While babies cannot talk, when it comes to their most important requirements - the need for food, comfort and lots of sleep - they can communicate very clearly!
Ask any parent and they will tell you their new baby was soon able to tell them what they needed and when! Even the very youngest of babies can communicate when they are tired and need to sleep. And, no, it’s not necessarily through crying.
Most babies give quite clear signs and signals that they are tired. For new parents, recognising your baby’s tired signs is an important skill that will help you get your baby off to sleep with little fussiness.
Common signs young babies are tired include:
· Changing facial expressions – relaxed to grimacing
· Frowning and looking unhappy
· Looking away from you or staring into space
· Rigid, Jerky or tense arm, hand and leg movements
· Fists clenched
· Rubbing eyes and ears
· Yawning
· Crying, fussing, being unsettled – this is a late cue! Sometimes too late…
Early tired signs may be subtle and easy to miss. Certainly not as obvious as being completed unsettled, fussing or crying, crying, crying! Watching your baby and understanding their tired signs will help you know when it is best (and easiest) to put them to bed.
For babies, being tired and needing sleep is not just about the length of time they have been awake, so the signals that your baby gives you are a helpful and reliable cue that sleep is near! Observe your baby, trust your own knowledge and read the signs your baby is giving you.
When your baby shows some, or all, of the tired signs listed, it is sleep time! Some babies settle best when put to sleep at the first sign of being tired (such as staring into space) while others will need to be a little more tired before they are ready for bedtime. Trust yourself that you will learn and know your baby’s tired signs best.
Both you and your baby will be pleased that when they have ‘spoken’ about their tiredness, you have listened!
Tags: baby, crying, fussy, sleep, unsettled baby
Hi Cindy, thanks for letting me know about chrome and sorry, I had trouble with the link you posted me.
I hope all goes well with the birth of your baby next month. There may be some useful links and information for you on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/drharryz
Harry.
There seems to be a little something messed up with your site when using chrome. Its odd because everything is a little twisted up looking. you might want to check it out. Anyway, I’m due next month, what do you think about the Da Vinci Kalani?
[...] · Your baby’s tired signs [...]
Hello Annabel. Hope you not-so-little baby is continuing to put herself to sleep! Just a quick note to let you know you can now join me on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/drharryz Love to see you there! Harry.
[...] combined with recognising your baby’s tired signs swaddling is one of the easiest and most rewarding of settling strategies. Together with sound and [...]
You are welcome, Annabel.
Thank you so much for the sleep chart. It was invaluable and interestingly uncovered that my baby was only content on days where she achieved between 19-21 hours sleep in 24. With 6 feeds to fit in these hours, she needed to be down within 45 minutes of waking, a challenge to get her fed/winded/changed and back to bed in that time, but worth it if I could get it done. From 14 weeks she slept through from 6pm to 7am with a 10pm dream feed and is great at putting herself off to sleep. Thanks for all the helpful advice.
[...] Pig in a teacup? Time to sleep… your baby’s tired signs [...]
[...] « Time to sleep… your baby’s tired signs [...]
Hi Annabel. Thanks for your comment. There is indeed a lot of conflicting information out there for parents, which is why it is important to trust your intuition. If there is one piece of advice I can offer to all parents, it is to trust your intuition and follow your heart and know you will make sound decisions about all parenting issues!
In regards to your specific question, you are already aware that every baby is different – as your three have been. What works for one baby may not for another. A 9 week old baby may be expected to sleep around 15 – 16 hours a day, but again this is different for each baby. You can find more information with my Simple Secrets for Settling Babies free booklet here or in the Sounds for Silence Baby Settling and Health Guide here.
Remember that feeding is ‘awake’ time. Take this time into account when you are watching how long your baby has been awake. For young babies this may only be a short time after a feed. Babies need to expend some energy after a feed, so some limited infant crying doesn’t hurt. Your baby may be showing very few or very fast tired signs – crying being one of them! I can only encourage you to watch your baby closely for these signs.
You are right that watching the clock can be useful, particularly as your baby develops a routine. Try keeping a chart of your baby’s day so that you can see if there are patterns or routines developing. You can get a free oKIDokie Sleep Patterns Chart here. A Feed, Play, Sleep routine is useful especially in the first few months and the Sleep Chart will help develop this.
Annabel, thanks again for your feedback – I will blog more information about “How much sleep does my baby need?” next.
I’d like your opinion on how long you think a baby should be awake for from waking then back to bed, or how many hours sleep they need in 24 hours. You read alot of conflicting information and my babies have taken months to establish obvious tired signs, so watching the clock is sometimes the only way not to overtire them. My third child, now 9 weeks, has NO obvious tired signs and goes from happy to crying in a split second, after sometimes as little as 30 minutes.