Bedtime Routines for Nighttime
4 TO 12 WEEKS
Most sleep experts suggest working on nighttime sleep first, as it’s easier than implementing a consistent naptime schedule. Naps tend to be highly variable at this age (both in terms of their length and the precise time they occur).
SOOTHING WITH STRUCTURE
Sometime between 8 and 12 weeks old, babies begin to recognize predictable patterns and routines. After you and your baby get through that first month, begin to build a bedtime routine. Your family will likely benefit from the added structure—having a new baby in the house is a big adjustment for all family members. You can include tasks in the bedtime routine such as bathing, reading, or music, and know that if you have gone through the routine each night, you do not need to keep track of baths or remind yourself to read or sing to your baby.
However, It is important to recognize that at this age babies will not sleep through the night and often require several feedings. Once feedings are consistently going well and weight gain has been good, we can try and set a goal for one long stretch of sleep, beginning with one 4-hour stretch of sleep during the night. If your baby is already sleeping a little longer than this at night, consider yourself lucky.
Newborns are not born with an innate circadian rhythm, but we can start to familiarize them with the difference between daytime and nighttime. A circadian rhythm is our body’s internal 24-hour clock that drives us to wake up and go to sleep, among other things. Because Newborns do not know the difference b/w day versus night, you can start to teach them by doing a few simple things. This will become even more important later on when your baby’s own hormonal system kicks in at around 3 months.
Help teach your baby night and day differences. This will serve as their cues for nighttime and bedtime as well as start to build a foundation for sleeping through the night. When it is nighttime:
Keep the lights dim
Speak quietly
Try and have their environment be more peaceful.
Finally, a consistent daily bedtime routine will become a very important cue that it is time for their longest slumber. An example of a common bedtime routine below:
At roughly the same time every night, you can begin preparing your baby for bed with a bath. Then, you can follow the bath with a massage, read a book, or sing a lullaby in a quiet location (their nursery would be the ideal place). The key here is to ensure a repetition of activities, done in the same order, each night, which will help your baby develop an association between the routine and bedtime. During this bedtime ritual, you should avoid any distractions, including cell phones, etc. You can follow whatever routine you would like; just keep the tasks conducive to sleep, and do them every night and in the same order. And do consider including the following items in your nightly routine:
SWADDLE BLANKET OR SLEEP POUCH: If your little one is fussy, go through the steps needed to calm your baby, beginning with swaddling. (Link to prepare your baby for sleep)
BABY SOUND MACHINE: If you decide to introduce a sound machine to your baby, do so early on to recreate the sounds of the womb. Turn the volume to about a running shower or washing machine level and once your baby is asleep turn it back down and leave it on all night. Over time, beyond 5 months old, you can gradually continue to reduce the sound until the machine is no longer needed. (LINK TO SOUND MACHINE)
STEPS TO PUTTING YOUR BABY TO BED
Pre-bed activities of your choice (bath, reading, singing, massage, etc.). Beginning between 6:00 pm and 8:00pm for most families.
Feeding—try your absolute best to get in a full meal here. If your little one falls asleep during the feeding, see if you can wake them so you can get that full feeding in.
Diaper change and swaddle (which may be enough to wake them and gives a separation between feeding and sleeping—discouraging the feed-to-sleep association)
Go through calming steps if needed to prepare your baby to sleep.
Lay your baby down while still awake, drowsy but still awake.
At this age, some babies are night owls. These babies will most likely be the evening hour cluster feeders. Based on when they finish cluster feeding, you will need to have your bedtime routine before or afterward. And all of the activities in your bedtime routine can go in any order that works best for you as long as you are consistent with their timing and order. Just make sure there is a break between feeding them and laying them down to sleep.
At around 3 months of age, you can try to encourage an earlier bedtime, somewhere around 7-8 pm (This might take several weeks to accomplish). We recommend trying to move your baby’s bedtime towards this 7-8 pm range because we find that most babies sleep better overall with this type of schedule. If this is too hard for your family’s schedule, we get it. Don’t stress.
