Understanding how sleep works is key to working out when your baby needs to sleep and how to ensure that he – and you – gets enough rest.
There are two sleep states, namely rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. When your baby is in the REM stage, he is in an “active state”. You might notice movement beneath the eyelids and a twitching body. During this stage, he is easily woken or disturbed.
During non-REM sleep, your baby is in a deep sleep; his heartbeat is relaxed, and he is at rest.
Young babies spend more time in the REM stage than adults do – around half of their sleep comprises this phase. That’s why the phrase “sleeping like a baby” is so misleading, since your little one is actually a much lighter sleeper than you are and more easily startles and wakes! Their sleep cycle is also shorter than an adult’s, at around 47 minutes as a newborn, compared to the average of 90 minutes in adulthood.
What about sleeping through the night, that magical time when both parents and their children have uninterrupted sleep?
Parenting expert and co-author with Meg Faure of the Baby Sense books, Sister Ann Richardson, says that many babies will start to sleep for longer periods of time between night feeds from around 6 to 8 weeks of age. This is the time when the late evening feed gradually falls away.
It’s likely that your baby will probably still wake for food between midnight and the early morning hours. You can therefore expect around an eight-hour period without feeds from an average 3 months. From 6 months, this could stretch to 10 to 12 hours without feeds.
“MANY BABIES WILL START TO SLEEP FOR LONGER PERIODS OF TIME BETWEEN NIGHT FEEDS FROM AROUND 6 TO 8 WEEKS OF AGE.”
The most important factor to remember, says Sister Richardson, is that you must prevent over-stimulation during your baby’s day awake times, as well as keep a limit on the time he spends awake during naps.
What many of us don’t realise is that the time awake between day naps is what determines how easily – and how peacefully – our little one will fall asleep.
