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Book of the Month
Baby Colic: How To Help Colicky Baby Sleep Through The Night
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Questions And Answers
How Long Should My Baby Be Sleeping?
Newborn babies don't know the difference between day and night.
A newborn may sleep as much as 16 hours a day (or even more), often in stretches of 3 to 4 hours at a time. And like the sleep all of us experience, babies have different phases of sleep:
drowsiness, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, and very deep sleep. As babies grow, their periods of wakefulness increase.
By the time they are 6 or 7 weeks old, they will be sleeping through the night. For other babies, they may not sleep through the night until they are 3 or 4 months old.
Here is how their sleep needs generally progress:
- birth to 6 or 7 weeks. Newborns sleep between 16 and 20 hours a day.
- 1 month to 3 months. Babies at this stage will need to sleep around 8 hours at night, and another 8 hours during the day, for a total of around 16 hours.
- 3 months to 6 months. During this stage, nighttime sleep increases and daytime sleep decreases. Your baby will probably sleep for about 10 hours at night, and need between 3 and 5 hours during the day.
- 6 months to 9 months. Babies at this age will sleep even more at night. Nighttime sleep will be around 11 hours. Daytime sleep will drop down to between 2 and 3 1/2 hours.
- 9 months to 1 year. Nighttime sleep stays steady at 11 hours. Daytime sleep may drop off slightly, from 2 to 3 hours.
- 1 year to 18 months. Here, they may add a little time sleeping at night, around 11 1/2 hours total. Daytime sleep drops to between 1 and 2 hours, where it will stay until after they are around 4 years old (or whenever they stop taking naps).
- 18 months to 3 years. Nighttime sleep will drop around half an hour every six months, so that at 3 years your baby will be sleeping around 10 1/2 hours a night. Daytime sleep will stay around the same.
How far can my baby see?
At birth, your baby's vision was pretty fuzzy, though she could make out light, shapes, and movement. Newborns can see only about eight to 15 inches away — just far enough to clearly make out the face of the person holding them. Handily enough, your face is the most interesting thing to your baby right at this age, followed by high-contrast items such as a checkerboard, so be sure to put in a lot of eye-to-eye time.
By the time she's 1 or 2 months old, your baby will have learned to focus both eyes and will be able to track a moving object (though she may already have been able to do this for brief periods since birth). A simple rattle passed in front of her face will often transfix her, or you can play eyes-to-eyes by moving very close to her face and slowly nodding your head from side to side; often her eyes will lock onto yours.
Starting at 2 months and continuing through month four, color differences will become clearer to your baby, and she'll start to distinguish similar shades such as red and orange. As a result, she'll probably begin to show a preference for bright primary colors and more detailed and complicated designs and shapes. Encourage this by letting her look at bright pictures, photos, books, and toys.
How much do I have to play and interact with my baby?
You can play and interact with your baby as often as you want. After all, you're her favorite companion.
Do babies need time alone?
Babies need time on their own, too, so they can gradually start to understand that they're independent from you. Look for occasions when you can place your baby on a pad or blanket in a comfortable area on the floor with some soft toys within easy reach. Leave her there for a short time so she can explore her environment and learn to be alone and amuse herself for a short time. Over a few weeks, try to stretch the amount of time she has to herself. Be observant and read her signals: Try to pick her up before she starts fussing or crying.
My baby cry all the time and generally seems unhappy. How can I cheer her up?
Research shows that crying follows a developmental pattern (also known as the crying curve) during the first few months of life. Crying increases at two or three weeks of age, peaks between six and eight weeks, and then slows down after that, generally hitting its lowest level by around four months. Babies also cry more often during late afternoons and early evenings, when they need to release tension after a long day.
What's can you do? First, check that your baby's basic needs are met (for example, she may need a diaper change, be too cold or too warm, or hungry). If she's comfortable, dry, and fed and she's still crying, she may be lonely or blowing off steam. Some babies like to be rocked and cuddled, while others prefer lying in their crib while listening to music. Still, others like to look at lights, or want to go to sleep.
Some babies may cry for hours and be hard to console. They are often called "colicky." Unfortunately researchers and practitioners don't have any hard-and-fast answers for parents desperate for a solution. In severe cases of colic, some pediatricians may prescribe medication to help calm the infant. Talk to your doctor if you can't seem to soothe your baby.
How much exercise do babies need?
Babies don't need any specific amount of exercise. Although it may not seem like much to us big people, a baby's daily routine of feeding, changing, bathing, playing, crying, and growing really is enough activity for him.When do babies begin benefiting from group play? Babies and young toddlers don't really need to "play" with other children. They may be interested in observing other babies and even touching, grabbing, or hitting them, but they don't engage in continued playful activity until well into toddlerhood. Your baby may enjoy the stimulation of having other babies around him, but no one knows whether that will make a significant difference in his development. Older toddlers (between two and three years of age) do benefit from playing with their peers. Group play gives them a chance to hone their social skills in the company of other kids.
When does my baby need shoes?
When she starts walking outside, and not before then. Babies need to be able to stand and walk on bare feet to balance and strengthen their legs, so if your child is at home, she'll be more stable without shoes. If your floors are cold, let your baby wear socks with non-skid bottoms or footed pajamas. She'll likely need a firm, stable shoe for outdoors because hard or rough surfaces such as sidewalks can be dangerous to little feet.You don't need to buy expensive shoes. They're impractical because little feet grow so fast. What matters most is that they provide enough support and flexibility for your child. Make sure there's a space as wide as your index finger (about 1/2 inch) between the tip of the shoes and your baby's toes. Shoes should also be wide and flexible enough to allow your daughter's feet room to wiggle. You may want to stop by a children's shoe store so a salesperson can measure your child's feet properly.
Why is peekaboo such an exciting game for my baby?
It's exciting because it mimics what he is just coming to understand about the world: that objects and people still exist even when he can't see them (a jack-in-the-box is fun right now, too.). That's why he finds quick appearances and disappearances amusing. Understanding this concept, also known as object permanence, is an important milestone, and signals that your baby is making leaps in cognitive development — both his memory and his ability to think abstractly are growing.