RESTLESS nights come part and parcel of being a parent and it's usually down to your bundle of joy keeping you up.

It's hard for babies to get into a routine when it comes to sleep, but this quiz can help you work out your little one's perfect sleep routine.

Sleep experts at Babysense explained that newborn babies don’t develop a circadian rhythm until they are three to four months old.

It's because of this that it's unlikely that your baby has yet to have settled in with a routine.

The circadian rhythm is the natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle.

Most newborns will sleep for longer than they are awake, which is imperative for health and growth in the first few months of their life.

The quiz will ask for a range of details to help you implement the ideal sleep schedule for your child.

First you'll be asked the age range of your child and can choose from anything between six months to four years.

Most read in Health

Next you'll be asked what time your child usually wakes up in the morning and how many times they wake up through the night.

You'll also be asked how long it takes your child to fall back to sleep after they have woken up in the night.

Once you have answered those four questions all you need to do it click the 'calculate' button.

You'll then be given your results which show how long your child is actually sleeping for each night, and how many hours of sleep you are losing.

For example, a baby aged 6-8 months, who wakes up at 6.30am, wakes up four times in the night and takes 15 minutes to fall back to sleep would be getting around 11 hours of sleep each night, according to the quiz.

The algorithm then looks at the ideal times your baby would need to be fed and take naps through the day to get the best sleep possible.

For this particular scenario, the experts recommend that your child's first feed is at 8.30am.

Then solids at 10.30am followed by a nap at 12.30.

'PERFECT ROUTINE'

The experts suggest that you start the bedtime routine of bathing and getting your child comfortable at 6.30pm.

The experts added: "In the blink of an eye your precious baby is all grown-up. Their first years of life are filled with a great number of milestones. They seem to master skills faster than you can capture the moments on camera.

"While they are growing, we need to remind ourselves that their sleep needs to change too.

“It can take some time for parents to adjust to their babies sleep routine and learn how to help ensure that they are getting a healthy amount of sleep."

They said that it’s natural to have questions about what is considered normal sleeping habits, what changes might occur and what is a typical schedule or daily routine parents should follow or encourage based on their baby's age.

They continued: “Being a parent is the most rewarding but also the most challenging task and sleep problems only add to the stress"

"We know that the age-appropriate guidelines provided will not only reassure parents along the way but will also provide them with tips to create the perfect sleep routine for their babies, allowing everyone to get an excellent night of sleep.”

Source: Read Full Article