Sleep: Newborn

Infant sleep development has a long maturational process. Newborns do not yet follow a circadian rhythm at birth so do not a have day/night sleep pattern and are not yet sensitive to changes in the amount of light as a cue to wake or sleep. The newborn stress regulation system is also immature.

Newborns can only stay awake comfortably for 1-2 hours before needing to sleep again. They become very fussy if they stay awake past when they are ready to sleep again and when over-tired, have more difficulty transitioning into a sleep state.

Signs that the baby needs to sleep include looking away, yawning, rubbing their eyes, having more disorganized feedings, fussing and crying.

Newborns have just two stages of sleep: Active sleep and Quiet Sleep. Each stage lasts for about 20-30 minutes. In comparison, adults have 4 stages of sleep. As the newborn brain matures, they will be able to string together several cycles of Active and Quiet sleep in a row.

Active Sleep

Active sleep is very active. The baby moves more, breathes more shallowly and startles frequently. Parents are often worried about this state and think that the baby isn’t truly asleep or ready to sleep, might be hungry or need a diaper change or that something’s wrong. It can be hard for parents to sleep near this amount of movement. For the first 10-12 weeks of life, babies start their sleep in the Active State. Since they are starting sleep in the Active State, they often wake up more easily when first laid down, or seem to be waking up because of all of their body movement during Active Sleep.

Quiet Sleep

Quiet sleep is very quiet. During Quiet sleep, the baby hardly moves. It can be very difficult to wake the baby or feed the baby which can worry parents.

By 4 to 6 weeks of age, many babies start to sleep a little longer at the beginning of the night (by linking several cycles together). Sometimes infants will seem awake as they transition into or out of the Active sleep cycle but are actually asleep. Parents do not need to wake the baby for a feeding during this longer nighttime stretch.

Parents role in helping their newborn sleep includes watching cues for when their baby is becoming tired, responding quickly to prevent the over-tired state, and helping the baby fall asleep with calming rituals and routines. The Fourth trimester (AKA the first 3 months) IS NOT A TIME TO “SLEEP TRAIN” or “CRY IT OUT”.