Sleep all day...party all night?
“My newborn baby sleeps all day and is awake all night! It’s like her days and nights are switched. HELP!”
Let me start by saying this is completely normal. They simply haven’t developed the internal clock yet that we have.
Our brains know that light = awake and dark = sleep. Their little brains don’t understand that...yet.
So how can we help our babies develop this internal clock and teach them the difference between day and night?
In those early weeks:
1. Open the blinds to let the sunshine in and keep lights turned on during the day. Exposing them to light will start to teach their brain that light means daytime.
2. Talk to them a lot during the day. Do tummy time, read stories, narrate your every move during their wake windows. This teaches them daytime is playtime (except during naps, of course).
3. Keep everything as dark as you can at night — even for night feeds. We always turn on a tiny nightlight in the hallway just to see the bottle and that’s it.
4. Blackout their room so no light comes in. You know how I feel about blacked-out rooms ☺️.
5. Try not to talk in the night. Remember, night = sleep, not play. The more you socialize at night, the more they’ll want to wake up and play. Save the play time for the daytime.
Most babies will get their days and nights figured out by 4-6 weeks if you teach them:)