0-2 months: babies this age sleep around the clock and have 4 or more naps every day. Bedtime in newborns is naturally late, usually around 9:00pm or later, but it is important to start moving the bedtime earlier around 6/8 weeks. By 2 months, baby's last nap should be ending by 6:30pm.
The Perfect Bedtime for your Newborn
Because new babies do not have a developed internal clock and their melatonin levels are not as high earlier in the evenings, a bedtime for a new baby is going to be later. An ideal time to start their bedtime routine would be around 8:00pm, aiming for a bedtime of 8:30-9:00pm.
Wake Time for Newborns to 2-Month-Olds: Your baby's day usually starts around 7am. Napping for Newborns to 2-Month-Olds: Your wee sleepyhead will take lots of little naps—totaling up to eight hours a day. A newborn's daytime wake/sleep cycle is 45 to 60 minutes of awake time, then one to two hours of napping.
Newborns (0 - 3.5 months) - 7:30-9:30pm (later because newborn sleep cycles aren't yet in place and circadian rhythm isn't driving sleep) 3.5 - 6 months old - 7-8:30 pm. 6 - 12 months old - 6-8pm. 12 - 24 months old - 6:-7:30pm.
Your 4-week-old baby's development
Newborns up to 3 or 4 months old need 14 to 17 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, usually waking every two to four hours to eat. Breastfed babies should eat as much as they want at this age, but a general rule of thumb is roughly 16 to 24 ounces of breast milk or formula in 24 hours.
Find your child's “sleep sweet spot”, then stick to it – for babies younger than 12 weeks, bedtime should be around 9PM to 10PM. Babies older than 12 weeks do best with bedtime around 7PM to 8PM.
Establishing a baby bedtime routine
You may feel ready to introduce a bedtime routine when your baby is around 3 months old. Getting them into a simple, soothing bedtime routine can be a great opportunity to have 1-to-1 time with your baby. The routine could consist of: having a bath.
Early bedtimes are an essential component of a well-rested baby. While it may seem like keeping your baby up late at night will lead to later wakeups in the morning, that simply isn't the case. Your baby will continue waking up early but will then be overtired and not able to sleep at night.
First Weeks and Months
On average, most exclusively breastfed babies will feed about every 2 to 4 hours. Some babies may feed as often as every hour at times, often called cluster feeding. Or may have a longer sleep interval of 4 to 5 hours.
Your 5-week-old baby's development
Newborns up to 3 or 4 months old need 14 to 17 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, usually waking every two to four hours to eat. Breastfed babies should eat as much as they want at this age, but a general rule of thumb is roughly 16 to 24 ounces of breast milk or formula in 24 hours.
Most babies sleep longer with an earlier bedtime. Many parents are afraid to put their baby to bed so early, thinking that they will then face a 5 a.m. wake up call. But keeping your little one up too late backfires, and more often, a late night is the one followed by that early morning awakening.
Sleep While the Baby Sleeps
New parents are often severely sleep deprived if the only sleep they're getting is overnight. “Sleeping while the baby sleeps can sometimes be challenging because of other kids in the house or our internal body clocks, but it's a good idea to try and get some rest,” says Pien.
Breastfed babies feed often, about every 2–3 hours. Bottle-fed babies tend to feed less often, about every 3–4 hours. Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 3–4 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks.
What is sleep regression? Sleep regression is a period of time, usually about two to four weeks, when a baby who's sleeping well suddenly has trouble settling down for sleep or wakes up fussing in the middle of the night.
Plus, newborns don't have enough of a sense of day and night to have any predictable patterns. But when your baby is around 6 to 8 weeks of age, you can try starting a bedtime routine. It should be very short at first — maybe just a cuddly feeding and a brief reading of a book.
A newborn baby cannot follow any sleep routine but from around 3 months you can start to establish a routine that gets them used to the idea of bedtime and snuggling down. So, find a good time for your baby to go down - ideally between 6.30pm and 8.30pm - and try and stick to it each night, or as near as possible.
At 1 month, most of what babies do is still caused by reflexes. They aren't thinking about their actions. They will be sucking, swallowing, searching for milk and grasping objects placed in the palm of their hands (although most of the time they'll keep their hands clenched in tight little fists).
Feeling hungry, having a wet or soiled diaper, or being too hot or too cold are all reasons your baby may cry and act a bit fussy at night.
By 1 month old they'll be able to briefly focus on objects as far as three feet away. By 2 or 3 months of age your baby's ability to focus may be developing steadily. Your baby may be able to turn both eyes inward, known as convergence, to focus on something nearby such as their hands.
Under tiredness
Your baby's naps have a lot to do with their readiness to settle in the evening. If your baby has had a lot (ie, too much) day sleep, they will genuinely need some more awake time before heading to bed for the night. This can mean they're reluctant to settle easily at bedtime.
So, if you are seeing your baby wake up at the 30 minute mark, or the 45 minute mark, it's because they are shifting between sleep cycles and briefly moving into a lighter stage of sleep. This is often referred to as the '45 minute intruder'.