How Long should I Let My Newborn Sleep For?

Newborn sleep is one thing that women who are mothers for the first time worry about. If you are a new mom, you might be concerned about whether your baby is getting enough sleep. The following is a guide to what you should expect, but you must remember that each baby will be different. Even if this isn't your first child, this baby will not be the same as any of the others.


Newborn babies usually sleep about 16-17 hours in a 24-hour period. Most babies will not sleep through the night until they're at least 3 months old. There are several reasons why. First of all, their stomachs are very small and they'll get hungry faster, especially if you're breastfeeding your baby. Breast milk is much more easily digested than formula, and your baby will need to feed more often, especially in the beginning.

Babies also have shorter sleep cycles than adults do and have shorter dream cycles. In general, though, a newborn baby should sleep about 8 or nine hours during the day and 8 hours or so at night. They won't sleep 8 hours straight, though. In the beginning, those sleep times will be very short.

As the baby gets older, up to about 2 years of age, she'll still be sleeping 13-14 hours, but the amount of daytime sleep will diminish month-by-month. By age 2, your baby should be sleeping through the night with a 2-hour nap during the day. Remember that all babies' sleep patterns are different, for example some need two naps per day while others make do with one longer nap. At this age though, try to discourage naps too late in the afternoon, as this can make it harder to get them to sleep a few hours later at bed time.

Once a baby begins to regularly sleep through the night, parents are often dismayed when he/she begins to awaken in the night again. This typically happens at about 6 months of age and is often a normal part of development called separation anxiety.

Again, this will vary by child. Relax if this seems different from your newborn baby. Sleep needs vary a lot between individual babies and it is not beneficial to compare your newborn's sleep patterns with others.


By: Wendy Owen
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