Baby sleep : tips to make your baby sleep deeply and efficiently

Baby sleep is a major concern of young parents. Where and When will he do his nights? How to help him sleep?

0 to 3 months:

1.Patience, patience!

A newborn sleeps according to his needs, rarely during the hours that suit us. At birth, it makes no difference between day and night. His sleep is divided into periods of 2 to 4 hours (about 2 hours if he is breastfed). He only wakes up to satisfy his primary needs, such as eating to satisfy his hunger. His biological clock, which regulates the periods of his awakening and sleep, is not yet adjusted.
The first week, the newborn can sleep around 20 hours 24. At the age of 1 month, he sleeps from 16 hours to 20 hours on 24. You may notice that his waking period is more at the end of the day, between 5 pm and 10 pm

Do you find that your baby sleeps as much, if not more, during the day than at night? It’s normal! Just give him the best possible environment for him to gradually learn the difference between day and night. Around 8 to 10 weeks, he will begin to distinguish them. He will then space his meals at night and drink more during the day.

In the evening, lay him on his back, feet against the base of his bed. Put on warm pajamas (depending on the season) and put a light blanket over your feet. A cooler temperature promotes sleep. The sleeping mattress must be firm, and the room temperature must be 20 ° C or 21 ° C (68 ° F or 70 ° F). To prevent the risk of choking, do not leave anything else in your bed: no pillow, no doggie, no quilt, no bedspread … You can also wrap it in a small blanket of cotton, according to the technique of swaddling. Ask a health professional or a loved one who knows this technique to teach you. In the first few weeks, swaddling will help your child feel safe, like when he was in the womb.

Wondering where to sleep? There are no absolute rules. The only thing that matters is that it is safe and that all family members are comfortable. Ideally, the baby crib should be placed in your room the first weeks of your life. But, if you cannot sleep near him because of the noises he makes, put his bed in his room. Do not feel guilty: your sleep is just as important as his!

2. Give yourself some respite

The first days, even the first weeks after the arrival of a baby, we are excited to welcome this little being in his life. Even if you sleep only 4 hours a night, you often feel very fit. But beware! Sometimes, at the end of the first month, we suffer the repercussions of this lack of rest. We collapse with fatigue and we sometimes have moments of sadness … What we must understand is that caring for an infant, it requires the adaptation of all members of the family, and it’s not a sprint: it’s a long-term journey.
Here are some tips for keeping up:
As soon as your baby sleeps, sleep too, whether in the morning, afternoon or evening.
Accept all the help we offer you about cleaning, washing, cooking … This will allow you to rest a little.
If you are breastfeeding, your spouse can bring your baby to your bed at night, so breastfeeding will be warm while you lie down.
Pair dad with baby’s feeds if you can not breastfeed. He can give him the bottle of the evening or that of the middle of the night to allow you to rest.
If your child does not seem to fear strangers, take advantage of it to keep him for 1 hour or 2, the time to give you a break.
During the day, in order to help him integrate the different rhythms of the day and the night, you can make him sleep in a bed other than the one he occupies at night, but without cutting the noises of the household. You can put it, for example, in a small cradle or in a portable bed

3.To help him sleep

When it comes to sleep, every child is unique. To “do your nights” and “hold” 5 or 6 hours in a row without feeding, your baby must be able to make energy reserves. He must also regulate his biological clock, that is to say, the variations of temperature of his body, his cardiovascular system and his hormonal cycles.

On your side, you can help him sleep better. Here are methods that have proven themselves:

Check its comfort: make sure that its layer is dry, that the temperature of the room is comfortable (20 ° C or 21 ° C, that is 68 ° F or 70 ° F), that the background noise is acceptable, that he wears appropriate clothing for the season, that there is no smoke (cigarette or other).

Start making a little routine before bedtime. Make the same gestures at the same time so that he can recognize when to sleep and prepare for it. The infant would be more ready for this around 3 to 4 months.
Avoid that the period of sleep coincides with drinking. Make your baby drink after a nap, for example.

Remember that anything that reminds him of his uterine life helps him to calm down: a gentle rocking, warmth, music, the voice of his parents, the maternal smell, a ventral baby carrier.

Swaddle him in a thin blanket that will remind him of his uterine life. Do it especially if he has restless sleep and sleeps poorly or wakes up frequently.

Gradually loosen the blanket to help move your hands to the mouth or blanket. Over time, this behavior will promote sleep autonomy. Swaddling is not recommended after 2 months of age.

Favor the calm when you feed it at night to help distinguish the rhythm of the day from that of the night. Sift the light, try not to talk to him, change it very gently … If it looks dry, you do not need to change it. Thus, he will quickly recover his sleep. The day, on the contrary, stimulate him, take him to the park … Leave the curtains open during his naps

3 to 6 months

1.It’s nights … almost!

Around 3 months, most of the little ones start to sleep, which means sleeping for 5 to 6 hours in a row. And normally, around 4 months, the child sleeps from 14 to 15 hours, and his nights get longer: he starts to sleep for 8 to 9 hours in a row.

Since he now weighs at least 5 kg, he has enough reserves of energy to wait between his drinks, more and more spaced. He also feels more confident. He can calm himself, for example, by sucking his thumb between two drinks. In addition, his biological clock is adjusted.

Day and evening, his periods of awakening and sleep are more and more predictable. For up to 6 months or 9 months, most babies take three naps: one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at the end of the day.

His signs of fatigue (crying, yawning, rubbing of eyelids, loss of interest in toys and people …) become easier to decode. This is the ideal time to integrate a bedtime routine: the little one is more receptive on the biological and psychological levels.

If you do the same thing every day, before bedtime, he will be better prepared for sleep. Give him a bath, a feed, hugs … Choose what you prefer!


From 3 months to 6 months, the child has longer nights and adopts a regular sleep pattern, both day and night. It becomes easy to spot signs of fatigue. This is the moment to integrate a bedtime routine.

2.To help him sleep

Has your baby already made beautiful nights and acquired good habits? Be careful, it may be that its nights become short again! The causes: a growth spurt (around 3 months, in particular), a change in your life (travel, moving, etc.), the need to be reassured by your presence …
Here are a few tips :

Follow the same routine as much as possible before bedtime: do the same things at the same time. Your baby will recognize the signs of sleep and prepare for it. Preferably, choose quiet activities before putting him to bed by taking a bath for example.

You can put your baby to bed before he is completely asleep so that he starts to learn to fall asleep alone. You can also rock, breastfeed or bottle feed until he falls asleep. There is no good or bad way to sleep your child. Choose the way you are most comfortable. Be aware that if you put your baby to sleep while cradling or feeding him, he may want you to do the same if he wakes up at night.

If he wakes up at night and if he wants you, it’s not necessarily because he’s hungry. This may be because of the “anxiety of separation,” a fear that sometimes begins to manifest as early as 6 months of age or simply because it is a change of sleep cycle. The baby just needs to be reassured by your presence. You can give him a small doggie (the size of your hand) or a light blanket that smells like you smell.

6 to 12 months

1.Big dodo, small anxieties

After 6 months, most babies sleep 8 to 12 hours a night. Around 9 months, the supper disappears (sometimes before, if the maintenance of this nap backs late bedtime). Up to 18 months, they usually have 1 or 2 naps during the day: one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. In short, they sleep in total about 15 hours a day. This does not mean that there will not be some backtracking.

From 7 months to 9 months, the child experiences the anxiety of separation, a normal stage of development. He does not like being far from you. So, before bedtime or during the night, he sometimes needs to be reassured, if only by hearing your voice or receiving caresses. He will gradually learn to go back to sleep alone.

Some babies over 6 months of age continue to claim a drink at night, for example at 3 am or 4 am.

2.To help him sleep

To fall asleep, the baby needs to feel safe. It makes him feel good to be in a familiar and reassuring setting (the door of the room is ajar, a night light is lit …), with objects he recognizes (blanket, plush, etc.). Familiar rites (a little story, a hug, some music) also help soothe it.

Your child starts crying when you sleep? Try to calm him by talking to him softly and leaving him in his bed. Explain that it’s bedtime.

If he wakes up during the night, he may be between two phases of sleep and he tries to go back to sleep. Wait a bit to see if he goes back to sleep alone. Otherwise, reassure him by talking to him or caressing him.

Finally, if he claims to drink from 5 am or 6 am without going back to sleep, it is useless to sleep later the day before.

Read also: Maternity: Is there a good age to be a mother?

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