Helping Baby Get to Sleep Tips
The average length of sleep is 7.75 hours, although no one actually sleeps this long without interruption. In any sleep cycle, there will be periods of light and deep sleep followed by active sleep. At the end of active sleep, the sleeper may wake up, but if undisturbed will drift back to sleep again.
Adults have at least five cycles of sleep at night, with each cycle lasting about 90 minutes. Babies follow a similar pattern, but the cycles are much shorter. Generally, cycle length increases with age. By the age of six months, babies may sleep for five hours or more and wake up less frequently.
Very young babies will wake up at the end of a sleep cycle if they are hungry, uncomfortable or if breathing is obstructed. Research suggests waking up between cycles to be a survival mechanism. This is why parents should not feel pressured to get their new baby to sleep too long, too deeply, too soon.
For most parents, the two main problems are falling asleep and staying asleep. Some babies fall asleep easily and stay asleep while others fall asleep easily, but wake up frequently. Some babies go to sleep with difficulty, but stay asleep, while others do not want to go to sleep or stay asleep. Babies that were good sleepers at six months of age may develop sleeping difficulties as they grow older and vice versa.
Sleep problems are common in babies, but understanding and knowing how to deal with them enables parents to get a better night’s sleep for themselves, which in turn enables them to provide loving, patient and consistent care for their baby.
During the initial stage of light sleep, brain waves slow and roll. During the second stage of light sleep, brain waves resemble a spindle moving across a loom. During deep sleep, brain waves deepen and dreaming may occur, although this is not as common as in active sleep. During deep sleep, pituitary hormones peak, which promote rapid brain and body growth.
- Allow a quiet wind-down period of about 20 minutes before bedtime.
- Make the bedtime ritual as calm and as relaxed as possible to reduce stress levels - a special dreamshow, lightshow or baby mobile will help baby to relax and unwind.
- Help baby relax and unwind in a warm bath. When she gets out, the surrounding cooler air will lower her temperature, which will help trigger the sleep mechanism.
- Put baby in special clothes such as a baby blanket & sleep suit or a swaddle blanket of baby sleeping bag that are only used at night.
- Swaddle baby in a cotton swaddle blanket to remind her of the warmth and comfort of the womb. Wrap this firmly around her body and tuck in her arms and legs (baby’s hands can be placed near her face so that she can self-soothe by sucking her fingers).
- Use key words such as ‘Bedtime’ or ‘Night-night’ which are associated with sleep.
- Providing baby comforters or special teddy, lavender herbal wheat cuddly toy or blanket (that smells like Mummy or Daddy) to help baby to fall asleep without being rocked or held. The smell of Lavender can also help due to its relaxing smell.
- Avoid putting baby down on a very full tummy, as this will increase core body temperature and keep her awake
- Wind baby fully before bedtime.
- Use soft-paced classical sleep inducing baby CD music to help calm your baby
- Put baby down while still awake so that she learns to fall asleep on her own.
- Put baby on her back on a firm surface or a baby sleep positioner or a safe T travel sleepwrap to keep her spine as flat as possible and to allow her lungs to expand fully.
- Put baby on a baby lambskin fleece (cover with a cotton blanket) to promote better sleeping patterns.
- Make sure that baby’s feet are near the end of the cot. This will prevent her from working her way under the covers where she could suffocate. A safe T travel sleepwrap will also prevent your baby from wriggling around at night time.
Everyone has a period of latency before going to sleep, so don’t expect baby to fall asleep the moment that she is in her cot. Some babies take twice as long as adults to fall asleep.
It may be useful to know that babies experience five stages of sleep in each cycle, with each one lasting about one hour. The first two stages involve light non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep, the third and fourth stages involve periods of deep NREM sleep and the fifth stage involves active rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep. However, very young babies have only two stages of NREM: light and deep.
Babies spend twice as much time in light and active sleep than deep sleep. This means that they wake up frequently during the night. During the first stage of light sleep, baby’s muscles relax and her eyelids flutter. She may twitch, grimace, suck intermittently and breathe irregularly. If baby is put in her cot at this stage, she may wake up.
During the second stage of light sleep, baby’s limbs are deeply relaxed, her fists unfold and her breathing becomes shallow and regular. However, she can still be aroused at this stage. Very young babies may spend up to twenty minutes in this stage before entering deep sleep. Older babies may enter the deep sleep within a few minutes and they may be difficult to wake up.
After deep sleep, babies enter the frenzied period of active sleep. During this stage, they grimace and fuss, the muscles tighten and jerk involuntarily, the eyes dart about in all directions and breathing and heart rate become irregular.
The period between the end of active sleep and the next cycle of sleep is the most vulnerable one. Baby will wake up if hungry, too hot or too cold or if her airway is obstructed. Waking up is vital to survival. If baby’s sleep state was so deep that she could not communicate her needs, then her wellbeing could be threatened. As sleep maturity increases, the vulnerable period between active and light sleep decreases and baby may drift into the next cycle if undisturbed. However, if baby has an infection, is teething or experiencing growth pains, anxiety or separation, her sleep pattern may be temporarily disrupted.
During the initial stage of light sleep, brain waves slow and roll. During the second stage of light sleep, brain waves resemble a spindle moving across a loom. During deep sleep, brain waves deepen and dreaming may occur, although this is not as common as in active sleep. During deep sleep, pituitary hormones peak, which promote rapid brain and body growth.
The fifth stage of the cycle involves active sleep. In this state, brain waves become erratic and fast. The burst of activity doubles the flow of blood to the brain, which promotes the production of nerve proteins that accelerate brain development. Nerve cells also connect with each other to set up complex networks in the brain and nervous system. Information acquired during the day is also processed, stored or discarded and certain memories are hard-wired. Areas of the baby’s brain that control sight, hearing, smell, touch, balance and movement are also active and stimulated.
Scientists have recorded active sleep waves in foetuses from about 28 week’s gestation, which suggests that the brain processes experiences in utero. However, the greatest period for dreaming occurs in the first 2 weeks of life. This is hardly surprising considering the explosion of new sights, sounds, tastes, smells and textures experienced after birth.
The most vulnerable period for waking up is at the end of active sleep. But, if the room is dark and quiet and baby is comfortable, she will go back to sleep again. However, don’t expect too much from a young baby in the early days.
If baby is picked up whenever she stirs or makes a sound, she will expect the same treatment every night. If baby should need feeding or a nappy change, keep this as low-key as possible. She will soon learn that night time is for sleeping and day time is for playing. If baby is rewarded with too much attention, waking and play at odd hours may be prolonged into late childhood.
If sleep problems persist, then parents need help to keep going. There are many sleep aids that can promote better sleeping patterns and we recommend trying a combination of sleep aids that you will find within our baby-sleep site to help you find the solution to your unique babies sleep needs.
Particular items such as our baby sleep positioner and safe T travel sleepwrap not only help keep your baby in the correct sleep position and reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) but also offer other health benefits including comfort, warmth and security while your baby sleeps.
We also offer products such as the sound & motion "back to sleep" aids which can sooth your baby to sleep with the genuine recorded sounds from within a mothers womb! Should your baby awake during the night, the motion and sound sensors, can even restart the womb sounds to gently reassure your baby back to sleep.
Whether you are looking for the perfect swaddle blanket or baby sleeping bag or baby blankets and cosy sleep suits, or the perfect cot, baby lambskin fleece or dreamshow, lightshow or baby mobile, here at baby-sleep you should find the product that is right for your baby!
We also stock specialist baby sleep CD's, night-time sleep baby comforters, baby carriers, lavender herbal wheat cuddly toys, and cots and baby monitors among many other unique products to allow your baby to sleep peacefully so that you can too!
Health visitors are a good source of advice and support. Alternatively, a sleep clinic may be able to offer a solution.
Dr. Lin Day
Dr Lin Day (Dip. Ed. BSc. PGCE. M. Phil. PhD) is the founder of the multiple awards winning baby development activity, Baby Sensory. She is a regular feature writer on baby learning and development in the Early Years Educator (EYE) magazine, which is read by professionals in the Early Years sector and a lecturer and assessor in the early years sector. Lin is uniquely qualified to provide her opinion on numerous aspects of baby development.
