At around two to three months of age the circadian rhythm begins to emerge which is the internal clock that controls our patterns of sleeping and waking. Hormones control this rhythm and cues from daylight and darkness help to regulate our sleep and awake times. By eight weeks your baby will begin to notice the environmental cues of light and dark and become familiar with different routines surrounding feeding and going to sleep. Before this time your baby’s internal sleep cycle is unorganized and variable. There will be no consistency to how much or how little your baby sleeps before this time. Sleep will organize as your baby grows and develops. At around the eight week mark your baby will get better at organizing day and night and will begin to get a more consolidated stretch of sleep at...

> Month 3 Overview Sleep Needs Sleep Needs in Healthy Full-Term Babies Under 6 Months: Sleep needs are still highly variable between babies at this age. Current research has shown that there can be a variation of up to 8-9 hours in a 24 hour period in babies 6 months and under. One study showed a difference of up to 12 hours between babies. Below is a chart that shows the wide range of variability based on a compilation of research in infant sleep in the last 15 years.              Average Wakeful Window for Babies 0 to 6 Months: As you can see, this range is very broad and shows that there is no typical infant schedule or normal sleep average for babies under 6 months. This is why it is important to not compare your baby to your neighbors, friends, sisters, etc. because it can vary by such a large amount. Continue to focus on your own baby’s unique sleep needs and patterns. You should be starting to become familiar...