They are NOT the same as adults or children and the their rhythms are frequently misunderstood.
You don't need to teach your baby to sleep of course, they've been doing it for months already, inside the womb, but being separate from you will be the biggest challenge they'll have to face in the beginning. Transitioning to the outside world can be scary for many.
Sleep training is not recommended for babies under 6mo but that's not to say you can't train yourselves in the meantime and so try to avoid the need to sleep train your baby at all. Use those early weeks and months to learn about your baby's daily patterns and sleep needs. Work with these rhythms instead of ending up annoyed that they won't comply with yours. This way you'll be able to recognise those early signs of tiredness, understand that sleep becomes more difficult for babies the longer they are awake, predict when your baby will need extra cuddles in order to sleep and understand when to take a step back and discover if nodding off solo might be their preferred option.
With gentle understanding of your baby's daily rhythms, it need not be the energy sapping, exhausting right of passage that that many new parents are warned to expect.
If you're keen to understand your baby's daily sleep rhythms, but not sure how to get started, check out my 6 Simple Strategies for newborn to 3 months and hopefully things will soon start to make a bit more sense.
Katie
