How Much Sleep Should Your Baby Be Getting?
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Tips, education, routines, & checklists to create & develop healthy sleep habits for baby & parents from the Baby Sleep Dr. sleep is the key to wellbeing Congratulations! You've made the wise decision to teach healthy, independent sleep skills early on. I'm proud of you for taking the important steps to improve sleep and overall physical and emotional wellness for your child and yourself (which you both deserve!). In this guide, I provide tools, example ideal schedules, tips, and education. This plan covers babies 4 -18 months. While there is some flexibility within the plan to fit your family's needs, remember that results come with consistency. I want you to be successful! So, try to commit to the plan and tools and do your best! Did you know it’s possible for babies and children to look forward to bedtime and actually get excited about going to sleep? My daughter tells me when she is tired and ready for bed, and my son tries to climb into his crib at the end of our routine! This is all possible for you and your baby, and I'm honored to help you on your journey. I know you may be sleep deprived and you’re doing the best you can. I don’t judge any of your decisions up to this point, and I respect you for investing in your baby’s sleep health! I am here to guide you on creating healthy sleep habits for your baby that will last a lifetime. Keep this handy. The early infancy and baby phase can be confusing because sleep is constantly evolving. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Use this guide as a tangible outline full of important tools to set a healthy foundation and refer back to when sleep gets disrupted. This is not "Cry it Out," but your baby may cry. In this guide I will provide you with options to soothe, comfort, reassure, and support your baby; but please understand that crying is a symptom of frustration, confusion, and often fatigue/exhaustion and as such, may not be preventable. The older a baby gets, the harder it is to break habits or introduce new skills. If your baby's emotional response to a change in their sleep habits is to cry, just know that after several days of consistency on your part, the crying will lessen and sleep will improve. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. This guide was created to benefit the wellness of babies. I will educate you on how your decisions and actions impact your baby’s sleep and while I will ask you to make changes, you are not expected to do anything you are not comfortable doing. However, please keep in mind that if you are not willing to take the steps required to initiate change, you likely won't see results. Flexibility is key. The infant/baby phase is constantly changing as your baby is developing physically and cognitively. A 4- month-old is so much different than a 7-month-old in what they are capable of and aware of. One day everything may go perfectly and the next day, naps are a mess and bedtime gets moved up before the sun even sets. That’s ok! Be patient with yourself and your baby. You WILL sleep again, so will your baby, and sooner than later with this guide. Commit to the plan, it works! Have faith that when these tools are used consistently they will be successful. Nothing changes in one night or one nap. Give it time, be consistent, be patient, and commit to the work. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. This guide is about CONSISTENCY! You and your baby are on a sleep journey that has likely been confusing and difficult for you both up until this point. Now is the time to commit to teaching and encouraging independent sleep skills so your baby has the opportunity to develop their own strategies for peacefully falling asleep, getting back to sleep, and sleeping well. Read this guide in its entirety so you feel confident in moving forward, then stay committed and consistent. You can do it! Remember to also take care of yourself during this time. Ask for help when you need it, take breaks and rest. This process can be a roller coaster ride with some great nights followed by a regression. If you're feeling burnt out then just focus on the first nap of the day and bedtime for several days. Or have someone else take over the night routine. Your wellness is important, too. Newborns didn't have 'bad habits,' BUT habits do become ingrained and will become unhelpful as your child grows. Sleep is a biological need and it is crucial to healthy development. It might be easier in the moment to cave and create a bad habit, but it will be harder on both yourself and your baby to break later on. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. My Services Are Not Medical Advice. The advice you receive is for informational purposes only and is intended for use with common early childhood sleep issues that are unrelated to medical conditions. This advice is NOT intended to be a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health practitioner regarding any matters that may require medical attention or diagnosis, and before following the advice and using the techniques described here. Reliance on any information provided by Dr. Aubrie DeBear and Baby Sleep Dr. is solely at your own risk. Additionally, Baby Sleep Dr. does not consult on breastfeeding. If you have questions about breastfeeding and/or how much/how often your baby should be eating please consult a specialist. Exclusion/Limitation of Liability: Dr. Aubrie DeBear and Baby Sleep Dr. do not make any representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding consulting services provided. Dr. Aubrie DeBear and Baby Sleep Dr.’s liability (if any) is limited to the 'Custom Sleep Plan' fee paid by you to Baby Sleep Dr. and in no event will Dr. Aubrie DeBear and Baby Sleep Dr. be liable to you for any other claim, losses, or damages. Confidentiality and Proprietary Information: Through your purchase of the 'Custom Sleep Plan,' you (the client) agree to hold in strictest confidence and shall not disclose to a third party any confidential information, technique, process, trade secret, or other confidential matter relating to the products, services, or business of Dr. Aubrie DeBear and Baby Sleep Dr. This content, imagery, text, and processes in this guide are copyrighted and may not be reproduced, distributed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work. Any such behaviors will be considered infringements of that copyright. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. 10 Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. stages + windows Consistent sleep is critical for infant brain development & physical growth While babies and children need a solid 10-12 hours of nighttime sleep, their amount of daytime sleep differs as they grow. ‘Sleep needs’ are the typical TOTAL amount of sleep babies and children need based on age for health, functioning, growth, and development. Sleep is essential and crucial to overall wellness. Without enough proper sleep our health suffers and the same is true for babies. I always remind parents that when we become sick our bodies literally shut down and force us to SLEEP because sleep is restorative and encourages optimal health. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. How much sleep should your baby be getting? This is total time and includes daytime naps as well as nighttime sleep in a 24-hour period 4-9 months 12-15 hours 9-18 months 12-14 hours Babies will sleep somewhere in this range; although, some days it might be more or less and that’s ok. However; if your baby is consistently not sleeping enough, then implementing the provided tools and plans will be more difficult as a baby becomes more sleep deprived. It is ideal to work on naps and night all at once, but an overly-tired child who fights naps will not sleep well at night, so it is ok to focus only on bedtime until some sleep debt is diminished and then begin to work on naps. More on this later. Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. Wake windows are the MAXIMUM time a baby should be awake from the moment they wake up until they are put back down. That includes feeding, diaper change, ‘play time,’ & nap routine. Babies can only handle being awake for so long before they become overstimulated & overly-tired. If your baby becomes exhausted, they will NOT go down for naps or bedtime smoothly. Wake windows change as babies grow. I recommend being strict in the early months, but as babies get older, it's ok to push them a bit, especially during a wake window/nap transition. More onW thisa lakteer. Windows by Age 4 - 6 mos 2 hours 6 - 9 mos 2-3 hours 9 - 12 mos 3-4 hours 12 - 18 mos 5 hours **For babies born before 37 weeks, please see "adjusted age" in the success tips section Copyright 2021 Baby Sleep Dr. Newborns up to 4 months old only had two stages of sleep: light sleep & deep (REM) sleep, which is why it was so easy to rock them and seamlessly put them down to continue soundly sleeping. However, around 4 months (anytime between 3-5 mo) babies shift into a typical 4-stage non-REM sleep cycle. Stage 5 Stage 1 20% 20% S T A G E 1 L S T A G E 2 t e ig h y h lig b e t / r m s sy a le w : ed in ov e o p n w e p r ee e m : D sl ak a e w ve n a s t ly s & si lo ea w d r e m R a a o r m p a p t a v e l i e i e e n d e l m p g d s e : p e o y p s a n e Stage 4 c e n Stage 2 i s t S T A G E 3 c e : g e u D R E M 20% e v 20% r a s b w Very deep sleep: not easily disrupted Stage 3 S T A20G% E 4 Your baby who was once sleeping in wonderfully long chunks throughout the night is now waking up every hour.