There ARE some circumstances where waking a sleeping baby is actually the best thing to do for your baby’s sleep.

Reason #1- Prevent Day-Night Confusion

What is day/night confusion?

It is typical for newborns to experience day/night confusion, which is when they mix up their days and nights.  Newborns don’t have biological clocks (yet!), making it challenging for them to differentiate between daytime and nighttime.

Nonetheless, there are steps you can take to help your newborn’s biological clock develop.  One of these big steps is to avoid letting your baby nap longer than 2-3 hours so that day-night confusion comes to an end.

Reason #2- We don’t want your newborn skipping any feeds

Newborns are typically eating pretty frequently- especially if they’re breastfeeding.  The LAST thing you want is to have your baby skip a daytime feed as that baby will need to eat more at often at night to compensate.  Avoid this like the plague!

Here’s the reality…

Protecting your newborn’s longer stretch of sleep during the night

a) means that YOU will get some uninterrupted sleep during this newborn stage; and

b) helps establish healthy sleeping habits since this four-hour night sleep can eventually extend to 5, 6, 7 + hours.  Make sure you allow that to happen.  You’ll thank me for this.