The Basics of Newborns and Sleep

Newborns sleep about 16 hours a day! This may come as a surprise to any new parents who feel like their newborns need them every minute of the day. This 16 hours, however is broken up into periods of 3-4 hours. Newborns normally don't (and shouldn't) sleep through the night. Their digestive system is so small that they need to eat every few hours and they should be woken and fed if they haven't eaten for 5 hours.

In the beginning, you should try to get as much sleep as you can while they are sleeping. Grabbing an extra hour or two during the day, will help combat sleep deprivation from all sleep interruptions at night.

Be sure to remove all fluffy bedding, quilts, stuffed animals, and pillows from the crib to ensure that your baby doesn't get tangled in them while they sleep.

You child should start sleeping through the night at around three months of age. In fact, 90% of 3 month olds sleep 6-8 hours a night. If your infant is not yet sleeping through the night, don't worry. Some babies just take a little more time to develop their own sleep cycles.