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Possums Baby Sleep 101


  • Introduction to this brief & simple section of The Possums Baby Sleep Program
  • Key things to know about babies' sleep
  • The dial on your baby's nervous system
  • Babies' sleep needs
  • Differences in babies' sleep
  • Normal baby night waking
  • Night waking in babies - how much is too much?
  • Babies' body clock
  • Babies' sleep pressure
  • Babies need sensory nourishment
  • Babies' bedtime
  • Feeds and cuddles help babies sleep
  • Babies and sleep safety
  • Key steps to help with babies' sleep
  • Set a regular wake-up time for your baby
  • Baby sleep superpower #1: milk = sleep
  • Baby sleep superpower #2: rich stimulation = sleep
  • Let your baby nap on the go
  • Active evenings help babies' night sleep

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  • Possums Baby Sleep 101
  • S1: Possums baby sleep 101 (brief & simple)

Key things to know about babies' sleep

Dr Pamela Douglas9th of Jul 202317th of May 2024

Baby sleeping on father's chest

This page is part of a collection of short articles called Brief & simple, which together make up a quick summary of The Possums Sleep Program in plain language. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the program's online text and videos.

Here's a quick overview of useful things to know about babies and sleep! Some of this might be quite surprising to hear. After that, we'll take a closer look at the facts.

  • Some babies need a lot of sleep. But many babies don't need much sleep at all! Only 9 hours sleep total in 24 hours is normal for some babies, even as newborns.

  • It's normal for babies to wake every couple of hours at night to feed and be cuddled, right through the first year of life. But patterns of waking every hour or more is excessive and help is needed.

  • Most babies around the world go to sleep quite close to parent's bedtime in the evenings.

  • Going to sleep with a feed and a cuddle is a normal way for human babies to go to sleep in the first year of life.

  • Babies have a powerful need for rich and changing sensory nourishment. Babies fuss or 'dial up' when there is not much happening around them - that is, when they are bored because they are in a 'low sensory' environment (such as inside the family home). You might think your baby is dialling up because they are tired, but it could be because your baby needs richer, more interesting experiences.

This news report that came out on 9News Australia after Dr Pamela Douglas and Associate Professor Peter Hill published a research paper showing that sleep training approaches don't decrease the frequency of baby night waking.

Acknowledgements

I'm grateful to Professor Sophie Havighurst, Ros June, and Caroline Ma at Mindful, The University of Melbourne, for their feedback on the articles in the Brief & simple section of The Possums Sleep Program. They helped to keep the language plain and the concepts as accessible as possible. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the program's online text and videos.

Recommended resources

Baby sleep needs are highly variable and decrease throughout the first year of life

It's normal for babies to wake every couple of hours during the night

What's the difference between normal and excessive night waking in babies?

What is sensory motor nourishment and why does it help with baby sleep?

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Next up in Possums baby sleep 101 (brief & simple)

The dial on your baby's nervous system

dial on a device

This page is part of a collection of short articles in plain language, which together make up The Possums Baby Sleep Program: a brief & simple summary. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the online pages and videos there.

I’d like to share an important idea with you. This is the idea of the dial on your baby's sympathetic nervous system, which acts in their brain and body.

  • The dial is like the volume control in your baby.

  • The sympathetic nervous system is…

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