Bayi Club

Ann Douglas

Sleep. It’s the stuff of which dreams are made — particularly when you have a newborn baby… Ann Douglas, author of The Unofficial Guide to Having a Baby, has some information about your new baby’s needs.

Erratic sleep patterns
A long day of parenthood is finally drawing to a close. You abandon your plans to fold that last load of laundry, heading for bed instead. You no sooner fall into a deep sleep when you’re awakened by the only member of your family who seems to be getting enough rest: your baby!

If you’re feeling a bit frazzled and exhausted by your baby’s erratic sleep patterns, you’re not alone. According to Dr Richard Ferber, author of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems, newborn babies typically sleep about sixteen or seventeen hours per day, but rarely for more than a few hours at a time.

Evolving over time
Fortunately, babies’ sleep patterns evolve over time. “During the first few weeks of life, a baby’s patterns are erratic,” said Dr Deborah Lin-Dyken, a developmental pediatrician at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “By age three to six months, however, most babies have switched to a circadian rhythm in which they sleep more at night than during the day.”