Sleep is fundamental to an infant’s development. On average, a newborn baby sleeps for about 16 hours in a 24-hour time period. Though it may seem like an infant spends a lot of their time sleeping, it does not feel this way for new parents because an infant’s sleep cycle is much different than an adult’s in that it changes quickly and often. Therefore, getting an infant to sleep through the night becomes a challenge for many new parents.
Since a baby’s sleep patterns change so frequently, parents often become sleep deprived because their own sleep patterns become disrupted. The big question becomes: when does a baby’s sleep pattern start to emerge? Through an NYU sleep study, an app was created to track and collect data regarding the sleep patterns in adults. More specifically, it tracked when a parent woke up to feed or change their baby. The participants tracked their time down to the minute. Through the study, it was observed that at one month, there were no sleep patterns developed, but at around 4 months, an initial sleep cycle began to emerge. By 8 months, a pattern started, and within a year, a clearer pattern was seen. Since the NYU Sleep Study is still in the early stages, the data has not been officially published. However, it is evident that the transition from no sleep pattern to sleeping through the night is something that all babies figure out in about one year.
