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New parents have many worries including getting enough supplies, type of clothing, whether to breastfeed or bottle feed, who will baby sit when you return to work, to circumcise or not, and many more. As an expectant parent you are probably feeling extremely overwhelmed with the errands you must take care of and with the decisions you must make before your baby’s arrival. All of those things are very important at this time, and taking care of them as soon as possible will bring you much needed relief.
When your baby comes into your life you will have plenty of new choices to make and new challenges to face. One of the most difficult challenges for a new parent is the inevitable sleep deprivation that comes on suddenly with the birth of a newborn baby. It’s overwhelming, exhausting, and sometimes shocking. Instead of the usual five to eight hours of sleep most people get every night, new parents struggle to grab some shuteye whenever their new hectic schedule (or lack thereof) allows them to. Sometimes this can mean as little as an hour or two of sleep in a given night, especially for moms and dads of colicky newborns.
Infants sleep more during the day than they do at night. They will usually nap off and on during the day, sometimes for an hour or two at a time, sometimes much less. Parents use this time to clean, cook, do laundry, get much needed sleep, and prepare for the awake times. Your baby’s nightly rest is limited in the first few months, sleeping anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours at a time. Baby’s sleep is interrupted by a variety of things including hunger, a wet diaper, or restlessness. Sometimes the baby awakened by being too cold, too hot, sick, uncomfortable, etc.
No one infant is like another. Some sleep more, some less. Some will sleep all night long at two month of age while others won’t sleep throughout the night until several months or years later. Every child develops at different rates, and that includes their sleep patterns. If at anytime you feel that the way your baby sleeps is unusual or unhealthy, just contact your baby’s pediatrician. Even if it turns out to be completely normal, you will feel better knowing for sure. The baby’s pediatrician should understand your many concerns as a new parent.
The good news is that your sleep deprivation is temporary. Eventually, your baby will sleep through the night. An infant’s sleep pattern does change with age. The amount of time your baby sleeps during the day will significantly decrease with time, and the amount of time slept during the night will slowly increase. Typically, a newborn will sleep a total of about eight hours during the day. By three months of age, your baby will be asleep about four or five hours during the day. And by nine months, it will decrease to about three hours. With each new month your baby will sleep a little more each night, and less in the daytime hours. Slowly, sleep deprivation will become a thing of the past.
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