Establishing Good Sleep Habits In Your New Born

Typical newborn sleep patterns
Newborns sleep a lot — about 17 to 18 hours a day for the first few weeks and 15 hours a day by the third month. But, at least for the first couple of months, they're almost never asleep for more than three to four hours at a time, day or night. Translation: You won't be getting much uninterrupted sleep, either. At night you'll need to get up to feed and change your baby; during the day, you'll play with him, too. And while some infants sleep through the night as early as age 8 weeks, many babies don't reach that milestone until they're 5 or 6 months old. You can help your baby get there sooner by teaching him good sleep habits from the start.

How you can establish healthy sleep habits
Learn the signs that mean he's tired.
For the first six to eight weeks, your baby won't be able to stay up longer than about two hours at a time. If you wait much longer than that to put him down, he'll be overtired and may have trouble falling asleep.

Swaddling your newborn — an age-old technique for wrapping him snugly in a blanket — may help him feel warm and secure and fall asleep more easily during the first month..

Watch your baby for signs that he's sleepy. Is he rubbing his eyes, pulling on his ear, or developing faint dark circles under his eyes? If you spot these or any other signs of sleepiness, head straight for the crib. You'll soon develop a sixth sense about your baby's daily rhythms and patterns, and you'll know instinctively when he's ready for a nap.

Begin to teach him the difference between day and night.
Some infants are night owls (something you may have gotten a hint of during pregnancy) and will be wide awake just when you want to hit the hay. For the first few days you won't be able to do much about this. But once your baby is about 2 weeks old, you can start teaching him to distinguish night from day.

When he's alert and awake during the day, play with him as much as you can, keep the house and his room light and bright, and don't worry about minimizing regular daytime noises like the phone, radio, or dishwasher. If he tends to sleep through feedings, wake him up. At night, don't play with him at feeding time. Keep the lights and noise level low, and don't spend too much time talking to him. Before long he should begin to figure out that nighttime is for sleeping.

Give him a chance to fall asleep on his own.
When your baby is 6 to 8 weeks old, start giving him a chance to fall asleep on his own. How? Put him down when he's sleepy but still awake, suggests Jodi Mindell, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at MCP-Hahnmann School of Medicine in Philadelphia and author of Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep. Mindell advises against rocking or nursing your baby to sleep, even at this young age. "Parents think that what they do this early doesn't have an effect," she says, "but it does. Babies are learning their sleep habits. If you rock your child to sleep every night for the first eight weeks, why would he expect anything different later on?"

How to keep your sleeping newborn safe
The best way to protect your new baby from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleeping hazards is to learn the rules of safe sleeping. Then make sure your bassinet, crib, or any other place you plan to put your baby for napping and at night is properly set up .

Create a safe sleeping spot
Resist the urge to set up a bassinet or crib with pillows and fluffy comforters. As cozy as that may look, it's not the safest sleeping environment — your baby needs a surface that is firm and flat. Any blankets and bumpers should be thin, flat, and fastened securely to minimize the risk of covering the baby's head or face. Keep stuffed animals and toys out of the sleeping area, too.

If your crib is new and you bought it in the United States, it was made to meet strict safety regulations. If it's borrowed, though, be extra careful: Make sure crib slats are no more than 2 3/8 inches apart (a canned soda shouldn't fit between the slats) to prevent your baby's head from slipping between the bars. Also check that the mattress fits snugly — you should be able to fit no more than two fingers between the matress and the side of the crib.

For more details, see our articles on cribs and childproofing your nursery.

Put your infant to sleep on his back
Putting your baby to sleep on his back reduces the risk of SIDS. Experts estimate that up to 2,000 lives have been saved since the "Back to Sleep" public awareness campaign began in 1994.

source from http://www.babycenter.com