baby has been fed and burped, you know you’ll return him to his crib and you’ll return to your bed; or after your teething toddler has been offered pain medication and a snuggle, you know you’ll tuck her in and say “Sweet dreams!” and leave the room. This will help you avoid falling into unsustainable patterns that will be hard to change later.
Baby sleep may at first seem like the wild west, but the truth is, there is so much you can do from day one to set up healthy sleep habits for the months and years ahead! When you have a solid foundation, strong routines, and a predetermined plan to follow, you’ll be equipped to hit any curveballs your baby throws at you with confidence and consistency.
Ready to solve the newborn sleep puzzle? Grab our newborn toolkit and learn more!
About me:
Hallie Liening is a firefighter's wife, mom to two little girls, and the owner and consultant at Sleep Bright. After navigating the depths of sleep deprivation and associated PPD, she was inspired to learn as much as she could about how babies sleep, and came to love the challenge of putting together sleep puzzles and helping families get their sanity back in the process! When she's not nerding out on baby sleep science or spending time with her family, you may find her taking dressage lessons, doing her at-home weightlifting routine, or studying the Bible. Photography, hot chocolate, and lively discussions about nearly anything are her love languages.
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