Mama You Got This by Emma Bunton

Author:Emma Bunton [Bunton, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473568587
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2021-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

SLEEP IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE

Any parent of a new baby can tell you that there are two surprising things about the way their new bundle of joy sleeps.

First, they sleep a surprising amount in a 24-hour period (between 14 and 16 hours is fairly typical in the first 3 months of life, with 12–15 hours being typical for the rest of the first year). Second, they usually do not do it at convenient times, or in a row, in the first few months. Sleep patterns can be quite variable in the first few months, which is very frustrating for sleep-deprived parents.

Sleep, like eating or breathing, is critical to the health and development of your baby. During sleep, children are actually learning via a process called ‘memory consolidation’. Their brains are secreting growth hormone so that they can get bigger and stronger.

In early infancy, babies typically need to wake every two to four hours to feed; there seems to be little predictability. By three to four weeks of age, most babies have organised into a three-hour cycle comprised of waking, feeding and sleeping.

It’s not until four to six months of age that most babies are able to sleep through the night (meaning that they can sleep for eight to ten hours for a stretch). For the rest of the first year, if you are lucky, your baby will sleep through the night most nights, perhaps awakening once to feed.

Breast-fed babies typically need a night feed through to around nine months of age, whereas formula-fed babies commonly have uninterrupted sleep from six months of age. This is because it takes longer to digest formula than breast milk.

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