while little odin is technically 139 days old, in age-adjusted terms, he’s barely just a month old, since, from a developmental perspective, his body doesn’t really care that he arrived 15 weeks early. that means that little odin’s sleep schedule is much more like a newborn than it is like a 5 month old and we have to be very careful that we don’t try to get him into a regular sleep schedule before his body is ready.

books like “healthy sleep habits, happy child” have really helped us get a handle on what to expect. most importantly, he still has no circadian rhythms or internal biological clocks yet, so there’s absolutely no hope of getting him on any sort of sleep schedule. babies who are his age also become overtired after only an hour or two of wakefulness . overtiredness can lead to fussiness, so we’re constantly attuned to how long he’s been awake and reading his cues as to avoid the overtired downward spiral.

babies less than 6 weeks old also tend to fall asleep very late and don’t sleep for very long during the day or night. so despite the fact that he’s 139 days old, we’re still all sleeping like there’s a newborn in the house.

luckily, six weeks or so ( again, in age-adjusted terms ) seems to be the magic date after which 80 percent of babies become more settled at night and sleep for longer periods.