Sleep Schedules and Flexibility for Newborns
We hear it everyday… I want my baby to be a good sleeper, but I don’t want to be chained to the house. I don’t want them reliant on sleep props such as white noise, a dark room…..
“I want my baby to be able to sleep anywhere... on the go.. in loud places..”
DO REMEMBER: BABIES ARE PEOPLE AND PEOPLE ARE MAMMALS….
HUMANS ARE PROGRAMMED TO SLEEP IN COOL DARK PLACES, YOU CANNOT ERASE A BIOLOGICAL NORM. YOU ALSO CANNOT EXPECT YOU BABY TO DO THINGS YOU ARE UNABLE TO DO.
Can you sleep in the middle of a loud Brunch spot?
Do you fall asleep in the middle of a park?
PROBABLY NOT.
A newborn may sleep soundly anywhere, but this starts to fade by 6-8 weeks.
I’ll tell you a secret… Flexibility isn’t about your baby. It’s about your mindset.
You don’t want to ruin 100% of your baby’s sleep (which is tied to their growth, development, mental & physical health) for the 10-20% of the time that you guys are on the go. A lot of people forgo a schedule because they don’t want a routine baby who needs to nap at X,Y or Z time. But when there’s no basis for a routine, everything is chaos. How can you be flexible if no baseline is even developed? This is usually a more stressful approach.
Flexibility is a MINDSET. You can have a schedule and prioritize your baby’s needs, quality of sleep and also go to brunch of Saturday morning. They may not nap as well as at home, or honestly at all. When you get home, they will certainly take the best nap of their lives.
Go to the Zoo, Skip the Nap, Nap in the Car… It’ll be okay. You don’t have to live a whimsical life of no sleep, just to have a “flexible baby”… they don’t exist. Their temperament and response will vary and change over time, each day and based on their mood. Just do what works well that day!
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.