Sleep at around 4 months
At 4 months, the average amount of time a baby sleeps is 14 to 15 hours per day. Babies will start to sleep longer through the night.
At about 4 months, babies usually have a more regular and predictable daily routine. Because you’ve paid close attention to your baby from the time of birth, they will feel safer and more secure. They will be able to wait a bit longer for things. They learn to comfort themselves by putting their hand in their mouth. Little by little they learn to fall asleep on their own. Beginning at between 4 and 6 months, some babies won’t need to feed during the night anymore. Others will still need to – possibly even more so than during the weeks before.
Gradually you will recognize more and more of your baby’s signs of fatigue
Bedtime routine
It’s a good idea to make bedtime a relaxed, happy time. Repeating the same actions every night will create a bedtime routine that makes going to sleep easier. Turn on a night light in the hall and leave the bedroom door partly open.
If you stick fairly close to your routine each day, your baby will start to understand when it’s bedtime. For example, develop a routine of a warm bath, quiet game, a story, soft music or a song.
A lot of parents enjoy this time of the day with their baby and take the time to rock them to sleep. Others prefer that the baby learns to fall asleep on their own.
If you want, once the routine and quiet time are finished, put your baby in their crib even if they aren’t fully asleep. When your baby learns to go to sleep on their own it means they can go back to sleep on their own in the middle of the night if they wake up during a period of light sleep.
There’s no right or wrong way in your bedtime routine. The important thing is for you to feel comfortable with the routine you choose.
Sleeping through the night
Sleeping through the night is what adults do; babies have different sleep patterns. A baby’s sleep schedule can in fact vary quite a bit from one baby to the next. “Sleeping through the night” generally means five or six hours of sleep between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. About 70% of 3‑month‑old babies sleep five hours at night; 85% do at 6 months, and 90% at 10 months.
Follow your baby’s rhythm and needs. When feeding at night, you can keep things calm and quiet, so they learn the difference between night and day. For example, keep the lights very dim and resist the very natural urge to speak to them.