How long do infants sleep

The first months of a baby's life can be the hardest for parents, who might get up many times at night to tend to the baby. Each baby has a different sleep pattern. Some start to sleep "through the night" for 5—6 hours at a time by 2—3 months of age, but some don't.

During the first weeks of a baby's life, some parents choose to room-share. Room-sharing is when you place your baby's crib, portable crib, play yard, or bassinet in your own bedroom instead of in a separate nursery.

This keeps baby nearby and helps with feeding, comforting, and monitoring at night. While room-sharing is safe, putting your infant to sleep in bed with you is not. Bed-sharing increases the risk of SIDS sudden infant death syndrome and other sleep-related deaths. Newborns follow their own schedule. Over the next couple of weeks to months, you and your baby will begin to settle into a routine.

It may take a few weeks for your baby's brain to know the difference between night and day. Unfortunately, there are no tricks to speed this up, but it helps to keep things quiet and calm during middle-of-the-night feedings and diaper changes.

Try to keep the lights low and resist the urge to play with or talk to your baby. This will send the message that nighttime is for sleeping. If possible, let your baby fall asleep in the crib at night so your little one learns that it's the place for sleep. Don't try to keep your baby up during the day in the hopes that he or she will sleep better at night.

Overly tired infants often have more trouble sleeping at night than those who've had enough sleep during the day. It is important to create positive sleep associations for your newborn. Some settling techniques may be hard to keep doing for the long term, such as holding your baby until they fall asleep.

These can create a negative sleep association for your newborn, resulting in them needing to be held to fall asleep. You need to decide what is right for you and your family. The first three months are an important time for both you and your baby to learn how to feed and to develop a routine together. Being breastfed or formula fed does not impact on the age at which your baby will sleep through the night. The average newborn cries and fusses almost three hours a day until around 3 to 6 months of age.

Some newborns cry more than this. Newborns are usually the most unsettled during their first three months. They also have their longest periods of crying during this time. Sometimes, there is no clear reason why a newborn is crying. They may not stop crying even though you try to help them settle.

From approximately two weeks to three to four months of age, newborns go through a stage of increased crying, which peaks around 6 to 8 weeks of age. The crying may be difficult to soothe. If you need to take a break, place your newborn in their cot or another safe place and take a break for a few minutes.

Your self-care is important. This is a completely normal part of newborn development. There is no need for concern, as long as your baby is growing, gaining weight and is happy at other times. A full list of all our sleep behaviour fact sheets available in community languages can be found here. Victorian parents have free access to the Maternal and Child Health Service , which is a great support after your baby is born.

Specially trained maternal and child health will work with your family to help you care for your child until they are ready to start school. Visits take place:. This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. Content on this website is provided for information purposes only. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional.

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Curious about how much sleep babies need? While every infant is different, here are the number of hours babies generally log in dreamland at each age.

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