When it comes to baby sleep, there’s a window of time between two and four months that is particularly challenging for parents. You’re dealing with newborn sleep, which means your baby’s circadian rhythm is developing. You begin to see longer stretches of night sleep. When you also start seeing social smiles, it’s the opportune time to start implementing a bedtime routine (feed, story, lullaby, etc.). It’s also time to pay particular attention to your baby’s “sleepy cues”: When you notice a bobbing head, droopy eyelids, yawning or jerky movements, get your little person in bed right away. If you wait too long, your baby will get overtired and then it becomes so much harder and takes so much longer to fall asleep.
Looking to the next stage
As your baby’s newborn sleep days develop into a more mature sleep pattern, this is also the period of time when your baby is capable of being a little more independent with respect to sleep. Start putting your baby in bed while the baby is calm but still awake. If she or he fusses for a few minutes, that’s okay. Your baby is beginning to figure out how to self-soothe. She or he may be capable of falling asleep without you now, so you want to avoid establishing the habit of feeding, rocking, swinging or bouncing your baby to sleep. At this stage, babies have 60-90 minute sleep cycles, and they wake up at the end of each sleep cycle. Once they learn to self-soothe, they’ll be able to transition from one sleep cycle to the next without you. If you rush to intervene to rock, swing or feed back to sleep, you’ll find yourself having to repeat this many times throughout the night. Self-soothing is a skill that takes some practice, but your baby will learn!
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