Understanding

Newborn Sleep Cycles

One of the biggest surprises for new parents is how often newborns wake. If your baby seems to wake every hour, naps briefly, or struggles to stay asleep, you are not imagining it and you are not doing anything wrong.

Understanding newborn sleep cycles explains why sleep looks the way it does in the early weeks and months, and why frequent waking is not a problem that needs fixing.

What is a sleep cycle?

A sleep cycle is the pattern your brain moves through as it sleeps. Adults typically have sleep cycles that last around 90 to 120 minutes and spend long periods in deep sleep.

Newborn sleep works very differently.

How long are newborn sleep cycles?

Newborn sleep cycles are short, usually lasting around 45 to 60 minutes.

This means your baby naturally moves into lighter sleep very frequently, which makes waking much more likely. At the end of each cycle, your baby may:

Stir
Open their eyes
Cry out
Fully wake

This is normal and expected newborn sleep behaviour.

Why newborns wake so often

Frequent waking is not a sign of poor sleep habits. It is driven by biology and development.

Newborns:

Spend more time in light sleep
Wake easily between cycles
Need frequent feeding
Have immature nervous systems

Because of this, it is common for newborns to wake hourly, particularly overnight.

How sleep cycles affect naps

Because newborn sleep cycles are short, many naps last for only one cycle. This often looks like naps of 30 to 45 minutes and is commonly referred to as catnapping.

Short naps are not a failure and do not mean your baby cannot sleep well. They reflect how immature sleep still is at this stage.

This is explained further in catnapping, which explores why short naps are so common early on.

When do sleep cycles change?

Sleep cycles do not mature gradually. Instead, there is a significant neurological shift around four months of age.

During the 4 month sleep regression, your baby’s sleep cycles become more adult-like and permanent. While this allows for longer stretches of sleep in the future, it can initially cause more waking as your baby becomes aware of transitions between cycles.

This change is permanent, even though the disruption itself is temporary.

Can newborns link sleep cycles?

Some newborns link sleep cycles more easily than others, and temperament plays a big role. You might see occasional longer naps or a longer stretch overnight, and that can be completely normal.

In the early months, sleep is often lighter and more easily disrupted, so it’s also normal for babies to fully wake at the end of a cycle and need support to resettle.

Support like feeding, rocking, holding, and contact naps can be a very appropriate part of newborn sleep.

As sleep matures over the coming months, linking cycles often becomes more consistent, and sleep gradually starts to consolidate.

What this means for parents

Understanding newborn sleep cycles can relieve a lot of pressure.

Frequent waking does not automatically mean something is wrong, or that you are creating bad habits, or that your baby will never sleep well.

It usually means your baby is sleeping exactly as their biology allows right now.

When to seek extra support

While frequent waking is normal, support may be helpful if:

Sleep feels unsustainable for your family
You are unsure what is normal for your baby’s age
You are stuck in an overtired cycle and not sure how to reset the day
You feel anxious or overwhelmed about sleep

Education and reassurance can make this stage feel far more manageable.

Looking ahead

As your baby grows, sleep cycles lengthen, naps consolidate, and overnight sleep becomes more predictable. This process happens gradually and looks different for every baby.

Understanding sleep cycles early helps set realistic expectations and makes later stages, including regressions and nap transitions, far less overwhelming.

The Smarter Way to Invest in Better Sleep

As your baby grows, their need for swaddling will change. Some babies transition out earlier, others later, and both can be completely normal.

If you want guidance that grows with your baby beyond the newborn stage, the 5–24 Month Infant Course supports families as sleep continues to evolve through infancy and to