why do babies sleep

why do babies sleep

 Babies are immature beings.  It is commonly considered that the first 3 months of a baby’s life really should have been in utero.  It’s just that they can’t get out with  their relatively large head if they stay in there much longer.

Human babies are quite immature in  relation to other mammals when born and much more dependent.
This lends itself to the theory mentioned above that the first 3 months of a baby’s life are really the fourth trimester of pregnancy.  Babies mostly sleep while they are in utero as they are growing and developing.

 For all of us sleep is for energy replenishing, wind down time, time out to recharge and relax.  It is when our cells regenerate and grow most and our hormones regulate. Babies are still growing and maturing in the first 3 months which is what makes them interesting and challenging.

Why babies sleep is also so that they can process all the sensory input they have received throughout the day. Babies ‘ senses are geared up for learning.  Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch are all turned up on high so that they can learn as much about their environment as possible.  As adults we have learned to screen out some stimulation.  At times we also feel overwhelmed with too much sensory input and need to have time out.

With your baby keep that in mind and think about how immature they are and how they have no control over their environment.  All the busyness of our modern life is often too much for babies to handle and can over stimulated them really easily.
Hence frequent sleeps to reset, process and get time out are necessary for a happy relaxed baby, and lead to an answer as to why do babies sleep so much.