Parenting Australia

Recognising Baby Tired Signs

Getting your newborn baby to sleep can be very challenging, especially if she is over-tired.

A newborn can go from starting to get tired, to over-tired, in an incredibly short time.

The difference of even 5 to 10 minutes can make it much harder to settle your baby.

The result may be a baby that cries for hours and ends up missing a whole sleep as a result.

Therefore recognising the signs your baby is tired is an essential skill. These are the cues that it’s time to stop whatever you are doing and get your baby into bed - ASAP!

Sometimes a newborn can start to show tired signs after only half an hour of waking up. It doesn’t matter how quickly it happens, just get your baby back to bed before she gets over-tired!

Newborns are generally ready to be back to bed within an hour of waking up. If your baby is up for much longer than an hour, you may be missing her tired signs. This is especially true if you are finding it very difficult to get your baby to sleep, even though you can see she is tired.

Signs your baby is ready for sleep include:

• grizzling
• jerky leg movements
• yawning
• wriggling
• making fists
• eye rubbing
• a fixed stare
• facial grimacing
• looking away from you

Your baby may show one or more signs, but swaddle your baby and put her into bed as soon as you see ANY tired sign.

Remember, the quicker your baby is put into bed after showing a tired sign, the quicker she will settle. An over-tired baby will cry harder and take much longer to settle.

A common mistake with new parents is to think their baby is bored, after seeing a tired sign such as a glazed stare or baby started looking away. If you start jiggling or showing a tired baby new toys rather than getting her into bed, she will end up exhausted and over-stimulated......and very hard to settle.

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