Day/Night Confusion
What is it?
Day/night confusion is just the idea that newborns have an immature circadian rhythm so you may find that they take long restful 2-3 hour naps all day but overnight they seem to be restless or waking every hour. The good news is that it’s a totally normal part of newborn life. The bad news is that it’s probably annoying and exhausting for you.
Why does it happen?
Like I said, it’s due to an immature circadian rhythm. Our hormones combined with light exposure dictate when we wake and sleep, and newborns do not have this hormonal balance fully developed yet.
But why then do they want to sleep so much during the day? Well, think about what’s happening when they’re in the womb. You spend your day awake and likely walking around or at least moving more than you do overnight. You are rocking them to sleep! And then when you go to bed, the rocking stops and they’re up. Have you ever noticed that the kicking is more active when you’re less active? Or how much tiny babies love to be rocked once they’re out? It makes sense.
Disclaimer: this is not a scientific/researched explanation. It’s just something that seems to make sense to me.
How long does it last?
Circadian Rhythm develops between 8-11 weeks, and for most full term babies it should be fully developed after that. However, if you’re not intentional about it it’s possible that the day/night confusion could go on even longer. It doesn’t fix itself on its own.
What can you do about it?
To begin to set your babies circadian rhythm, start with their morning wake up. A consistent morning wake up time is the driving force in setting up the flow for the rest of the day. At this morning wake up, treat it like morning! (Yes, even if you’ve been up all night - I promise - you want your baby to know when morning is.) Expose them to light, sounds, activities. Any light helps, but natural light is the most beneficial, even if that natural light just means holding them in front of a window.
Continue to teach your baby that it is daytime throughout the day. Between naps keep exposing them to light. Get outside, get some fresh air, play games, do activities. For very young newborns, they will sleep pretty much anywhere so having then nap in the broad daylight surrounded by sounds will help teach their bodies that this is daytime.
Finally, in my opinion, the most important thing is to not let your baby sleep too long during the day. Newborns are really only capable of MAYBE one “long” (aka longER) stretch of max 4 hours in a 24 hour period. Personally, I would rather this stretch happen in the middle of the night than during the day. WAKE YOUR BABIES during the day! No daytime nap should be longer than 2 hours, and there should be an appropriate amount of awake and play time between sleep opportunities. This is so important for circadian rhythm development and fixing the day night confusion, but it’s also important to make sure those babes get the calories they need to eventually give you even longer nighttime stretches.
On the flip side, you will also want to treat nights like nights. Make sure the room is pitch black and white noise is present to block out any sensory stimuli that may impact sleep. Night feeds should be in this dark quiet environment, and they should go right back to sleep after the feed (or at least this is the goal).
And as always, if you have questions feel free to reach out or check out my newborn guide or newborn support plan!