A newborn sleeps roughly 14 to 17 hours a day, in short stretches of two to four hours, with no difference between day and night. At three to four months most babies start sleeping longer stretches at night, but night waking is normal throughout the first year. The variation between healthy babies is very wide.
Three in the morning, a flat on Kungsholmen, week five. The baby has slept for forty minutes, is awake and wants to feed again. The parents google how much a baby should sleep by the light of a phone and find tables that do not match their child. Here is what is actually normal, month by month, what you can do about it, and what you can stop trying to do.
Sleep month by month
| Age | Sleep per day, roughly | What it usually looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 1 month | 14 to 17 hours, some more | Sleeps in stretches of two to four hours around the clock, wakes to feed, falls asleep at the breast or bottle |
| 1 to 3 months | 14 to 16 hours | Slightly longer stretches at night, evening fussiness is common, a day and night rhythm starts to form |
| 3 to 4 months | 13 to 16 hours | Many sleep five to six hours in a row sometimes. Sleep is maturing, and many sleep worse for a while |
| 4 to 6 months | 12 to 16 hours | Three to four naps a day. Nights with one to three wakings, some more, a few none |
Why newborns do not tell day from night
The internal clock that controls the sleep hormone melatonin is not running at birth. It matures somewhere around two to three months, and only then does the body start to understand that night is night. Until then the baby sleeps when full and wakes when hungry, and the stomach holds no more than a couple of hours' worth. On top of that, about half of a newborn's sleep is active sleep: light sleep with twitches, noises and grimaces. That is not poor sleep, it is the sleep the brain needs right now.
What you can do to help the body clock along: daylight and normal sounds in the daytime, dimmed light and quiet at night. Night feeds without play, without a nappy change unless needed, without switching on the ceiling light. It will not make your baby sleep through at six weeks, but it does mean that day and night are different from each other on the day the clock starts ticking.
Safe sleep: the non-negotiables
- On the back, every time, until the baby rolls over by themselves. Sleeping on the tummy increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
- Their own sleeping place in the first months, ideally in your room. Socialstyrelsen (the National Board of Health and Welfare) advises a cot of their own, in the same room as the parents.
- A firm, flat mattress, no pillows, no loose blankets over the head, no thick cot bumpers, no soft toys in the cot.
- Not too warm. A baby with a sweaty neck has too much on. The room should feel cool to you.
- Smoke-free, in the home and around the baby.
- A dummy is fine once breastfeeding is established. It appears to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
- Never fall asleep with the baby on the sofa or in an armchair. That is the most dangerous place. Put the baby in the cot before you fall asleep yourselves.
- Baby carrier: face clear, chin not against the chest, high enough that you can kiss the top of the baby's head.
If you do sleep with the baby in your bed, read Socialstyrelsen's advice on co-sleeping beforehand: never after alcohol or medication that makes you drowsy, never if you smoke, baby on the back, not between pillows, not at the edge of the bed. Do not sleep with the baby in your bed if they are under three months or were born prematurely.
Naps, awake windows and overtiredness
How long a baby can stay awake controls the naps more than the clock does. Newborns manage roughly 45 minutes to an hour, at three months often one to one and a half hours, at five to six months around two. Count from when the baby woke up, including the feed. The signs of tiredness come before the crying: the baby stares, looks away, rubs their eyes, yawns, gets jerky in their movements. Put the baby down then and they often fall asleep in five minutes. Miss the window and you have an overtired baby who cannot fall asleep even though they need to, and it takes half an hour of rocking.
Where the naps happen matters less in the first months: pram, baby carrier, your arms, cot. Sleeping outside in the pram is a Swedish tradition that works well as long as the baby is on their back, not dressed too warmly, and you are close by. Later, from four to six months, it can be worth letting at least one nap a day happen in the cot, so the baby learns that it is possible.
Sounds and movements that are normal
Babies snore, grunt, hiccup, twitch, breathe fast in bursts and pause for a few seconds. Most of this is normal, especially in active sleep. What is not normal: pauses longer than about ten to fifteen seconds, a blue tinge around the mouth, a baby struggling to breathe. More on that in Laboured breathing while your child sleeps. The evening crying between three weeks and three months has a guide of its own, see Evening fussiness in babies.
Can you do anything about night sleep before six months?
Less than you would like, and that needs saying plainly. Sleep training, in the sense of methods where the baby is left to cry themselves to sleep, is advised against before six months by 1177 (the national healthcare helpline) and by most sleep experts. An eight-week-old cannot learn to sleep; they can only sleep when their body allows it. What you can do is lay the groundwork: a simple bedtime routine from two to three months, a difference between day and night, and now and then putting the baby down drowsy but awake to see what happens. And what helps you most is not a method but logistics: share the nights, sleep when the baby sleeps in the daytime, and lower your standards on everything else for a few months. See also Baby bedtime routine.
When to talk to BVC
- Your baby snores every night, has pauses in breathing or breathes with effort
- Your baby is very hard to wake, sleeps almost all the time and feeds poorly
- Your baby is not gaining weight as they should
- Screams non-stop for several hours every evening after the age of three months
- You yourselves are suffering from the lack of sleep, feeling low or anxious. BVC (the child health clinic every family is enrolled in) is there for the parents too, and there is help for low mood after the birth
How it works with our families
Aleksandra has looked after infants herself for thirteen years, and she teaches the same thing to everyone new in the team: a session with a family with a two-month-old is about the parents getting some sleep. The nanny takes the baby in a carrier between two feeds, goes out, comes home and puts the baby down drowsy in the cot. Mum sleeps for three hours in the middle of the day with the door closed. On the note: when the baby fed, when she fell asleep, for how long. Nothing more is needed. Three hours of unbroken sleep in the daytime is the only sleep aid that really works in the first months, and it can be booked.
This text is general information and does not replace advice from BVC, your vårdcentral (local health centre) or 1177. If you are worried about your child, call 1177. In an emergency, call 112.
Would you like a nanny who knows your child, knows what is usual and notices when something is different? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home.
Read more: Baby bedtime routine · Evening fussiness in babies · 4 month old baby · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
When do babies sleep through the night?
It depends on what you mean by through the night. Many manage five to six hours in a row at three to four months, but far from all. Night waking is normal throughout the first year, and many babies wake once or several times a night at the age of one. The variation is wide and says nothing about you.
Should I wake the baby to feed?
In the first weeks, until the baby is back to birth weight and gaining as they should, BVC usually advises not letting more than about four hours pass between feeds. After that a healthy baby who is growing can sleep as long as they like. Ask BVC what applies to your baby.
Is it dangerous to let the baby sleep outside in the pram?
No, it is a Swedish habit that works well, as long as the baby is on their back, not dressed too warmly, has a clear face and you keep an eye on them. Avoid severe cold, wind and direct sun. Infant car seats, on the other hand, are not sleeping places for longer naps; the baby sits slumped.
Why does the baby only sleep in my arms?
Because that is where they feel your warmth, your smell and your breathing, and because they have just left a place where they were never alone. It is not a bad habit, it is biology. If you want to change it, it is fine to put the baby down drowsy now and then and see what happens, but nobody is harmed by sleeping in your arms in the first months.
How long can a three-month-old stay awake?
Often one to one and a half hours, including the feed. Newborns manage around 45 minutes to an hour, and at five to six months many can do two hours. Signs that it is time: rubbing eyes, staring blankly, turning the head away, yawning. By the time the baby is crying you have often missed the window.