When does my baby need more sleep?
What a wonderful question! More sleep. Yes girl. As you can tell from my line of work, I am super passionate about helping families get their sleep back. And it’s not just because I love sleep, it’s truly because we need sleep to function.
During sleep, our brain gets to work sorting memories into short term and long term spaces (ever wonder why you can’t remember much from your baby’s first year of life?), it develops our immune system, it clears out chemical build up from our neural pathways that otherwise leave our bodies feeling yucky, and it does a whole bunch of other important work.
When we don’t get enough sleep, we struggle with regulation, memory, health issues, and more. We truly exist in a “brain fog” state. So … are there certain times when your baby will need more sleep than is typical? The answer to that is a hard yes. Break out the champagne and put that extra cup of coffee down. You are getting more sleep!
Here are the times when you can let baby nap longer than the max of 2-3 hours (typically 3 hours for newborns and babies on one nap, and 2 hours for all other babies) …
During recovery sleep. Newborn babies have a long recovery sleep after birth. We are all in recovery ourselves after giving birth, and so may not even be aware of this long stretch of sleep that baby takes (and needs). I had my third child recently and discuss recovery sleep with you here:
When baby is sick. The immune system is developed during the third phase (Deep Sleep) of the 40-50 minute sleep cycle. Giving baby the extra time to sleep when sick allows baby to cycle through sleep several times, helping them to fight off disease.
When baby is in a developmental leap. In this case, you don’t need to give baby longer naps. Instead, their wake window may shorten temporarily. This means that if you usually put baby down for a nap every 2 hours, they may be ready for the nap at 1.75 hours - and that’s okay! Want to learn more about development and sleep? Grab a cup of tea enjoy some BFF time from yours truly here:
There is one more instance where baby needs more sleep, but it doesn’t have to do with a specific time of life:
When baby is awake too long. Each baby has a certain amount of sleep they need for all of their wonderful growth and development. These needs are age-dependent. As baby gets older, their brain is able to handle greater levels of a natural chemical called adenosine before needing a nap to clear it out.
In the meantime, if baby is kept awake for too long, the large build up of adenosine triggers a cortisol release, which makes sleep very difficult to achieve for the next 24 hours (night wakings, difficulty falling asleep, early mornings, short naps). You can learn more about how awake time affects baby’s sleep (and it’s significant) here:
And if you’re not sure how long your baby can handle being awake, check out my free Awake Times Chart and keep it handy as baby gets older. And while baby is getting those extra snoozes in, let yourself relax and spend time doing what brings you life - whether that be fitting in a workout or getting your own nap in!
Sleep Sweetly,
Anna