Orienting Day and Night

There is a lot of baby sleep info out there! As a new mom with a brand new baby, you may feel like you don’t know where to start when it comes to newborn sleep. Well, I am here to help with that! When you bring your new baby home, orienting day and night is where you will want to start. You can start implementing this as early as day 1.

When babies are born, they do not know when it is daytime and when it is nighttime. You may even realize your baby can sleep for hours during the day and is awake more often at night. This is very common in those first few weeks.

What you want to do is help your baby orient day and night. We can do this by focusing on a few things:

1. Use lightness and darkness

   Getting outside and in the sunshine first thing in the morning (if the weather allows) can be helpful. During the day, naps should be in a bright, noisy room. Baby can nap in whatever room you are spending time in. You can have the lights on, TV or music on, chat with your partner or other visitors, etc. During night sleep, you'll want to make it clear that it is nighttime. During night wake-ups, your lights should remain off (dim nightlight is ok!), TV off, voices quiet, and stimulation should be kept at a minimum.

2. Feed your baby every 2-3 hours during the day.

   It is important to focus on getting in as many full feeds as possible during the day. While it is normal for your newborn to wake for night feeds, it can be helpful to make sure they are taking in a majority of their calories during the day. Offer full feeds every 2-3 hours during the day. Yes, this means that you may have to wake your baby up from a nap to eat at times.

3. Cap naps at 2 (sometimes 3) hours.

   If your baby is going to do a long stretch of sleep, we want to start teaching them to do that at night. For the most part, you can cap naps at around 2 hours during the day. If your baby seems extra tired, isn’t feeling well, or hasn’t had a great nap in a while, it is ok to let them go for 3 hours. If your baby takes 3 hour naps regularly and sleeps well at night, there is no need to cap their naps at 2 hours. Just be sure you aren't letting them nap past their feeding time frequently.

4. Set the tone when they wake up.

   When your baby wakes up from a nap during the day, you want to set the tone that it is awake/play time. Get them right up, talk to them, smile at them, and make it clear that it’s time to be awake. We do not want them having periods of awake time in the middle of the night. When they wake up for night feeds, focus on keeping stimulation at a minimum and set the tone that it’s time to go right back to sleep after the feed.

Ready to learn more? Check out my First Four Months Guide.