Newborn sleeping - how dark??

[Hann376]

Newborn is 5 days old and currently only sleeps when held so we are trying to get her used to sleeping in a crib.

ive read it’s best to expose her to daylight during the day then from about 7pm we dim lights in the living room but dont end up taking her to the bedroom until around midnight as we are taking it in turn to nap as she won’t fully sleep unless being held.

At night once we move into the bedroom. Since I end up being up with her all night either breastfeeding or attempting to get her to nap in her Moses basket I have been keeping a light lamp on next to the bed all night. Should it be completely dark in the room at night?? If so how do I breastfeed - do I turn a lamp on? I’m so worried about falling asleep holding her if the room is pitch black and also it makes me really nervous about SIDS if I can’t see how she is doing in her cot / make sure the blanket isn’t covering her face.

I had a tommee tippee red light that was for bedtime and it was excellent to be able to see what I was doing in the night without waking DS up with a lamp on. It also had pink noise, similar to white noise but not so hard on the ears😅

A low level lamp will be fine op

Agreed a lamp is absolutely fine and better if it makes you happier.

Also it's not a bad thing for them to get used to sleeping with a light on. Mine always did and I think it's better if they don't need total darkness to sleep. Though any sleep in a cot at this age is pretty good going tbh!

I had a white noise machine that doubled as a red light - it was great!

Do you have an owlet sock it's great for piece of mind I put it on my little one every night and you know they are breathing ok in crib then, also are you swaddling ? At that age swaddling really helps with getting them asleep and down in a crib / Moses basket .

I would say dark or just a tiny light from the hallway