Transitioning into parenthood and dealing with a newborn and their needs can feel confusing and at times utterly frustrating – whether you’re a 1st time parent or you now need to juggle the needs of several children (+ your own) throughout your day. Throw the broken sleep into a mix and it can feel like the perfect storm, right? 

If they would just sleep when we want them to (or even when they seem to want to!). And what’s with all the newborn routines out there? Surely they are out there, because they are meant to work, right?!

Well, when it comes to newborn sleep, we have to consider their developmental readiness & have realistic expectations: 

• Newborns have extremely immature sleep patterns & a neurologically too immature to truly know how to self-settle (back) to sleep, hence  contact naps & lots of hands on support for sleeping is super normal during the first 3 months of your child’s life 
• Depending on their temperament and what other factors are put in place to foster a good day’s/night’s sleep, some newborns will glide through their undefined sleep cycles quite easily & with little help. While others seem to struggle to settle to sleep, no matter the time of the day and then wake again within a short amount of time. 

This means that trying to settle your newborn into a predictable sleep routine/ schedule can be rather frustrating & add to you feeling stressed, because they are too young to

•  have developed their circadian rhythm (aka biological clock) and their body isn’t yet producing hormones like cortisol & melatonin reliably, which help the body to settle into more predictable sleep & awake patterns
• their brain/nervous system isn’t able yet to self-sooth reliably and they aren’t ready to learn how to do this until they are closer to about 4 months

When looking into establishing a routine for your newborn, rather than aiming for set times in the day, we recommend to:

• Orientate yourself on age appropriate awake windows to avoid over & under tiredness
• Work with building up their natural sleep drive, which is a powerful tool to achieve a restorative day & night sleep 

Newborns can only cope with very short awake times. Over tiredness builds up cortisol in their bodies, making falling asleep more challenging & can contribute to excessive night wakes. Under tiredness can cause a lack of sleep drive & therefore short naps, so keeping an eye on the time, while learning your baby’s individual tired cues is a great way to learn when it’s time for them to go for a sleep

• Day & night sleep balance: some newborns happily sleep a lot in the day, but then struggle to sleep well at night + they might miss out on enough feeds in the day. Waking your newborn up after a certain amount of sleep in the day can prevent ‘day & night confusion’
• If you are wanting to work towards a more predictable day sleep routine, using short ‘bridging naps’ can be a great way to achieve this goal + consider waking them at a similar time each morning to start their day: this + using their age appropriate awake time are great pillar in the day to establish more predictable sleep patterns. 

At the end of the day time & patience are on your side: Remember that newborn sleep patterns evolve over time. It's normal for babies to need help to go to sleep and to wake frequently, looking for help to re-settle, particularly in the early months.

But there are certainly things we can put in place to support healthy sleep patterns from early on + your own mental well-being is paramount to your experience as a parent and what energy you have to support your newborn’s development. 

• Combine nap time with getting out of the house
• Give yourself some grace and be realistic with your energy levels: sometimes doing what’s easiest is simply good enough

For lots of science based & age appropriate info on understanding your newborn’s sleep & how to support them, check out our Newborn Guide

Here you will find as well age appropriate examples of sleep routines/schedules for newborns, if this is what you want to work on from early on.