Newborn to Three Months

How your baby sleeps at this age

Newborn babies sleep a lot, so you can expect your baby to be asleep for up to 18 hours a day for the first few weeks and 15 hours a day by his third month. However, he'll probably never sleep for more than three or four hours at a time, day or night. All of which means, of course, that you won't be getting much uninterrupted sleep, either!

At six to eight weeks, most babies begin to sleep for shorter spells during the day and longer periods at night, though most continue to wake up to feed during the night.

Your baby can develop sleep habits as early as six weeks. At this age, these are some of the most effective things you can do to help your baby settle:

Learn the signs that mean he's tired

Watch him for signs that he's sleepy. Is he rubbing his eyes, pulling on his ear, or developing faint, dark circles under his eyes?

If you spot these or any other signs of sleepiness, try putting him down in his cot.

Begin to teach him the difference between day and night

In the daytime, when he's alert:

• Play with him as much as you can.
• Make daytime feeds social. Chat and sing to him as you feed him.
• Keep the house and his room light and bright.
• Don't try to cut out every-day noises, such as listening to the radio or putting on the washing machine.
• Wake him gently if he nods off during a feed.

• Stay quiet and subdued when you feed him at night.
• Keep lights and noise low, and don't talk to him too much.

Before too long he should begin to work out that night-time is for sleeping.

Give him a chance to fall asleep on his own

How your baby sleeps at this age

By now your nights of getting up every two or three hours are behind you - we hope. By three or four months, most babies are sleeping 15 hours a day, about 10 of those hours at night with the rest divided between three daytime naps.

Establish set bedtimes and naptimes and stick to them.

You can set naptimes the same way you set bedtimes. Plan them for a specific time each day, or go more by feel, putting your baby down when you know she's tired and needs to recharge her batteries. As long as she's getting enough sleep, either approach is fine.

Begin to develop a bedtime routine

If you haven't already done so, now is also a good time to start a bedtime routine. Your routine can include any (or all) of the following:

• playing a quiet game
• giving your baby a bath
• getting your baby ready for bed
• reading a bedtime story or two
• singing a lullaby
• giving her a kiss goodnight

How your baby sleeps at this age

Babies this age need about 14 hours a day, and are capable of sleeping for as long as seven hours at a time. If your baby sleeps for longer than that, she's probably waking briefly, but has worked out how to settle herself back to sleep. She's probably having a couple naps of an hour and a half to two hours a day by now, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Keeping consistent times for bed and naps will help to regulate her sleep patterns. How you can establish good sleep habits

You've probably already set up some sort of bedtime routine, and at this age your baby will really begin to participate in it. Your routine might include:

• playing a quiet game
• giving your baby a bath
• getting your baby ready for bed
• reading a bedtime story or two
• singing a lullaby
• giving her a kiss goodnight