2½ hours.
NOTE: During the first two months, if your baby is not napping well,
try cutting back on his waketime by 15-minute increments. Some babies
become overstimulated during waketime and have difficulty settling in
for a nap. The fatigued or overstimulated child becomes hyperalert—
fighting off sleep through crying. If this is a regular problem for your
baby, shorten his waketime.
There may be a brief period of fussing or crying when you put the
baby down for a nap. Don’t be deterred from doing what is best for the
child. Some crying is a normal part of a baby’s day and some babies will
cry a few minutes in the process of settling themselves to sleep. The
future trade-off will be a baby who goes down for a nap without fussing
and wakes up cooing.
When settling for a nap, crying for 15 to 20 minutes is not going to
hurt your baby physically or emotionally. Your baby will not lose brain
cells, experience a drop in IQ, or have feelings of rejection that will leave
him manic-depressive at age thirty. You do not undo all the love and care
of the waking hours with a few minutes of crying. On the other hand, if
you want a fussy baby, never let him cry, and hold, rock, and feed him as
soon as he starts to fuss. We guarantee that you will achieve your goal.
Sleeping Patterns
Unlike feeding patterns, infant sleep behavior has more variation due to
individual differences. Remember, stable sleep patterns are based on
stable feed/wake patterns. When there are a number of changes in these
two activities, there will be corresponding changes in his sleep patterns.
Newborn
Newborns can sleep sixteen to twenty hours per day, including the
periods of sleep between each feeding. Under parent-directed feeding,
this sleep will come in the form of six to eight naps (depending on the
number of daily feedings). When your baby has been up for the