Newborn babies sleep 14-16 hours every day for the first three months of their lives. Somehow, though, they manage to make sure that none of those hours are the ones that we’re accustomed to sleeping. Keep your chin up, though. In most cases, it’s only the first few months of a baby’s life that are hard on the sleep schedule.
There are a lot of reasons why babies wake up. Some of the more common ones include:
- Baby is too cold.
- Baby is too warm.
- Baby is wet.
- Baby has a messy diaper.
Thankfully, these are all relatively easy to fix. Most of the things your baby cries for really are easy to fix. The trick is figuring out which one it is. Of course, messy diapers are fairly easy to pick out, and wet diapers are almost as simple.
As far as baby’s comfort goes, you can generally assume that an infant should have one more layer on at any given temperature than the adults are wearing. Of course, this is just a rule of thumb, and if your baby is still fussy, you might consider wrapping her in a receiving blanket or taking a layer off to see if it makes her more comfortable.
The number one reason why infants wake up crying, though, is hunger. Your baby’s tummy is so small that it can only hold enough formula or breast milk to keep him satisfied for a couple of hours at a time. Formula fed babies can sometimes make it as long as four hours between feedings, but breastfed babies need to eat about every two hours.
During this time, it’s important for you to get plenty of rest. The only way you can do that (especially if you’re breast feeding) is to sleep when your baby sleeps. Your baby can’t adapt to your sleep schedule yet (that will come later), so you have to adapt to hers.
That means taking short naps, of course. Many adults have trouble sleeping during the daytime, but trust us on this one; you’ll be much better off if you do. Even if you find that you absolutely can’t sleep, you should still lie down and get some rest. Consider buying a sleeping mask if you have trouble sleeping during the daytime, and make it a point to lie down for at least a few minutes every other time your baby goes to sleep.