Why is Sleep so Important to Infants / Babies & How Much Sleep Does My Infant / Baby Need?

While your baby is sleeping, your baby’s brain is working hard to organize and store memories, synapses are forming, brain tissue is developing and their energy is replenished.  Your baby’s brain will double in size during the first year and most of that growth will happen while they are sleeping. Sleep allows your baby’s brain to absorb what it has learned during the day and then will store it properly.

Lack of sleep can cause problems later when your child prepares to go to preschool and beyond with cognitive issues and developmental delays. Your baby’s mood and behavior will be directly affected by lack of proper sleep, this is why an overtired baby quickly turns into a fussy baby. If your baby gets enough sleep on a daily basis they will be happier, eat better, easier to soothe and be more responsive. A growth hormone called somatotropin is released soon after a baby enters non-rem sleep, consistently not getting enough sleep can stunt their physical development if they do not get enough non-rem sleep. If a baby is sleep deprived they are more prone to disease and infection and have longer recovery times.

It’s important to note that babies go through phases of change in their sleep patterns during their development, every baby is different and each baby’s pattern will change and evolve as they grow. The following recommended daily number of total sleep hours within a 24 hour period for infants 0-9 months is only an estimate, every baby is different. It is ok if your baby falls slightly outside of the recommended range. If your baby consistently falls well below the minimum or well above the maximum amount of hours then keep a detailed sleep log and mention this to your baby’s pediatrician at your next visit. If the pediatrician decides that everything seems to be fine with your baby and you are still having sleep issues then it is time to look into getting some outside help or advice to achieve optimal sleep for your baby.

Improving Infant Sleep / Baby Sleep : 3 things can greatly improve your baby’s sleep patterns and the total amount of sleep

• Strive to follow a healthy feeding and sleeping pattern/schedule with full feedings to prevent your infant from snacking and falling asleep at the bottle or breast.  
• Refrain from running in at every sound or movement that your baby makes while they are sleeping. Newborns and infants are loud sleepers, they make lots of grunts and squeaks while they sleep.  An infant’s sleep cycle is between 35-45 minutes long, and some babies even shorter, which means that babies will wake up and stir and make noises as they try to settle back down into the next sleep cycle.  A Big part of learning to sleep through the night is to learn to string these sleep cycles together by soothing themselves back to sleep in between sleep cycles.  Allowing your baby 3-5 minutes to soothe themselves back to sleep is very important to encourage healthy sleep habits as they grow.  Of course if your baby cries then quickly respond to their needs, the 3-5 minutes of self soothing time should be the infant moving around, fussing, grunting, and those cute little infant squeaking sounds, not crying.
•  Instill healthy sleep habits by using the “wake, eat, play/awake, sleep” pattern during the day. After the first 3-4 weeks babies should not be allowed to fall asleep right after a feeding, there should always be an awake time in between feedings and sleeping to avoid making the mistake of having your baby need to eat to sleep. * Night wakings and feedings should always be quick and quiet – feed, change and back to bed.  Following the above three healthy day and night patterns will also help your baby differentiate between day and night.

Recommended Infant sleep / Baby Sleep number of hours for each 24 hour period:

Birth to 8 weeks – 16-19 hours

8 weeks to 16 weeks – 15 – 17 hours

4 – 6 months – 14 – 16 hours

9 months – 13 – 15 hours