Sleeping Like A Baby – 4-12 Months
Have you been asked this question: How is your baby sleeping? This is my least favorite question because it puts the parent in a position to evaluate or validate their parenting skills based on their child’s sleep. The reality is that your baby’s sleep habits may have everything to do with brain development and how the brain organizes sleep cycles and awake windows.
By Jen Varela
Have you been asked this question: How is your baby sleeping? This is my least favorite question because it puts the parent in a position to evaluate or validate their parenting skills based on their child’s sleep. The reality is that your baby’s sleep habits may have everything to do with brain development and how the brain organizes sleep cycles and awake windows. I think the perfect answer to that question is: “They are sleeping like a baby!”
What does it mean to sleep like a baby?
The first thing to consider is how much sleep your little one is getting. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommends that infants age 4 to 11 months sleep for 12 to 15 hours in a 24-hour period, while toddlers age 1 to 2 years old get 11 to 14 hours of sleep during that same time frame. The NSF has a very informative chart listing recommended hours of sleep for children and adults at its website, which can be a helpful resource for parents.
As your baby grows month by month, the amount of sleep they will need in a 24-hour period will decrease, along with the number of naps they will have in the day. One of the most challenging times for parents is when their infants are between 4 and 5 months in age: The length of a nap will range from 20 minutes to two hours, and the number of naps in the day could be anywhere between three and five.
Although the NSF doesn’t categorize sleep as day sleep or night sleep, the time of day when the nap happens and the combined total hours of sleep during naps do affect night sleep. The myth “if your baby skips a nap, then he will be tired and sleep better at night” might sound logical, but the reality is that the placement and quantity of day sleep can affect the number of night awakenings and create early rising patterns.
So how do you know when your baby should nap? Using the 12-hour clock to schedule naps for your little one might be effective; however, focusing on how long your little one is awake between naps, and especially between the last nap and bedtime, is where the magic happens. When a baby is awake too long, cortisol is released in the system, which gives your little one a “second wind” and suppresses the sleep pressure. Once the cortisol has dissipated, you will have a second opportunity to get your child to sleep. There is a direct link to spending too much time awake before bedtime and an increase in night awakenings.
Here is a general guideline to the number of naps you can expect your child to take, based on age:
4-5 months - 3-4 naps
6-8 months - 3 naps
9-12 months - 2 naps
Just as the total amount of sleep needed in a 24-hour period will decrease with age, the amount of time your baby can be awake between naps will increase.
Here are recommended ranges of awake time between naps, by age:
4-5 months - 90-minutes
6-8 months - 1 ½ to 2 hours
9-10 months - 2-3 hours
11-12 months - 3-4 hours
There is also another HUGE factor affecting your baby’s sleep. Sleep “regressions” are really “progressions” related to developmental milestones and major lifestyle shifts called world view changes. Developmental milestones will be sleep disruptors, as children spend more time in active Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. According to researcher Nathaniel Kleitman , “REM dreaming allows us to process daytime emotional experiences and transfer recent memories into longer-term storage.” On the other hand, the purpose of quiet, non-REM sleep is to allow the mind and body to rest and recharge.
The biggest sleep disruptors related to developmental milestones and world view changes:
World view changes: Moving, travel, parents going back to work, new caregiver or daycare
Developmental milestones:
4-6 months – A big developmental burst occurs between 4 and 5 months and many babies go through a sleep regression during this time.
Finds toes
Vision increases
“Personality” shows up
6-9 months
Rolls over in both directions
Sits momentarily without support
Crawling begins
9-11 months
Pulls self to standing
Cruises the furniture
12 months
Takes a few steps
During times when it is clear that your little one is waking at night because of a developmental leap, the very best thing you can do is protect their sleep. Helping your child get back to sleep and keeping the night awake time to a minimum will help keep the “sleep tank” full. Once they are not working on that new developmental milestone, the night awakening frequency will decrease. It is the same concept for teething and sickness—protect their sleep and get them back to sleep as soon as possible. (I also have other sleep tips to help your baby during sickness. )
Babies will have the largest amount of brain growth in their lifetimes during the first eight months of life. Sleep is a large part of that growth, and when your little one gets the necessary amount of sleep it improves the quality of sleep for the whole family. I promise that sleep is in your future, even if your baby’s sleep habits seem to always be changing. It won’t always be like this.
Top Tips:
Be mindful of the amount of time awake, especially before bedtime.
Avoid sleep deprivation; you want to keep the “sleep tank” full, making sure your little one is getting enough sleep in 24 hours. Note: Even 20 minutes more a day can make a difference.
Develop a bedtime routine that you do in the same fashion and order each night, with wind-down activities such as a massage, song, or book.
Ask your doctor when:
You notice your baby snores loudly and persistently.
Total sleep time is less than 9 hours in a 24-hour period.
You are considering night weaning.
For almost a decade, Jen Varela, a Certified Gentle Sleep Coach®, co-author of “Loved to Sleep”, and the founder of Sugar Night Night, has been helping families teach their babies and toddlers to sleep through the night while keeping tears to a minimum.
As a pediatric sleep consultant, Jen focuses on the needs of each family’s unique sleep goals whether they are a co-sleeping family, room share with their child or the child is in their own room. She is located in San Diego, California and provides video coaching nationwide. She offers one-one-one sleep coaching services and workshops for 4 ½ month old’s to 5 years old, education and sleep shaping information for parents with infants under 4 ½ months.
www.sugarnightnight.com
http://www.facebook.com/SugarNightNight
Instagram: @SugarNightNight
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenvarela/
Understanding Infant Sleep - 6 weeks to 4 months
In our previous sleep article, we discussed normal sleep patterns and realistic sleep expectations for infants up to 6 weeks. By the time we hit 6 weeks, our children have gone through so many developmental changes, including what shapes their sleep patterns. What do these patterns look like now and when will you start to actually get some sleep?
In our previous sleep article, we discussed normal sleep patterns and realistic sleep expectations for infants up to 6 weeks. By the time we hit 6 weeks, our children have gone through so many developmental changes, including what shapes their sleep patterns. What do these patterns look like now and when will you start to actually get some sleep?
What does research tell us about sleep patterns for 6 week - 4 month old infants?
Babies this age still receive about a ⅓ of their food during the middle of the night.
Between 6 weeks and 4 months, babies begin ‘sleep consolidation’, which means that they start to combine 2 or more sleep cycles together without waking in between.
Babies at the age tend to falls asleep more easily after eating in the middle of the night, which is a welcomed trend after the first 6 weeks of your child wanting to party after each meal in the middle of the night.
Take home message: Your baby is still going to wake up in the middle of the night to feed, but he/she should be able to fall back asleep much more quickly after eating. This means less walking around the house, singing lullabyes at 3am. Whoo hoo!
What does science tell us about how babies sleep at this age?
6-12 week old babies still fall asleep in active sleep, i.e. dreaming, hence the eye movements, silly smiles, and sporadic arm movements. However, active sleep time becomes shorter and shorter at the beginning of the sleep cycle, which means you may only have to wait a few minutes before you can put your baby down without waking him/her.
A baby’s circadian rhythm is settling in now, which means deeper sleep at night, with less jarring movements, allowing baby to stay asleep much more easily.
12-16 week old babies now fall asleep in quiet sleep, similar to adults. This means that your baby doesn’t fall asleep dreaming (REM), but rather begins to drift to sleep and stay asleep.
Patterns vary from baby to baby, therefore it is not a lack of parenting skills if your baby is still waking every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. It is important to remember that every baby is different and has different needs.
Take home message: Your baby is going to start to fall asleep and stay asleep more easily. His/her days and nights will no longer be mixed up and he/she will start to fall into a deeper sleep in the middle of the night.
What are common sleep patterns for a 6 week to 4 month old baby?
Daytime naps are still sporadic and frequent. Some babies fall asleep right after eating, while others are awake after eating and then fall asleep after some alert time.
Daytime naps can range from 20 minutes to several hours, while some of the longest naps can take place while you are out and about.
Babies love to nap while being worn or out on a walk. The fresh air seems to lull them to sleep.
Evening sleep will be all over the place, especially during the ‘witching hour.’ What this will most likely look like is eat, sleep for 20 minutes, eat, sleep for 20 minutes, and repeat for a few hours. Here are some great ways to survive the witching hour!
Nighttime sleep is starting to get better. Your baby might have one longer chunk of sleep for the first half of the night (for example, like a 4-5 hour stretch between 8pm and 1am). Then your baby might continue to wake every 2-4 hours after that. Remember, your baby’s stomach is still really small and this frequent waking in the middle of the night is protective against SIDS.
Take home message: Babies at this age still have fairly unpredictable sleep patterns. Since your baby may start to sleep longer in the beginning of the night, you might consider going to bed earlier than usual, to take advantage of this long stretch of sleep.
What are some tips for parents to get more sleep?
Mastering the sidelying position can be a game changer. Your baby is much sturdier than he/she used to be, therefore sidelying can be much easier and comfortable now, for both of you.
Look into safe co-sleeping guidelines, as research has shown that families who safely co-sleep or bedshare get more sleep than those whose babies sleep in a different room.
If you are uncomfortable with bedsharing for the whole night, consider setting your alarm for 20 minutes, while nursing in the sidelying position in bed. Then, if you end up falling asleep, your quiet alarm will wake you and then you can place your baby in his/her own bed, bassinet, or sidecar.
Try what the authors of Sweet Sleep call ‘Front Loading:’ do more work early in the day and start to unwind earlier in the evening. If you can unwind earlier, that means you can fall asleep earlier and easier, as well. Check out this Huffington Post article about 15 Science-Backed Ways to Falls Asleep Faster
Resources for evidence-based info about normal infant sleep:
http://www.secretsofbabybehavior.com/2010/04/science-of-infant-sleep-part-ii-big.html
http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Sleep-Nighttime-Strategies-Breastfeeding/dp/0345518470
Understanding Infant Sleep - The First 6 Weeks
“I slept like a baby”
When I hear this saying, I immediately envision sleeping deeply, soundly, and for 10 hours straight. Whoever came up with that saying clearly didn’t have children! All of the babies I know definitely do not sleep soundly for an extended period of time until at least toddlerhood… and even then sleep can be disrupted by teething, colds, and just regular night waking. With current infant sleep recommendations stating that babies should learn to sleep on their own, all night, by 6 months, I have to wonder how much of this information is hearsay and old-wives’ tales and how much is evidence-based (using good research models).
So, let’s break this down using the most current research.
“I slept like a baby”
When I hear this saying, I immediately envision sleeping deeply, soundly, and for 10 hours straight. Whoever came up with that saying clearly didn’t have children! All of the babies I know definitely do not sleep soundly for an extended period of time until at least toddlerhood… and even then sleep can be disrupted by teething, colds, and just regular night waking. With current infant sleep recommendations stating that babies should learn to sleep on their own, all night, by 6 months, I have to wonder how much of this information is hearsay and old-wives’ tales and how much is evidence-based (using good research models).
So, let’s break this down using the most current research.
SOURCE: UNITED STATES BREASTFEEDING COMMITTEE
What does research tell us about infant sleep patterns?
Today I am going to discuss sleep patterns and behaviors for infants during the first 6 weeks. I will continue to share information about sleep patterns for older babies throughout the next few weeks.
How much does a 0-6 week old newborn typically sleep in a 24 hour period?
Newborns sleep in short spurts, both day and night.
Most babies this age sleep between 9-19 hours over a 24 hour period (that’s a huge variation!)
Newborns have extremely small stomachs, which means they need to eat small, frequent meals, at least 8-12 times per day (as a minimum). These feeding sessions can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour, on average.
Newborns eat about ⅓ of their food during the night.
Some babies may take one longer stretch of sleep at the beginning of the night (maybe 4 hours), but then may spend more time eating throughout the rest of the night and day to make up for the food intake they missed while sleeping longer.
Take home message: It is biologically and developmentally normal for your baby to sleep in only 1-3 hour increments during the first 6 weeks because they are unable to eat enough at a feeding session to go for longer.
Why do newborns wake often?
Besides having a small stomach capacity, newborns are hard-wired to wake frequently during the day and night. This is one of the ways their bodies are protected from SIDS.
Newborns’ sleep cycles are different than adults: when they fall asleep, they spend more time in active (REM) sleep rather than quiet sleep (which means they wake more easily), their temperature doesn’t drop in the middle of the night (which means that they cannot distinguish daytime from nighttime), and they have no circadian rhythm.
Newborns are often unable to join multiple sleep cycles together. This takes a few months for their bodies to figure out. A newborn sleep cycle is 45 minutes long. You might get two sleep cycles strung together for 90 minutes of uninterrupted sleep, but then they are right back up again.
Take home message: Babies are programmed to wake frequently and sleep lightly. This is developmentally normal infant behavior.
What are realistic sleep expectations for your 0-6 week old newborn?
Your baby’s sleep patterns are going to be all over the place. Unpredictable. Some short spurts (20 minutes). Some long spurts (3 hours). This is normal and will become more predictable over time.
Your baby is going to wake frequently during the day and night until he/she develops a circadian rhythm around 3 months. At 3 months, your baby may still wake frequently during the night, but will at least be able to fall back asleep fairly easily and quickly.
Your baby is also going to eat all of the time. This is what builds and maintains your milk supply. This is also what helps your baby gain weight and grow.
Sleep patterns will be disrupted during growth spurts. Growth spurts happen around 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks. What this means is that your baby will sleep less for a few days and want to eat more. Once these growth spurts pass, your milk supply should be even more robust than before and your baby will slow back down to eating slightly less frequently.
What are some tips for parents feeling really overwhelmed and sleep deprived with baby’s frequent waking?
Sometimes just knowing that these sleep patterns are normal and temporary makes the situation seem more manageable. Remember, your baby will eventually start sleeping for longer chunks of time (which we will discuss in the next few articles)
Have your baby sleep on someone’s chest while you take a nap. Babies LOVE to sleep on an adult’s chest and usually sleep a bit more soundly and longer. This is not spoiling your baby or creating a bad habit. This is meeting your baby’s developmental need to be near others.
Look into safe co-sleeping guidelines, as research has shown that families who safely co-sleep or bedshare get more sleep than those whose babies sleep in a different room.
Try what the authors of Sweet Sleep call ‘Front Loading:’ do more work early in the day and start to unwind earlier in the evening. If you can unwind earlier, that means you can fall asleep earlier and easier, as well. Check out this Huffington Post article about 15 Science-Backed Ways to Falls Asleep Faster
Start filtering out the misinformation you receive from others about what they think your baby should be doing regarding sleeping and eating. This will only create a situation where you think there is a sleeping problem, when in actuality your situation is most likely perfectly normal.
In our next article about infant sleep, we will discuss normal sleep patterns for babies 6 weeks to 4 months.
Resources for evidence-based info about normal infant sleep:
http://www.secretsofbabybehavior.com/2010/03/science-of-infant-sleep-part-i-first-6.html
http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Sleep-Nighttime-Strategies-Breastfeeding/dp/0345518470