When do Babies Sleep Cycles Lengthen?

When you first bring your baby home from the hospital, it may seem like all they do is sleep, eat, and poop. Newborns tend to sleep 15 to 16 hours per day. While this may leave you with lots of time to nap, you may be wondering when do babies sleep cycles lengthen.

For the first few weeks, the goal is to get your baby back to their birth weight and on a healthy track for proper weight gain. Breast-fed babies will often wake up every 3 to 4 hours to feed even if you don’t wake them. Focusing on weight gain and healthy growth is the best way to help your baby develop sleep understanding for the time they are ready.. Take as many naps as you can at this point because days and nights are the same for your baby at this point, and will be until closer to 8 weeks of age.

At 3 to 5 months old, your baby will be more alert during the day and want to spend more time interacting with you. You also may find that at this point, the baby will sleep about an hour less during the day and sleep longer at night. Be consistent with putting your baby down when they are drowsy but not fully asleep so that you can prepare your baby for sleep success. This is a great tool to use for independent sleep but remember it is not for every nap of lay down. Just try it one time a day to start. IT is all about practice.

By six months, most infants are sleeping through the night without waking up for feeding. You will also notice that your child will take fewer naps during the day but may sleep for the same amount of time. In other words, your baby may take 2 to 3 long naps versus 3 to 4 shorter naps.

Babies can go through sleep regression stages at four months and six months, but these are normal periods of growth for your baby. As your baby develops and grows, it can be difficult to get them to fall asleep in their own space. However, if you have been practicing good sleep habits, these regressive periods will be a little easier to manage, and by nine months old, your baby should have a good daytime and nighttime routine. Every step of growth is a is your baby mastering a new skill or technique and they will present differently with night and day sleep. We hope this article helped answer the question of when do babies sleep cycles lengthen. If not, feel free to contact us below!