IMG_1286Do you feel your newborn sleeps perfectly during the day, but as the sun goes down he wakes up and wants to party until the wee hours of the morning? Like most newborns they have their days and nights all mixed up.

Why does this happen ? While the baby is still in the womb, their sleeping rhythms are closely tied to mom’s movements. While mom is active during the day, their movements peacefully lull the baby to sleep. In the opposite side of things, when the mom goes to lay down for a rest, this is when the baby wakes up and wants to party.

When your little one was born they have to rely on their own internal biological clock to tell them its time to be awake/time to go to sleep. This will definitely be a process, as this typically takes a few months to fully development in your little one.

So how can you assist in fixing this confusion? You can start assisting your baby, by looking at feeding them every two to three hours during the day. This will ensure they are getting all of their calories during the daytime and then over night it will let them extend their sleep out a little longer, by feeding on demand, rather then waking your little one to feed.

In between these three hour feedings, you will need to keep the newborn awake for brief periods during the day (30-45 minutes). You may also want to give your newborn some good exposure to the sun during daytime hours, which will help your little one set their biological clocks. During the night you will want to keep their environment as dark as possible and free of any stimulation. Keep their feedings calm and boring, diapers should be changed quickly, and then you will want to swaddle your little one and put back down to sleep with as little commotion as possible.

At Dream Baby we offer a fantastic supportive week-long newborn package. Although we are not sleep training your newborn, as scientifically they are not ready for that. But this does allow us to help you and your new baby develop some great sleeping habits.