If you’ve heard the phrase “they have their days and nights mixed up” when talking about baby sleep, then let’s dive into what that really means!
Imagine this: your fresh new baby who has been in a dark womb for the past 9 months is suddenly born into a world with varying levels of light. They don’t produce sleep hormones yet so they have nothing signaling to them what day or night is. They’re probably pretty confused!
This is because they have not developed a circadian rhythm yet. This is a 24 hour biological clock that gives us cues for waking and sleeping. They’re influenced by our exposure to light and our hormones.
Try these 4 things to help your new baby set their internal clock while waiting for them to produce those sleep hormones:
Be active during the day. Allow them to experience normal lights, sounds, activity by having them sleep in common areas of the house or out on the go in a baby carrier. Continue your normal schedule and help them adjust to knowing that light/activity = daytime and quiet/dark = night time.
Expose them to sunlight in the morning and afternoon! Several studies show that babies who are exposed to natural light (+ that awesome vitamin D) sleep better than those who were not.
Drastic difference between day and night. Keep your bedtime routine/night time environment dark, cool, and quiet (with the exception of continuous, pure white noise) to build that sleep association. Try to keep your little one away from those blue lights (screens, harsh LEDs, etc). It helps us to both biologically and behaviorally associate the dark, cool environment with sleep.
Breastfeeding before bed. Mama, this means you need to prep your body for sleep too with good sleep hygiene because your milk naturally contains levels of tryptophan later in the evening which aids the body’s production of melatonin. By getting yourself ready for bed, you can boost those levels to pass along to your child before bedtime.
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