First steps in recognising when your baby is tired and how to influence sleep habits

For the first 6-8 weeks, your baby probably won’t be able to stay up for more than two hours at a time. If you wait much longer than that to put them down, they will be overtired and you can have a struggle to settle them.
During your baby’s first 3 months, learn the signs that they are becoming sleepy. These can be:

Rubbing their eyes

Flicking their ears

Whining and crying

Yawning and stretching a lot

Becoming quiet and still

 

Turning their head away from people

 

Bury their head in your chest

Show your baby the difference between night and day

Once your baby is about 2 weeks old, you can begin to show them the difference between night and day.

During the day try these techniques:

• Play, talk and interact throughout the day.
• Make the daytime feeds social. Chat or sing as you feed.
• Keep the house and their room light and bright – Light cues may not instantly program your baby’s clock, but they help. Research found that babies who got more afternoon sunlight slept better at night
• Let them hear every day noises, such as the radio or the washing machine. When parents include their newborns in their daily activities, newborn sleep patterns adapt more rapidly to the 24-hour cycle.

At night time try:

• When your baby wakes for night time feeding, keep activity to a minimum. Make as little noise as possible and avoid moving your baby around. You want your baby to learn that night-time is for sleep and quiet.
• Keep lights and noises low.
• Whether you breastfeed or bottle-fed, try to give your baby a larger meal before your own bedtime. This will encourage your baby to sleep longer.

It really is about you and your baby finding out what works for your routine but with a little structure to help along the way.

Good luck, hope this helps