The sleep patterns of newborns differ about as much as, well, night and day, from the rest of us. It can be frustrating for a new parent who finds her child drifting to sleep during the day, only to spend much of the night awake.

I know when we welcomed my daughter home; this sleep routine was a crash course in realizing a child's sense of timing rarely corresponds with a parent's needs.

The ambitious or perhaps desperate new parent will often try to teach her newborn the difference between night and day. This process can compare with the difficulty level attempting to teach a preschooler not to interrupt phone conversations. That is to say it's really, really tough.

Dr. Randy Kienzle, a pediatrician at Pediatric Associates of Paoli who is affiliated with Paoli Hospital, frequently gets feedback from parents who have tried the advice of some other pediatricians who've recommended feeding a newborn every two to three hours during the day in an attempt to help them sleep longer during the night.
While this method may work for some infants, he said, other children "do not feed well" during the day.
 
"Most importantly, is the baby feeding well? Some kids have erratic schedules," said Kienzle, who noted that it could take two to four weeks for a newborn and first-time mother who is breastfeeding to get into a comfortable feeding schedule for both of them. Kienzle, who is also a father of four, recommends the nighttime feeding advice is his wife took that worked for their family.

"Go in and feed the baby, but it shouldn't be a highly interactive experience," he said. "Keep the lights dark. Burp the baby. Change the baby's diaper (if needed)."

Then the parent needs to place the baby back in its crib and return to sleep herself. This process can help the baby determine the difference between night-time feedings, which are about necessity, and daytime feedings that can often lead into a playtime experience.

"Try to establish a bedtime routine," suggested Tina Heuchert, clinical nurse manager of maternity at Phoenixville Hospital. "Do normal activities during the day, (such as) vacuuming."

This, she said, will promote wakefulness. Providing the baby with rattles with black and white images during the day will stimulate him, said Heuchert, as will showing the newborn pictures. Get-ting down on the floor beside your baby and interacting with him will also help keep baby awake, she said. 

While some new parents, myself included, have considered stimulating massage a way to keep baby awake, Heuchert said that this would promote sleep instead.

One of the toughest things a new parent has to realize is that the nighttime difficulties aren't going to last forever. Typically, night and day confusion usually works itself out within three months, according to Heuchert. It's not yet known what the sure cure is for the new parent coping with a lack of sleep.

- Tara Munkatchy is a Morgantown-based freelance writer and the mother of a preschooler. E-mail Rock the Cradle at rtcradle@aol.com . This article originally appeared in and is reprinted with the permission of the Daily Local News, West Chester, PA.