Normal Newborn Sleep : Weeks 4-8 💤☀️🌑
We get the absolute pleasure of connecting with dozens of parents each week. Many of them being first time parents!
Yes, the first four weeks are the hardest. This is true. But each stage of the first 12-16 weeks has it’s own quirks, and most new parents aren’t feeling adjusted, confident and rested with a 6-8 week old baby.
There’s a saying that is often true, being… you don’t know what you don’t know. Doing our intake calls, I hear often that new parents feel like the first four weeks is the hardest time of having a newborn and after they’ll be all good and baby will be sleeping 4 hour stretches - life will be magical.
In the first twelve weeks - it doesn’t matter if you’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding. You should be feeding your newborn on demand. Don’t come for me… I am NOT the crunchy queen. This is what science says, I promise. GOOD NEWS: you can feed on demand AND have a schedule. There is a balance. By six to eight weeks most babies will be eating every 2.5-3 hours, and if you’re a lucky duck you may see a four to six hour stretch overnight as a part of the range of normal experience. Sometimes by eight weeks we’ll be getting occasional 7-8 hour stretches! I will say, some people do get absolute unicorn babies that do longer stretches from day one, but this is the exception not the rule.
Contact Sleep is NORMAL SLEEP.
In the first few weeks, baby may need a bit more snuggles to settle on in to a deep sleep. You cannot spoil a baby, this is true… However, between 4-6 weeks we do want to see baby starting to get most of their sleep in an independent space. Practice is key.
By the 8 week mark babies do have the ability to recognize patterns and even patterns between caregivers. They also have preferences and can prefer to contact sleep versus sleeping in an independent space. If you choose that contact napping is a sustainable practice for your family long-term, then perfect! It should be a choice and some families cannot practically maintain this through the first 6-12 months of life. Babies sleep up to 16-17 hours per day for the first year!
SO WHAT MIGHT THE DAY / NIGHT LOOK LIKE?
I gotchu! Say no more… This can vary, but here’s a great rundown for what a typical newborn day can look like for a breastfed or bottle fed baby.
☀️Daytime☀️
6:35 am Baby is up - we let them babble in their crib for a bit
7:00 am Wake and Feed
7:25 am Playtime!
8:30 am Nap Time
10:00am Feeding!
11:30 am Nap Time
1:00 pm Feeding!
1:30 pm Tummy Time
2:30 pm Nap Time
4:00 pm Feeding!
5:30 pm Cat Nap!
6:00 pm Wake and Play
6:30 pm Feeding + Bedtime Routine
💤 Overnight 💤
7:00 pm B E D T I M E (First stretch of the night is usually very quiet and peaceful)
11:45 pm Feeding!
12:15 am Baby is Sleeping
12:45 am Poop! Diaper Change 💩
1:12 am Baby needs comfort and back to sleep
4:23 am Feeding!
4:40 am Baby is back to sleep
5:00 am Baby needs a Paci
6:30 am Baby is up and moving ☀️
This can obviously vary and be different every night, but it’s a great example of a normal and honestly pretty decent newborn pattern over the course of 24 hours. Between 6-8 weeks we start to see these stretches get longer each week. By 12-16 weeks most babies are Sleeping Through the Night.
Harmony Baby Concierge is a full service Newborn Care + Postpartum Support Agency based in Dallas, Austin and Houston, Texas.. We have a well-rounded team of Newborn Care Specialists, Night Nurses, Postpartum Doulas, Newborn Night Nannies and Baby Nurses. We provide lactation support, newborn care, night nursing, gentle sleep training and parent education to families of newborns. We serve all families with love, warmth and care. Serving: Dallas, Austin, Houston, Highland Park, University Park, Kessler Park, Lake Highlands, Lakewood, Plano, Frisco, Celina, Prosper, Fort Worth, Southlake, Westlake, Irving, Preston Hollow, Park Cities, Grand Prairie, Carrollton, Houston, Manvel, Galveston, West University, Austin, Barton Creek, Round Rock, Houston, Denver, New York City, Greenwich CT, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Englewood Colorado, Cherry Hills Village CO, and Surrounding Areas.