General advice on baby sleep

During this time you will spend lots of time cuddling your baby. Remember your LO will need time to get used to being outside the warm cosy womb and may demand to be cuddled a lot. Of course there are times when you must put your LO down, partly because you have things to do but also because you need rest too. At these times you might want to swaddle your baby and you can read more about swaddling here

There is no getting away from the fact that often in the first few weeks motherhood is exhausting. Many babies do not sleep through the night during this time. Try to go with the flow. Rest when your baby does. Either go to bed, or relax on the sofa with a cuppa. Many household chores can be done in a slower time than you normally do them. The main thing is that you do not tire yourself out trying to do everything as you did before your baby was born.

It may help to get your baby used to a different and darker environment at night, and during the night keep the lights low and speak softly. Disturb your baby as little as possible. If the nappy is not really wet don't change it!

When a baby cries it can be difficult to know what to do to settle them. Have a look at this NHS page for some ideas for soothing your baby.

To establish a routine and pave the way for your baby to sleep through the night, you can develop good sleeping habits from the beginning. It is good to have a consistent bedtime routine in place.  Equally, your baby's daytime schedule counts.

Sleep in newborn babies: what to expect

New babies tend to sleep a lot, but without any set pattern - 16 hours out of every 24 is average, although it varies hugely. They wake regularly, both day and night, because they've yet to develop their circadian rhythm, and because they have tiny tummies which need frequent feeds to keep hunger at bay. So you may well be up at least four times a night at first - hard as it is, you will adapt to the lack of sleep. It's just part and parcel of this stage of parenthood.

Your best bet in the early days is to go with the flow. Let your baby sleep whenever she wants to for now - lots of parents choose to put their new baby in a portable crib or Moses basket which makes sense, as you can move her round the house with you when she's napping during the day. Make the most of this phase when she's sleeping for long stretches during the day by grabbing 40 winks yourself, whenever you can. Don't worry about housework or washing baby clothes.

However you can think about developing good sleeping habits, which will help pave the way to a good night's sleep.

Developing good sleep habits

The excitement of having a new baby can initially override concerns about sleep, yours or your baby's. In the early days new parents are often inundated with visitors, each of whom wants to hold and cuddle your little one. As a proud parent you eagerly pluck your little bundle of joy from their Moses basket, and lay them in the arms of a delighted friend or relative-to behold and coo at.

Babies however, just like adults need undisturbed rest, both during the day and at night, otherwise they become over tired and cranky (just like us!), so it can help to think about sleep routines quite early on in a baby's life. Establishing a sleep routine is rather like having a bit of money in the bank. Only instead of cash you are banking energy and time, which you can squirrel away and use when you need to.

If your little one learns how to rest and to sleep alone, it buys you time to rest and store energy for those busy days and sometimes sleepless nights. It also buys you time to do the things you need to like sorting out the washing and ironing, to preparing meals, tending to your other child(ren), or the things you want to do but rarely have time for like talking with or watching a film with your other half, pampering yourself with a long soak in the bath, washing your hair, filing your nails, or a having a quiet cup of tea and a piece of cake whilst watching an hour of day time TV; whatever floats your boat really. Teaching your little one to sleep helps to keep everyone smiling most of the time.

Getting into a routine

Believe it or not, even in the very early days, there are some things you can do which will help your baby to learn that night and day are different and pave the way for good sleep habits.

• You can establish a regular daytime sleep or nap routine.

• You can establish a regular night time routine.

• You can teach your baby the difference between day and night.

• You can teach your baby to go to sleep all on their own, without you needing to cuddle or feed them to sleep.

• You can teach your baby to sleep even when there are sounds being made around the house.

Source:  http://www.netmums.com/baby/sleep/newborn-babies-and-sleep