How Baby’s Sleep Develops
As you prepare for the arrival of your little one, understanding how sleep develops in your baby before she arrives will make for a much smoother transition and will help keep everyone reasonably rested. Here are some of the most common issues we encounter as our babies’ sleep habits evolve.
Under 2 Months
At the very beginning, sleep comes when it wants to. Some babies sleep a lot and others do not. Some babies might be extra fussy, even colicky at this time, so do whatever you need to do to get your baby to sleep and stay rested. Sleep is very erratic at this age and does not really follow a pattern. Basically, the newborn's brain is still maturing and biological sleep rhythms have not developed. Since your child’s brain is too biologically immature, you cannot manipulate sleep. Trying to force a sleep schedule when it is biologically too soon will only cause frustration for you and your baby.
2-3 Months
If your baby is having a tough time falling asleep and staying asleep for their naps, chances are you are keeping your baby up too long in between naps. At this age, after about one hour of wakefulness, your baby will start to get tired. Look for their sleep cues and get them down soon after that. The focus at this point should be “short” intervals of wakefulness.
4 Months
Your baby should finally have scheduled naps. It is much harder for a child to stay asleep during the day than at night for all the obvious reasons. The only way for your child to learn how to nap during the day is to give her the space and time to do it in. Try to apply the "hour rule" to naps at this point. If your child wakes within 45 minutes of a nap, try not to go in for another 15 minutes. If your child falls back asleep, great! If not, just get them up and end the nap. If you follow this rule consistently, your child will start returning to sleep quickly and eventually not wake until they have had a long and restorative nap.
15-18 Months
It is common to encounter that your child is consistently starting to play through their morning nap, or they take the morning nap, but is now not able to take the afternoon nap. This is the time to transition from two to one nap. For the children who are playing through their first nap, go to one nap a day starting around 11:30 a.m. Over time, move it later, and eventually to 12:30 – 1 p.m. For the children who are still taking their morning nap as usual, limit the nap now to one hour so that you can still implement the afternoon nap. Eventually, these children will play through their morning nap and go to one nap.
3-4 Years
Just as your child did with their first transition going from two to one nap, one to none can be a big move and can take some time. The signs are about the same: playing through the nap or it's just a huge struggle to get them down for it. At the beginning, you will find that sometimes your child still needs this nap, but there are other days where she doesn't need it. The best approach to this is to change "nap time" to "quiet time". This allows the child to make the choice of whether or not they need to sleep. Allocate time during the day around the same time they used to nap, and tell them that they don’t have to sleep but can play quietly. Mention to them that Mom or Dad will let them know when quiet time has ended. Down time for all kids is a good thing, even if they don't sleep. It will also benefit Mom as well. Moms need a break in the day too. You might be surprised to find that when you take away the word, "nap" and replace it with "quiet", your little one just might start taking naps again.
As pediatrician and sleep expert Marc Weissbluth states: “Sleep is to the brain as food is to the body”, so let’s make sure that we prioritize sleep so that our babies and children are able to maximize their brainpower and physical development.