Baby Care Encyclopedia

Most newborns sleep about two-thirds of the time, but their periods of sleep tend to be rather brief and scattered all around the clock sometimes, it seems, in a totally random fashion. Within six to eight weeks, almost all babies begin to sleep more at night and less during the daytime. Still, they differ greatly in the ages at which they begin to sleep through the night. Part of this variation has to do with temperament, but household patterns also have an effect.

Like adults, babies have alternating cycles of light and deep sleep, which become more regular in the first few weeks of life. At first, your baby’s sleep patterns will be closely linked to feeding times, and he will tend to fall asleep readily after feeding and burping. Later, as the baby spends longer periods alert and awake, fatigue (rather than a feeling of being well-fed) will lead to sleep. He may also cry and fuss as if fighting sleep.