How much should a 3 month old baby sleep? Toddlers may sleep a lot or too little, both of which raise concerns about whether the baby is developing properly. The importance of rest for newborns is undeniable as it ensures their health.
Baby sleeping
Sleep duration of a 3 month old baby
Sleeping well will help your child feel stronger, healthier, and more fun. During sleep, the pituitary gland secretes growth hormone, due to which the baby increases its body length by about 25 cm in the first year of its life and triples its birth weight. Its immune and nervous systems are also developing: new connections are created between neurons, and all the experience gained during wakefulness is processed by brain cells and remembered.
Important! The duration of a baby's sleep depends on the age and individual characteristics of the body. Some children sleep less, others sleep more.
However, there are certain standards for babies. The newborn sleeps almost all the time - up to 18-20 hours a day. He wakes up only for food. The baby's central nervous system is still very immature and often needs to "shut down" so that excessive stimuli do not interfere with its development. The older the child, the longer the periods of wakefulness and the shorter the rest time.
From the third to fourth months, the number of sleep periods decreases, decreasing to four or five, about two-thirds of this time is concentrated at night.
Approximate sleep rates for babies
A child's sleep rate at 3 months is an average of 15 hours a day. Moreover, most children can sleep at night without waking up, for about 5-6 hours. In total, a night's sleep with a break or two is 9-10 hours, and 5-6 hours falls on a day's rest, consisting of several periods, relatively short in duration.
Approximate sleep patterns
The baby's irregular sleep should not bother the parents. Children, especially up to six months, do not have the usual hours for daytime rest and wakefulness. Only over time do they learn a given rhythm and sleep at certain times of the day and night.
Important! Until a child is 1 year old, his sleep is unlikely to stabilize. The standards were created so that parents can observe clear deviations from them. Minimal fluctuations have no cause for concern.
If the baby is only three months old, he should not be awake for more than 2 hours. Normal - 1.5 hours.
Approximate rest schedule during the day:
- Three intervals of 1.5-2 hours;
- Four intervals lasting just over an hour.
Daily feeding is usually done right after the baby wakes up, in the evening - before bedtime.
Important! If the baby is not breastfeeding, but on mixed feeding, it is preferable to breastfeed him at night.
How to make it easier for your child to fall asleep
Although there are exceptions, most children have trouble falling asleep at night. Several effective ways to help your baby:
- Avoid eye contact with the infant. When the mother looks into the eyes of the baby, he receives a signal that she wants to talk or play with him. It is best to look away - this way the child falls asleep faster;
- Bathing in the evening has a relaxing and calming effect. To do this, do not play in the water with toys or foam. All that is needed is silence, light caressing movements over the body, dim light in the bathroom;
- Be closer to mom. This does not mean that you need to take the baby to bed. It is enough to put the bed next to the mother's;
- Limit incentives. It is difficult for a kid to fall asleep in a room full of interesting things. You should give up toys in bed, create silence, dim the lights. Do not use aromatic bedding fluids and essential oils in the room where the baby sleeps;
- Tactile contact. The mother's touch is very important for the baby, but it is not necessary to carry it in her arms. It is enough to lay in a crib, stroke, put your hand on the side or back, make light patting movements;
Mom puts the baby to bed
- Falling asleep time. Pediatricians believe that the optimal time for a child to fall asleep up to a year is 19: 00-20: 00;
Important! Often, parents try to put the baby to bed later, thinking that if he gets tired, he will sleep better. In fact, a tired child has a big problem falling asleep. Also, going to bed later does not mean waking up later the next day.
- A massage before bed relaxes the baby. Movements should be gentle and slow. If the massage annoys the baby, it is better not to do it forcibly;
Massage for babies
- Regular action. Measured routine activities are an ally of every child. There is no need to change the time and place of his rest, and the order of actions before going to bed: bathing, feeding, changing clothes, etc.
Features of a baby's sleep 3 months
A baby's sleep at 3 months is divided into 2 phases:
- shallow or REM sleep, during which the brain remains active;
- deep restful sleep is a longer phase.
All babies go through deep and shallow sleep phases that alternate. A full cycle takes about 90 minutes for adults (30% less for babies). In an adult, REM sleep phases are much shorter, which allows him to fall back into deep sleep without waking up. In a three-month-old baby, they make up 40% of the cycle time, thus changing every 20-30 minutes. It is during the period of REM sleep that the child wakes up, especially if external factors interfere: a wet diaper, noise (even small), bright light.
Note. As you grow, the duration of active sleep phases decreases, and deep sleep - increases.
Daytime sleep
During the day, babies sleep in fragments. If the total need for rest is 5 hours, then it is divided into fragments of 1.5-2 hours. Moreover, the older the baby becomes, the less he sleeps.
Each child develops its own rhythm of periods of rest and wakefulness. The task of parents is to adapt to these rhythms and accordingly build his daily routine.
Night sleep
At night, a three-month-old baby is able to sleep up to 8 hours continuously or two large intervals of 4-5 hours.
Important! If the baby sleeps peacefully at night without waking up, you should not wake him up for night feeding.
What to do with frequent sleep disturbances
In order for the baby to wake up less during REM sleep, and for their gradual reduction, it is necessary to provide comfortable conditions:
- Correct temperature. The optimum temperature in the baby's room during sleep is 18-20 ° C;
- Severe fatigue and lack of daytime rest make it difficult for the baby to fall asleep at night;
- Some babies get in the way of sleeping with a wet diaper or feeling hungry.
- To eliminate anxiety and anxiety from the absence of a mother, you need to place the baby's bed next to mother's.
Baby's crib next to mom
The motives for which a child wakes up and cries can be completely natural. The main thing is not to wake him up even more. If the baby cries a lot, you need to get closer to the crib and comfort him, but not pick him up. When he just grunts, it is better not to approach the crib so that the baby learns to fall asleep on its own. A hungry child needs to be fed, a soiled diaper replaced. Any additional actions and sounds will make him finally wake up.
The duration of sleep can vary at different periods of the baby's development and in accordance with the course of his individual development. However, significant deviations from the average standards require specialist advice.
