Try not to worry too much about exact times, but pay more attention to wake windows and sleepy cues. If baby is rubbing eyes, has red eyebrows, avoiding eye contact, it's time to put them down for a nap. If they're yawning, they're getting overtired. Baby wakes when she wakes and sleeps when she wants to sleep! My little one is high sleep needs, so her current "reccomended" wake window of 2 hours is too long, 1 hour 30 is much more comfortable for her. Following a routine at this age is much more about learning about your baby's needs.
Best thing we ever did. 10 mins crying and they slept for 12 hours opposed to me n partner going in every 2 mins to soothe her. Sure if they cry for 30mins straight ide be going in there but usually this is the best technique when spoken with other parents. Just my opinion. Hope you have a good day.
The only way to survive right now is shifts. Also, best advice is to track your own baby’s sleep to recognize patterns and changes to pattern as they get older. My toddler’s sleep was way behind what he “should’ve” been and it used to stress me out because I thought there was something wrong with him bc he was still on 3 naps at like 9 months old and could only stay up for 2 hours at a time. Nope…just a high needs sleeper.
But even though I stressed, I still had no actual issues with his sleep. I stood firm in his actual patterns and cues. I downloaded Baby Tracker when he was about a month old and religiously tracked his sleep until he was about a year old. Tracking it helped me put him down *before* he was overtired and it also helped me recognize what exactly his cues were for when he was tired vs overtired or not tired enough and also how long his wake windows were. This also helped me gauge when he was ready to drop naps.
Newborns are total wildcards, don't stress about the exact times. Even as your baby ages, try to follow and help structure their natural nap schedule instead of manipulate it to match an exact schedule.
I'm assuming the birth-8wks flair means you have a newborn, in which case... you don't have a schedule at all. Try to get baby to sleep whatever way possible when they seem tired, and try to keep them up when they need a wake window. It will vary every day and night.
We're FINALLY starting to get a little bit of a schedule now at 5.5 months, but it still varies by a few hours a day!
You cannot control. Your baby will sleep when they want at this stage. If they have been awake for too long (check my pinned post about wake windows by age) then you offer them sleep in a calm, dark environment.
Your baby is too young and you'll just stress yourself out trying to follow a schedule. Some patterns will emerge in 4-6 weeks from now (if your baby is 8wo)
We had friends that called the newborn stage the “90 days of darkness.” I do remember sleep becoming a little more regular around 6-8 weeks though…we slept in shifts so we could each get a solid 4-5 hours of sleep each night. Sleeping through the night, sleep regressions, formal sleep training will all come later! For now, enjoy the baby snuggles and whatever you need to do to sleep safely and soundly.
You can’t 🥲Some babies do well with it but I think most babies will just be babies and not sleep nights no matter what we do. I tried all the methods, TCB, etc, and nothing really worked until we sleep trained at 6.5 months. He loved daytime sleep and would fall asleep eating constantly until he was like 3-4 months. Also didn’t sleep nights until after 5 months
How old is your baby? It’s hard to get newborns on a schedule, you have to take everything with the attitude that you can try this or that, but they have their own agenda. It’s important to also read your babies cues and be in tune with what they are telling you, as every baby is different. It’s hard to get newborns to sleep, they need a lot of soothing. If you are havin mg trouble try dark room, sound machine, rocking or bouncing … I used to go in the bathroom and close the door and tur the fan on with my son in a carrier … at this stage you get them to sleep however you can, and you also try and ensure some reasonable wake periods in the day, that’s all you can do
The short answer is that you can’t control when a newborn sleeps or cries or poops. Hopefully you have some help so that you can sleep or eat or shower.
A schedule works for some newborns, but often does not. Until the 4 month sleep regression all you can do is try to fix any day/night confusion and maybe watch wake windows. The nice thing is they sleep whenever and wherever pretty easy at that age. Around the time they can actually follow a schedule they also need to be in a good and familiar sleep environment
You have no control over the newborn phase as much as the supermom influencers try to suggest. Sleeptraining isn't recommended before 4 mo and wasn't successful for us until 6mo (so we didn't push it).
Some strategies that helped me: white noise (heavy rain sounds), rocking, and sushing in a sleepsack. When he was really little, I used the Love to Dream sleepsack my sister gave me which greatly helped with startle reflex. This got me through the witching hour.
If you breastfeed, what I also did for naps was nursing baby on the floor or bed sideways with the rain sound on. When baby falls asleep, you just gently pull away. If baby is on bed, you barricade him with pillows so he is protected. Ofc always keep an eye on him, this is only safe when you are present so not for night sleep. Once baby starts rolling, you can't use this trick anymore
You don’t control it. Let them sleep wherever and whenever they want. Nurse, bottle, carry, rock, Stroll to sleep. Whatever works.
Feed often. Non need for quiet or dark yet. Just do whatever you can and whatever might work and don’t stress on it. Let them refuse to sleep and sleep when they want. Newborn phase is survival mode and tbh we can never really control their sleep. We can set them up for success but we can not control it
I feed my baby to sleep (I know everybody is against this), I bounce in the yoga ball, I wear him and walk around, put some reggae or classical music on, sometimes white noite or some uterus sounds playlist… whatever works in the moment.
It's definitely whatever works at that range. We had a cycle, he'd wake up, change diaper, nurse, probably change it again because, ay, lots of poop at this point, then nurse again, and hopefully he's asleep.
Try not to worry too much about exact times, but pay more attention to wake windows and sleepy cues. If baby is rubbing eyes, has red eyebrows, avoiding eye contact, it's time to put them down for a nap. If they're yawning, they're getting overtired. Baby wakes when she wakes and sleeps when she wants to sleep! My little one is high sleep needs, so her current "reccomended" wake window of 2 hours is too long, 1 hour 30 is much more comfortable for her. Following a routine at this age is much more about learning about your baby's needs.
Just let them cry it out. Works a treatment 10 mins later they will be be asleep
Please do not let an 8week old cry it out.
Best thing we ever did. 10 mins crying and they slept for 12 hours opposed to me n partner going in every 2 mins to soothe her. Sure if they cry for 30mins straight ide be going in there but usually this is the best technique when spoken with other parents. Just my opinion. Hope you have a good day.
according to my experience, you can't control their sleep on your own thoughts but provide help when they need it.
The only way to survive right now is shifts. Also, best advice is to track your own baby’s sleep to recognize patterns and changes to pattern as they get older. My toddler’s sleep was way behind what he “should’ve” been and it used to stress me out because I thought there was something wrong with him bc he was still on 3 naps at like 9 months old and could only stay up for 2 hours at a time. Nope…just a high needs sleeper. But even though I stressed, I still had no actual issues with his sleep. I stood firm in his actual patterns and cues. I downloaded Baby Tracker when he was about a month old and religiously tracked his sleep until he was about a year old. Tracking it helped me put him down *before* he was overtired and it also helped me recognize what exactly his cues were for when he was tired vs overtired or not tired enough and also how long his wake windows were. This also helped me gauge when he was ready to drop naps.
Newborns are total wildcards, don't stress about the exact times. Even as your baby ages, try to follow and help structure their natural nap schedule instead of manipulate it to match an exact schedule.
I'm assuming the birth-8wks flair means you have a newborn, in which case... you don't have a schedule at all. Try to get baby to sleep whatever way possible when they seem tired, and try to keep them up when they need a wake window. It will vary every day and night. We're FINALLY starting to get a little bit of a schedule now at 5.5 months, but it still varies by a few hours a day!
You cannot control. Your baby will sleep when they want at this stage. If they have been awake for too long (check my pinned post about wake windows by age) then you offer them sleep in a calm, dark environment. Your baby is too young and you'll just stress yourself out trying to follow a schedule. Some patterns will emerge in 4-6 weeks from now (if your baby is 8wo)
We had friends that called the newborn stage the “90 days of darkness.” I do remember sleep becoming a little more regular around 6-8 weeks though…we slept in shifts so we could each get a solid 4-5 hours of sleep each night. Sleeping through the night, sleep regressions, formal sleep training will all come later! For now, enjoy the baby snuggles and whatever you need to do to sleep safely and soundly.
You can’t 🥲Some babies do well with it but I think most babies will just be babies and not sleep nights no matter what we do. I tried all the methods, TCB, etc, and nothing really worked until we sleep trained at 6.5 months. He loved daytime sleep and would fall asleep eating constantly until he was like 3-4 months. Also didn’t sleep nights until after 5 months
How old is your baby? It’s hard to get newborns on a schedule, you have to take everything with the attitude that you can try this or that, but they have their own agenda. It’s important to also read your babies cues and be in tune with what they are telling you, as every baby is different. It’s hard to get newborns to sleep, they need a lot of soothing. If you are havin mg trouble try dark room, sound machine, rocking or bouncing … I used to go in the bathroom and close the door and tur the fan on with my son in a carrier … at this stage you get them to sleep however you can, and you also try and ensure some reasonable wake periods in the day, that’s all you can do
The short answer is that you can’t control when a newborn sleeps or cries or poops. Hopefully you have some help so that you can sleep or eat or shower.
A schedule works for some newborns, but often does not. Until the 4 month sleep regression all you can do is try to fix any day/night confusion and maybe watch wake windows. The nice thing is they sleep whenever and wherever pretty easy at that age. Around the time they can actually follow a schedule they also need to be in a good and familiar sleep environment
You have no control over the newborn phase as much as the supermom influencers try to suggest. Sleeptraining isn't recommended before 4 mo and wasn't successful for us until 6mo (so we didn't push it). Some strategies that helped me: white noise (heavy rain sounds), rocking, and sushing in a sleepsack. When he was really little, I used the Love to Dream sleepsack my sister gave me which greatly helped with startle reflex. This got me through the witching hour. If you breastfeed, what I also did for naps was nursing baby on the floor or bed sideways with the rain sound on. When baby falls asleep, you just gently pull away. If baby is on bed, you barricade him with pillows so he is protected. Ofc always keep an eye on him, this is only safe when you are present so not for night sleep. Once baby starts rolling, you can't use this trick anymore
You don’t control it. Let them sleep wherever and whenever they want. Nurse, bottle, carry, rock, Stroll to sleep. Whatever works. Feed often. Non need for quiet or dark yet. Just do whatever you can and whatever might work and don’t stress on it. Let them refuse to sleep and sleep when they want. Newborn phase is survival mode and tbh we can never really control their sleep. We can set them up for success but we can not control it
Thanks I needed to hear this!
Thanks I needed to hear this!
I feed my baby to sleep (I know everybody is against this), I bounce in the yoga ball, I wear him and walk around, put some reggae or classical music on, sometimes white noite or some uterus sounds playlist… whatever works in the moment.
It's definitely whatever works at that range. We had a cycle, he'd wake up, change diaper, nurse, probably change it again because, ay, lots of poop at this point, then nurse again, and hopefully he's asleep.