If your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing, infant carrier, or sling, you should move him or her to a firm sleep surface on his or her back as soon as possible. If you’re emotional state is poor, screen yourself for post-natal depression, and make your psychological health a priority. Post-natal depression and stress are very common, yet many parents continue to suffer privately. Talk to your doctor about your options. Don’t be shy asking for help from friends or relatives, whether it’s picking up groceries, sweeping the floor or holding the baby while you nap. Friends and family members may also be willing to help at night with diaper changes and feedings. There’s no normal amount of sleep and some babies sleep more than others. New babies sleep a lot – sometimes as much as 18 hours a day for the first month or so. But your baby probably won’t sleep for more than a few hours at a time to begin with. Clues that your baby may be suffering from GER are painful bursts of night waking fussiness, particularly after eating; frequent spitting up (although not all babies with GER spit up regularly); bouts of colicky, abdominal pain; frequent bouts of unexplained wheezing; and hearing throaty sounds after feeding. There are things you can do to help make the nights in those early days with baby a bit easier. Set up a good sleep environment for when you come home from hospital. Make sure you’ve got a lovely bedroom set up which is dark and cool. 
A simple firm, flat, waterproof mattress with no loose bedding is the best advice. Use firmly tucked in sheets and blankets, or a lightweight baby sleeping bag. Place your baby in the feet-to-foot position and avoid using quilts, pillows or duvets. Cot bumpers are also best avoided. Avoid filling your baby's cot with soft toys - a clear cot is the safest option. If you want to wear a baby sling or carrier, it’s important to be aware of the safety guidelines. Find one that supports the development of your baby’s spine, neck and hips. Your baby’s weight should be evenly distributed across your shoulders, hips and back. You should be able to see your baby, and they should be held tightly against your body, with their chin free to breathe easily. Night feeds can be tough, so give yourself an energy boost and prepare some midnight snacks. Make sure they aren’t too high in sugar as this may keep you awake. Grapes, crisps and breakfast bars got me through the night feeds. It is true that having a new baby will be a bit of a shock to the system. But every baby is different - some babies are very sleepy when they are born whereas others are not. Babies who are born a bit early may sleep a bit more than full-term babies. A sleep expert will be with you every step of the way, guiding you on how best to find a solution to your sleep concerns, whether its sleep training or one of an untold number of other things.
Keep It Quiet
Keep feeds, naps and wake up/bedtime the same time every day (of course the nap frequency and length changes as they get older) If you want to be up at 7am, then aim for a bedtime of 7pm. At 3 months there a big changes‚ daytime sleep reducing, awake time increasing and sleep cycles are increasing in length. They can sleep for a longer stretches at night. This is when you can start to put more structure into your day. Everyone knows that babies can be little sleep stealers and unfortunately there is no way to bank your zzzzzs for when the deprivation kicks in. However there are ways of making things that bit easier for when your baby arrives. Any time you think you might fall asleep with your baby, make sure they are on their back in a clear, safe space. The chance of SIDS is lower when babies sleep in a room with an adult than when they sleep alone. Self soothing is when babies can settle back to sleep independently, either at night or during a nap, without the need for help from their parents. During the first year your baby may sleep well for several months, and then start to wake up frequently at night. Self-soothing is the key to your child (and therefore you!) being able to sleep through the night again. As babies get older, they nap less. If your baby seems happy with her changing schedule and sleeps well at night, embrace this milestone and carry on. But if your little one is napping less but fussing more, or having trouble going to bed at night, she may be overtired and in need of some naptime encouragement. There are multiple approaches to ferber method and a sleep expert will help you choose one that is right for you and your family.
Experts recommend room-sharing until baby is at least 6 months old. These safe sleep practices prevent overheating and suffocation, and reduce the risk of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome. None of us sleep well when we’re anxious or irritated, and babies are no different. So before bedtime, take steps to ensure that your baby feels safe, secure, happy, and loved. And if you detect negative emotions in your baby, counter them with soothing and reassurance. When your baby cries and you go to them and comfort them, you're teaching them the world's a safe place. This helps them to develop the skills to sleep through the night. In warmer weather, you can dress baby in a sleeveless and legless onesies for bed, or just a nappy and singlet. For cooler weather, a full suit will keep baby warm. A baby sleep consultant or baby sleep coach can help demystify the process of getting an infant to sleep better and for longer stretches. Sleep consultants support hundreds of families every year, assisting with things such as sleep regression using gentle, tailored methods.
Putting Baby Down To Sleep
At 3 to 6 months old your baby needs fewer night feeds and will be able to sleep for longer, with most babies sleeping between 12 and 14 hours across the day and night. This helps your baby learn to fall to sleep without your help. It's best for your baby to be sleepy and relaxed when they are placed in the cot. You don't need to wait for your child to be asleep before putting him or her to bed. We all have naturally occurring sleep and wake cycles – times when we feel more sleepy and times when we feel more awake. Newborn babies develop circadian rhythms around 6-8 weeks. That means that is the time when they start differentiating day and night and when they start sleeping longer stretches at night and shorter ones during the day.# Your baby may be overtired. If that's the case, try adjusting bedtime or nap times accordingly to see if that helps him settle down better at night, and make sure to follow a consistent bedtime routine. Don’t use any type of equipment or rolled up blankets to wedge your baby in one position. That is, unless a health professional has advised you to do so. For more information, see our page on cot safety. A sleep consultant will take a holistic approach to create a sleeping system that you can manage and one which takes into account gentle sleep training as well as the needs of the baby and considerations of each family member.
Babies sleep a lot, particularly newborns, and it’s not always possible to stay at home all day to ensure every nap is lying flat on their back in their cot or Moses basket - as the experts recommend. Young infants understand the world in a very sensory fashion, which is why they find the warmth and softness of your arms so soothing. In fact, research shows that a baby can tell if she's being held by one of her parents or someone else. She knows what Mommy feels and smells like. If you are breastfeeding, caffeine may affect your baby’s sleep. The recommended limit for breastfeeding mothers is 6 cups of tea or 2 cups of coffee a day. For filtered coffee, you should only have one cup a day. Be prepared to change routines as your baby grows and enters different stages of development. And remember, growth spurts, teething and illnesses can all affect how your baby sleeps. The safest sleep practice is putting a baby down on her back on a flat, babyproofed surface. According to guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, that surface should also be firm (such as a crib or bassinet with a tight-fitting sheet), and it shouldn't have soft toys or bedding including crib bumpers, blankets, or pillows. Having a baby is a steep learning curve and aspects such as 4 month sleep regression come along and shake things up just when you're not expecting them.
Every Baby, Every Family, Every Parent Is Different
Once your baby is no longer a newborn (older than 3-4 months) bedtime should no longer be a stressful crapshoot. You may still have a witching hour but hopefully this has shifted earlier and is easier to manage. A newborn’s little tummy can only hold enough milk to last them for a couple of hours or so, and they will sleep a lot. How often do newborns sleep? Approximately 15 to 20 hours a day in stretches of 2 to 4 hours at a time. Sleep is a powerful drug and entire movements have sprung up, especially in Europe and North America these past decades, to try to help babies see sense when they insist on interrupting their parents’ night of much- needed kip. The thing is, though, research has shown that not that long ago we all, regardless of our age or location, would have slept in shorter bursts. One can uncover supplementary information on the topic of Baby Sleep Specialists in this Wikipedia link.
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