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Helping your baby sleep
At around 6 to 8 months, your baby is likely to be having 2-3 daytime naps with a total of 2-4 hours.
They may have some short naps of 30-40 minutes or some longer naps of 1-2 hours. This is just a guide, every baby has different sleep patterns.
During the night, many babies start to sleep for longer periods between feeds, waking only once or twice for a feed. Some babies can sleep for 8-10 hours without waking. Remember, you cannot force a baby to sleep, but you can help them have good sleep habits.
Many things can affect baby's sleep:
- How they are growing and changing.
- If they are not feeling well or have certain health conditions like eczema.
- The environment they sleep in, like noise or temperature.
- The things they use to help them sleep, like a blanket or pacifier, may no longer work as they get older.
Tips to help baby sleep:
- Give your baby loving care and attention every day.
- Make bedtime routines that work.
- If your baby's sleep is not good, change one thing at a time.
- Keep trying new things until your baby sleeps well.
Not all babies are the same. Stay patient and responsive to your baby's needs.
Many babies still wake up at least once a night.
If your baby is having difficulty sleeping well in the day or night, start by going through the list above. Choose one thing you can try to change and see if that makes a difference.
Parenting is generally trial and error until you find the best approach for you and your baby. There no one way that works for all babies.
Within this website there is lots of information from birth on infant sleep, routines and strategies to try.
You can also visit the Karitane website that has videos and information on infant sleep to help you:
