When babies struggle with poor sleep, parents often suffer right alongside them. Growing evidence shows that a baby’s gut health plays a key role in comfort, digestion and overall sleep quality. Supporting a healthy gut microbiome may help babies sleep better, which can bring much-needed relief to exhausted parents.

Newborns are not born with a fully developed sleep-wake cycle and many rely on cues from feeding, contact and environmental rhythms. Strengthening the gut microbiome can support more settled sleep. The following approaches are backed by emerging research.

Breastfed babies, if doing so is possible, tend to have better sleep patterns and a more stable sleep-wake cycle than infants fed adapted formula. Breast milk naturally contains beneficial bacteria that help seed the infant gut, as well as human milk oligosaccharides, which are specialised carbohydrates found only in human milk.

Babies cannot digest them, but beneficial gut bacteria can. These oligosaccharides act as prebiotics, feeding helpful gut bacteria such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. They also help protect the gut lining and block harmful microbes from attaching to it.

Breast milk also delivers hormonal signals that influence sleep, including melatonin and tryptophan. These can help infants settle more easily and form more regular rhythms over time. Even partial breastfeeding can offer these benefits.

Physical closeness, also known as kangaroo care, helps transfer healthy maternal microbes and supports sleep regulation. Skin-to-skin contact stabilises an infant’s temperature, breathing and heart rate. These steady physiological rhythms reduce energy expenditure and help babies reach calmer, more predictable states that support sleep development.

Studies show that an infant’s temperature can shift by one to two degrees........

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