Sleep

All babies must first get used to the new day-night rhythm. This takes some time. With support from parents, falling asleep and sleeping through the night is easier. Here you will find advice and tips on how to help your baby.

In the first few weeks of life, the sleep and wake phases are still evenly distributed throughout the day and night. However, every child is different and babies need different amounts of sleep. Some children are often tired, others can only be induced to sleep with great difficulty. Some sleep through early, others take a little longer - and still others sleep through for some time and then suddenly no more. What parents need during this time is above all calm and patience.

• In the first few weeks, babies sleep an average of 16 to 18 hours per day, evenly distributed over about 5 sleep phases. In between, they wake up every 2 to 4 hours, for example, when they are hungry or seeking physical contact and closeness.
• At about 4 to 6 weeks, sleep patterns gradually become more regular. The baby begins to slowly adjust to a day-night rhythm. Over the next few months, the proportion of being awake and experiencing more and more, also the night sleep phase is extended.
• With 3 to 6 months, babies already need a little less sleep and are also sometimes awake for 5 hours at a time during the day. Until about 6 months of age, many children form a longer continuous sleep duration of 6 hours.
• At the age of 12 months, it usually works quite well with sleeping through. Sleep time is 6 to 8 hours for 80 percent of babies.
• The daytime nap at midday can last until the 3rd or 4th year of life.

Until 6 months of age, it is perfectly normal for your baby to wake up at night. Your child needs one or more meals at night. After this time, babies can theoretically go all night without breastfeeding or bottle feeding. Many actually sleep through the night for 6 to 8 hours at this age. Others, however, need much longer, even beyond the age of 1. This does not mean that you as parents are doing anything wrong or that there is reason to worry.

Your baby falls asleep more easily when he is tired and feels comfortable and secure. You can support this by giving your child security and reliability. The observance of a regular daily routine and the safe certainty of closeness and attention of the parents make it easier for the child to fall asleep.

"Sleeping through the night" means that your baby sleeps for about 6 to 8 hours at a stretch. He or she is not able to do this until about 6 months of age. For parents, however, it is still a long way from sleeping through the night: If you put your child to sleep at 7 p.m., he or she will wake up for the first time around 3 a.m. at the latest.

This is what you can do to help your baby fall back asleep quickly:

• Encourage your baby's ability to self-soothe. To do this, limit nighttime activities with your child to the bare minimum.
• Talk at night only in a low voice and make at most a dim light on. Instead of lifting the child immediately out of bed, try to soothe it again for a few minutes through your voice and physical contact (e.g. stroking, putting your hand on the back or belly).
• Try to develop a sense over time whether your baby is actually hungry or has become restless and awake "just because".
• If it is hungry, it is good to feed the child calmly, without excitement and without playing with him.
• A baby does not need to be changed at night after each feeding or bottle. If it must be changed, then this should be done as unexcited as possible, preferably in bed.
• A child does not need entertainment at night - it may quietly be a little bored.

• Equip the sleeping place safely and ensure adequate air circulation.
• In the first weeks and months of life, your newborn is best off in a cradle or bassinet. Because the sleeping area is not too large, it will feel wrapped up and secure there.
• In the first 12 months of life, your baby does not need a pillow. You should do without it for safety reasons. So you avoid that it can come to overheating or a dangerous backlog of breath.
• Instead of a comforter, a sleeping bag is recommended. So there is not even the danger that your baby slips under the covers. In addition, your child can not free himself during the night.
• Lay your baby in the 1st year of life to sleep always on the back! In this sleeping position, it can breathe best.
• Provide the right sleeping environment in the bedroom with little light and no noise.
• The optimum room temperature should be between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius.
• Do not dress your child too much or too thick clothes. For sleeping, a diaper, bodysuit and pajamas are enough; in the summer even less.
• Attention to a smoke-free environment - at night as well as during the day! Your child should in no case sleep in a room where smoking.

A lack of sleep quickly leads to the limits of endurance. But for parents of young children, lack of sleep is hard to avoid. Read here how to take advantage of small opportunities to get a little rest and recharge your batteries.

• Inform yourself about the peculiarities of infant sleep behavior, so as not to worry too much and thereby better understand the exhausting first time.
• Try to catch up on a little sleep during the day. Sleep when your child sleeps and let your household be household. This is especially true for single parents. Try as a couple to create free space for each other for this.
• Take turns - if possible - in the partnership in the nightly care of the baby. After weaning, 2 nights of sleep per week should be the minimum for both parents. Talk to each other about how this can be organized and reconciled with the work routine of both parents.
• If you live alone with your baby and have no one with whom you can take turns at night, this time is of course particularly difficult. Take during the day any help and relief that offers itself.
• Use rest breaks to relax! Even if you do not want or can not sleep during the day, you should use the rest breaks when your baby sleeps, for your own relaxation. Take the time consciously for yourself and your needs to gather new strength.
• Even with babies who are "short sleepers", help from relatives, from the neighborhood, from girlfriends and friends is important to come during the day to the much needed rest. Even an hour or two, during which grandma, girlfriend or boyfriend drives your child for a walk, can be a great help to recharge your batteries.
• Over a longer period of time persistent lack of sleep can lead to tension, irritability or listlessness. Therefore, make it clear in difficult phases that for some changes that they perceive in themselves or in contact with others, "only" the lack of sleep is responsible and otherwise there is no cause for concern.
• Do not hesitate to seek professional help if you feel that you are at the end of your strength. In the meantime, there are so-called early aids in all communities, which offer support for special stresses in the 1st year of life.