Sleep and feeding are connected
Now that you’ve learned more about the science behind sleep, you can start coming up with a plan to support your baby as they develop those important healthy sleep habits. The first 8-10 weeks of your baby’s sleep consists of short sleep cycles that are about 60 minutes long. Many newborns will connect multiple sleep cycles throughout the day and night, but it will occur inconsistently and with no predictable pattern. Again, this is the reason you should follow a routine but not a schedule.
Your newborn’s sleep is directly related to feeding. As such, it’s critical that you get in the habit of feeding your baby soon after they wake in order to promote a successful, full feeding. Sleepy babies tend to do sleepy snacking, which leads to more frequent wakings out of hunger. So at this age, continue feeding on demand and feeding when your baby wakes. Don’t let Baby sleep longer than 4 hour stretches during the daytime. This will help to maximize the number of feedings and calories during the daytime in hopes of getting some longer stretches of sleep cycles between nighttime feedings. Young babies are not able to consistently connect their sleep cycles until they are closer to 6 months of age. So although you may see progress with longer sleep stretches, it’s unrealistic to expect that your baby will be able to “sleep through the night” until at least 6 months of age.