Motherhood Myths Busted – Babies Sleep a lot, don’t they?

Well, yes, and they feed a lot too. Young babies need to feed  8 to 12 times every 24 hours.  Each feed takes an hour or so and “cluster feeding” every hour or two for a period each day is normal too. Consequently, the potential time for sleep is usually limited to snatches of an hour or two at best.  Structured feed/sleep routines may promise to create a predictable and ordered life with a newborn, however parents are swimming against the tide of human DNA when they try to manipulate their baby’s natural instinctive behaviours. So how do parents with a new baby survive? Accepting and embracing the 24/7 parenting cycle for the first few months will save parents untold anguish trying to reconcile their expectations about their baby’s sleep patterns with their new-parent reality.   Recognising and responding promptly to baby’s cues empowers parents to understand their baby’s needs as well as meet their own.  “New Baby 101 – A Midwife’s Guide for New Parents” provides all you need to know about understanding your baby’s wake/sleep cycles. www.newbaby101.com.au