Stay Up All Night with Newborn Pups? (9 Tips for Pups & You)

Puppies are born blind and vulnerable.

A puppy won’t survive to adulthood without the proper care and support in its first few days and weeks of life.

Does that mean losing out on sleep for overnight care?

If you have newborn puppies to look after, you either have or don’t have the momma dog present.

Newborn Puppies with Mother

If you have a litter of newborn puppies with their mother, she will do most of the hard work of keeping them warm, fed, and clean.

Your role is to support rather than as a primary caregiver.

You still need to pay attention 24/7 because puppies can’t regulate their body heat for the first couple of weeks. They need their mother or an alternative heat source to stay warm.

Your role in watching over the puppies is to see if any stray too far from their mother, rescue any at risk from crushing, ensure they all get fed, and look after the mother dog.

The mother dog needs bathroom breaks and regular refueling with nutritious food for nursing dogs.

Newborn Puppies Without Mother

There are a few circumstances where you end up with a litter of newborn puppies, but the momma dog is absent.

You then step into the mother role and need to feed the puppies with replacement milk every couple of hours, and you need to keep them warm and clean.

If there is no mother in the picture, you will need to stay with the puppies overnight for feeding and general care.

How Do You Keep the Newborn Puppies Warm?

The primary source of heat for newborn puppies is their mother.

You can supplement this with a heat lamp or by using your central heating system to keep the air around the puppies at the right temperature for them.

Additional heating buffers the puppies from getting too cold if they move away from their mother or the mother dog is absent for a break.

In the absence of the mother, additional heating is essential to keep the puppies’ body temperature at the right level until they can regulate their body heat.

For the first crucial four days, the puppies need to have a temperature range of 85-90˚F (29.5-32˚C). You can then drop the temperature to 80˚F (26.7˚C) without ill effect from day five.

What About Cleaning?

The mother dog cleans her puppies because this keeps them healthy and encourages them to eliminate waste.

If the momma dog is either unable to clean her puppies or not present, you are going to have to step in to help.

Don’t bathe puppies until after four weeks because of the chilling risk.

Try and stick to washing the puppy’s face and rear end with warm water and a cloth. One cloth per puppy – wash the face first and then the back end.

Do it quickly and dry the puppy gently, and put it under a heat lamp or on a heating pad to warm up.

What Are the Risks Facing a Newborn Puppy Overnight?

The significant risks for a newborn puppy overnight are:

• Chills.
• Crushes.
• Starvation.

A puppy that strays too far from its mother can get dangerously cold – a smaller puppy is more at risk.

You can help by ensuring the whelping box is free from drafts and has a heat lamp or a heating pad to keep the ambient temperature in the safe zone.

A puppy can get trapped under its mother or siblings – one of the risks of leaving newborn puppies with their mom.

Newborn puppies are fragile, so you need to watch for any puppy at risk of crushing and rescue it before it gets injured.

Newborn puppies may spend 90% of the time sleeping, but they need to feed every two hours.

More robust pups may block weaker pups from accessing food. Part of your support role is making sure all the newborn puppies get a turn at feeding.

If the mother dog can’t produce enough milk for a huge litter, you may need supplementary bottle feeding.

Should You Stay Up All Night with Newborn Puppies?

Staying awake all night to watch sleeping puppies is counterproductive because you need a few hours of sleep to ensure you can function.

But a newborn puppy is extra vulnerable during the first two weeks before it opens its eyes and can regulate its body temperature.

If there are issues with the mother dog’s care or settling in with her puppies, you may need more regular nighttime checks, and in the rare instance, you may need to stay awake but share this burden with someone else, so you get some sleep.

If your newborn puppies are under a heat lamp, then you don’t need to worry about them getting cold.

Most of the feeding takes place during the day, so you can sleep without worrying that the puppies are getting hungry.

It is sensible to sleep in the same room as the newborn puppies so you can wake up if there are unmistakable sounds of distress from the puppies and the mother.

If you can’t sleep in the same room, use a sensitive baby monitor.

You need to be available and close to the puppies, but you probably don’t need to remain awake all night for two to three weeks.

Tips for Staying Up All Night

There can be situations looking after your newborn puppies that require supervision through the night.

How do you manage?

• Share the load – rope in some help and cover the night in shifts, so everyone gets some sleep.
• Sleep during the day to compensate – short naps can reenergize you.
• Prepare for the newborn puppies by getting extra sleep in the weeks before – you can bank sleep.
• Keep busy – watching the puppies doesn’t mean you can catch up with something else like laundry or life admin.
• Keep the light where you are sitting bright – fools the brain into being more alert.
• Don’t overload on caffeine – small amounts spaced out.

The most challenging time to be awake is from 4.00 am until dawn; that is when you will feel the impact of being awake most keenly.

Tips for Looking After Your Puppies Overnight

You need your sleep, and staying awake all night is not an option.

How do you look after your newborn puppies and get enough sleep to function?

Different strategies work for different people, and you can choose:

• To sleep in the same room as the puppies to reassure the momma dog and wake up if anything happens.
• Sleep in a separate room but have a baby monitor or other surveillance in the puppy room.
• Sleep in a separate room but set the alarm for the middle of the night to check on your puppy family.

Your dog sleeps through the night, and the chances are that the puppies will also sleep through the night.

Before you retire to bed, you can have a last check on the puppies:

• Give the momma dog a final bathroom break.
• Fill up water and feed bowls for the mother for overnight snacking.
• Check all the pups seem in good health.
• Check heating is working correctly and the room temperature is in the safe zone.
• Set any alarms or monitors.

If you wake in the night for a bathroom break, you can quickly check that your puppy family is sleeping and comfortable.

If the momma dog is absent and you are entirely responsible for the puppies, you can still sleep overnight. Consult your vet on an appropriate overnight feeding schedule.

If the puppies are well-fed during the day, you can leave them to rest for a reasonable length overnight with a late-night feed and an early morning start.

How to Sleep with Newborn Puppies?

Sleeping with newborn puppies does not mean having them in your bed.

Despite the idea that your body heat will keep them warm, the risks are that you will crush them in your sleep, suffocate them under the covers and newborn puppies are messy – what goes in must come out!

Sleeping in the same room as the puppies means being near enough to reassure the momma dog (if present) and respond to any cries of distress in the night.

Your regular bedtime routine may be to enjoy a book, a hot drink, and watch TV or listen to the radio.

When you sleep in the same room as the puppies, do all your reading, media, and other activities in a separate room.

When you go into the puppy room to sleep, simply lie down, and try and get some sleep without making a fuss.

A night light gives you a dim enough light to promote sleep but lets you see what the puppies are doing without switching on a bright light and waking up your puppy family.

Provided your newborn puppies are well fed and warm, they will naturally spend 90% of their time asleep.

If your newborn puppies are not sleeping, your best option is to place them near the hind teats on the mother dog for a meal.

If you are responsible for the feeding, offer a small feed and remember to wipe over the puppy’s bottom immediately after feeding to persuade it to eliminate waste.

How Do You Get Enough Sleep with Newborn Puppies?

Preparation and planning are the critical elements of getting enough sleep for yourself with newborn puppies in the house.

• Bank sleep in advance.
• Take restorative short naps in the day.
• Don’t overload on caffeine.
• Rest whenever possible.

It is possible to bank sleep in case of need.

An extra hour a night for the fortnight leading up to the puppy’s birth will buffer you from the reduced rest following the puppy’s arrival.

While caring for the puppies, take the opportunity to nap during the day. The puppies will spend most of their time asleep, and a short nap of twenty minutes to an hour will help you keep going.

If you believe you can’t sleep in the day, then practice yoga Nidra (lying still with all your muscles relaxed).

Learn the technique before your puppies arrive so you know the routine. You can use a short piece of classical music or a guided meditation for relaxation.

Even ten minutes lying with your body relaxed but your mind awake will restore your energy levels.

Conclusion

The arrival of newborn pups may signal a few nights where you are short on sleep, but typically there are minimal issues, and both you and your puppy family will sleep through the night.

The most vulnerable time for your newborn pups is the first couple of weeks, and you can use technology to stay on call without needing to be awake 24/7.