Sleep Development in Babies & Why Parents Need to Know About It
When I was pregnant with my first baby, I spent a lot of time researching breastfeeding. That’s what was the most unknown thing about entering parenthood, and I wanted to make sure we were successful. I didn’t even think to learn about newborn and infant sleep.
I didn’t know sleep was such a big deal after I became a parent and was experiencing it firsthand!
I would hear my son making those strange pig noises, and I would immediately go to him and try to help him. What I didn’t realize was that he was actually asleep, and as I was intervening, I was inadvertently waking him up! And then he would be awake for an hour…in the middle of the night….
I cringe just thinking about those days and nights that were SO exhausting, and I didn’t know any better because I simply didn’t have the education I do now.
I wish someone would have told me about what’s normal and what’s not when it comes to newborn sleep and that these little grunting noises and all the sporadic twitching would eventually stop!
So, in this post, I’m going to share with you what you NEED to know about how your baby’s sleep develops over time so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did! :)
Newborn Sleep
Did you know that as a fully developed adult, you have four stages of sleep that you cycle through each night, roughly 6-8 times per night?
Here’s something I bet you didn’t know (I had NO IDEA when my first son was born!) - your baby is born with only two stages of sleep!
Your newborn will spend about 50 percent of their sleeping in REM, or active, sleep. They’ll spend the other 50 percent of their sleeping in Non-REM (NREM), or quiet, sleep.
“When your newborn baby is in REM sleep, there is a lot going on! You may observe rapid eye movement, twitching, smiling or grimacing, irregular respirations, grunting, and even crying out! Let her be, she’s not awake!”
You may even peek at your baby and see they’re 90 degrees turned from where you initially laid them down. It’s referred to as active sleep for a reason!
This active sleep was my downfall as a new parent. I thought my baby was awake. He wasn’t. And we all suffered for it because I would tend to him whenever I heard him. Looking back, I now know he was really just in a REM cycle and I shouldn’t have done anything, and neither should you! Unless, of course, you know they’re truly awake.
In NREM sleep, you will observe a lot less. Your baby is in a deeper, quieter sleep stage. You can pick up an arm and it will flop down and they won’t make a peep. You’ll also notice more regular breathing.
Eventually, around 3.5-5 months old, they’ll go through a physiological change to their sleep stages, also known as the 4-month sleep regression.
The 4-Month Sleep Regression
Many parents dread this infamous 4-month sleep regression, because all of the sudden their baby is waking more frequently and what used to work to get them to sleep suddenly doesn’t work anymore!
Why is this?
It goes back to the science.
Because there’s been a physiological shift to their sleep cycles - they now have four defined stages of sleep instead of just two. They now have the same four cycles of sleep we have as adults!
Your child now has one stage of REM sleep and 3 stages of NREM sleep. More sleep cycles to rise and fall through at night, unfortunately, also means more opportunities for waking up.
As an adult, you may not notice when you rise to the top of a cycle and wake up; You are an independent sleeper and have the skills to go right back to sleep without fully awakening. In these cases, you may roll over to the other side and go right into the next stage of sleep without evening remembering it the next morning when you wake up.
Your baby, on the other hand, has these same wakings as they rise and fall between sleep cycles, but they don’t yet have the skills to get themselves back to sleep. They don’t know how to roll over and go back to sleep yet!
That’s why this is a popular time for many families to choose to sleep train. Sleep training can help your baby learn to connect these cycles independently.
Otherwise, every time they wake at night, they’re going to need your help to go back to sleep again and get into the next sleep cycle.
While sleep training is a solid choice for helping your baby learn to connect their sleep cycles, there are other things you can focus on too that might help:
Make sure the sleep environment is completely dark
Utilise white noise playing around 55-60 dB
Make sure it’s cool and your baby is dressed appropriately
Practice sleep in the cot
Development of Your Child’s Sleep Cycles
Your child now has the same sleep cycles you do. The only difference, now, is that it takes you longer to get through a full sleep cycle than it does them. Their sleep cycles are about 45-50 minutes and yours are about 90 minutes.
Adults need about 6-8 sleep cycles each night to feel fully rested the next day. Children need more!
You can prioritise your little one’s sleep by making sure, throughout early childhood, that they’re getting the recommended amount of sleep for their age AND make sure bedtime isn’t too late.
Ensuring they’re not overtired will also help with preventing night terrors as they get older. When a child experiences a night terror, essentially, they’re “stuck” between sleep cycles. They aren’t really awake and are having a difficult time getting into the next sleep cycle. Overtiredness plays a huge factor in night terrors, so prioritising an earlier bedtime is key in preventing them.
Are you expecting a baby or do you already have one? Do you want to learn more about their sleep development? Get in touch with me, a sleep expert, who can help you understand your child’s sleep so you can learn to navigate it confidently during the early childhood years.
Sources
El Shakankiry H. M. (2011). Sleep physiology and sleep disorders in childhood. Nature and science of sleep, 3, 101–114. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S22839
Grigg-Damberger M. M. (2016). The Visual Scoring of Sleep in Infants 0 to 2 Months of Age. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 12(3), 429–445. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5600
Patel AK, Reddy V, Shumway KR, et al. Physiology, Sleep Stages. [Updated 2022 Sep 7]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/
