Every living creature needs to sleep, and it forms the primary activity of the brain during an individual’s early development. The sleep pattern for the newborn infants occurs around the clock as the sleep and wake cycle interacts with the infant’s need to be fed, nurtured or changed. Newborns sleep much of their time, both day and night. Because there is no any fixed schedule for the specific time newborns can sleep, they tend to have an irregular sleep pattern, and one may not predict when the newborns can sleep. Some infants tend to sleep more during the day and less during the night, resulting in difficulty in predicting their sleep pattern. In most circumstances, the newborns sleep for about 8-9 hours during the day and about 8 hours during the night. Studies have also shown that most infants may not begin to sleep through the night for 6-8 hours without being awake until they are three months ( Seehagen et al., 2015)
Most infants eat less, and in most cases, they wake up frequently to get fed. Upon eating, the infants tend to sleep off so fast until the stomach remains empty again that’s when they wake up. While the sleep pattern of the infants tend to vary, as the newborn reaches three months, the pattern becomes more predictable, and the mother can know the time the baby will sleep and the time she will be awake. Whenever there is an inconsistent sleep pattern as the baby grows, it could mean something is wrong, like when the baby is sick ( Galland et al., 2012 ). Under such conditions, the baby will wake up consistently and cry. However, some sleep disturbances could be solely due to the changes in the development or due to overstimulation. The need to sleep for the newborn babies come in different forms which could include crying, eye rubbing, sucking and appearing to be restless.
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References
Galland, B. C., Taylor, B. J., Elder, D. E., & Herbison, P. (2012). Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: a systematic review of observational studies. Sleep medicine reviews , 16 (3), 213-222.
Seehagen, S., Konrad, C., Herbert, J. S., & Schneider, S. (2015). Timely sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation in infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 112 (5), 1625-1629.
