When will my baby sleep through the night?

It is normal for a baby to wake several times a night. Newborns have short (30-40 minutes) sleep cycles and tiny tummies that need filling up frequently. The short sleep cycle probably protects the baby against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Everyone wakes in the night at least once. What makes it a problem is what happens when we wake and how long it is before we go back to sleep.

Some babies can sleep for a five-hour stretch before they are 6 months old; this is not an indication that there is something wrong with a baby who wakes more frequently. Most of the time, a baby will go back to sleep more quickly the sooner he or she is responded to.

The Baby Experience discusses this a lot with clients and we look at ways of making your day time as different as possible for your baby to the night time to build a strong sleep association.

My baby will only sleep lying on someone’s chest!

That’s because you, a responsible adult, are your baby’s natural habitat. Your arms are where your baby feels safest. Babies normally gradually stop needing to be held but it doesn’t happen all at once.

But if you would like your arms back a little sooner, try waiting for 20 minutes before gently transferring your baby to the cot; this gives your baby time to move from light sleep to a deeper sleep state. Some of the time you’ll find using a wrap sling very useful. And see Lou from The Baby Experience’s video on YouTube showing you how to transfer a sleeping baby to a cot without disturbing them. If it works for you, please like and share!

Is it safe to co-sleep with my baby?

Babies have co-slept safely with their mothers for millions of years - but mostly while fully breastfed, on relatively hard sleeping surfaces, in unheated, draughty homes. By contrast, modern western co-sleeping babies might be bottle-fed, on squishy mattresses with copious bed coverings in centrally heated, insulated homes. These factors all introduce serious risks for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

At The Baby Experience we follow safe sleeping advice carefully as set out by The Lullaby Trust, BASIS.org.uk and the NHS. This advice does not exclude co-sleeping but it’s important to know how to do it safely.