Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Developing Circadian Rhythms

Dealing with infants needs a great deal of patience for it is the start of more months of sleepless nights. Sleep deprivation is not uncommon to new parents with newborns but don't make this as an excuse not to take a rest and sleep for it will just haunt you back in the end. And the most common question we often hear is when will my baby sleep through the night?
Sleep when your baby sleeps is often the words we get from anyone else, even from experts and that make sense after all. But newborns sleeping pattern is erratic and not fixed until by age 3 months or so yet this doesn't mean you should impose a sleep/wake pattern for your baby for it is just natural that they are awaken frequently.

In the first two or three months, you should stretch your patience to adjust with your baby's sleeping and feeding pattern. That would mean getting up every couple of hours and putting baby to sleep sometimes (if not often) is a daunting task. So parents should nurture and cuddle your baby to help them fall asleep because at this stage, they simply don't know the difference between day and night. And their sleep isn't controlled yet by circadian rhythms but you should also start establishing your baby's sleep pattern by starting to develop a bedtime routine.

Typically, by age 3 to 6 months, babies are capable of sleeping through the night but we are not talking of 8 hours, though. It seems plausible to say that sleep habits vary greatly in the amount of time and different individuals have different needs which may be true for baby's sleep requirements. Keep in mind that every baby has their own unique developmental pattern and if your baby isn't sleeping a stretch of five to six hours, don't worry you're not alone.

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