When do we get our circadian rhythm?

Are you worried that your newborn baby that is sleeping throughout the day and then is awake all night is broken? It’s not, trust us. Their circadian rhythm - the 24 hour cycle that creates the body’s natural clock, only kicks in between weeks 9 and 12. This is also going to be their gestational age, not necessarily their birth age, so if your baby came early, be sure to adjust it.

Before the circadian rhythm is active, the baby has no concept of time or night and day. They are likely to be sleeping well in the day as there will be lots of background noise, probably movement and for periods of time they’re likely to be in someones arms which will make them super comfortable. At night, especially if they’re sleeping independently in a next to me or a cot the silence, stillness and lack of touch will likely to be keeping them awake. This along with babies naturally becoming more uncomfortable at night from a build up of gas during the day can make the nights fairly tortuous for parents!

So, what can you do to help your baby through this time and also to help set their circadian rhythm?

From about eight weeks start dimming the lights in the evening, no screen near the baby and then keep lights very dim throughout the night. Any night wakings should be done with a dim, ‘sunset’ coloured light, no bright white or blue lights. Then from 7am lights on, ready to start the day. If your desired wake time is 7am and baby is waking before then, keep them in a dark room until you hit your desired wake time. This will help you accidentally setting their circadian rhythm to start the day at 5am!

In terms of helping babe settle at night, consider white noise to help them recreate the feeling of being in the womb, this can also drown out noise of you and your partner crashing around them. Also consider swaddling them, this feeling of cosy-ness and also pinning their arms down will