Infant Sleep Facts

"During the first year or two of life, a baby wakes up during the night.  This is not a problem: It is a biological fact. The problem lies in our perceptions of how a baby should sleep…”

“Babies have shorter sleep cycles than you do… Adult sleep cycles (going from light to deep sleep, and then back to light sleep) lasts an average of 90 minutes. Infants' sleep cycles are shorter, lasting 50 to 60 minutes, so they experience a vulnerable period for nightwaking around every hour or even less.

Babies don't sleep as deeply as you do. Not only do babies take longer to go to sleep and have more frequent vulnerable periods for nightwaking; they have twice as much active, or lighter, sleep as adults.

Nightwaking has survival benefits. In the first few months, babies' needs are the highest, but their ability to communicate their needs is the lowest. Suppose a baby slept deeply most of the night. Some basic needs would go unfulfilled. Tiny babies have tiny tummies, and mother's milk is digested very rapidly. If a baby's stimulus for hunger could not easily arouse her, this would not be good for baby's survival. If baby's nose was stuffed and she could not breathe, or was cold and needed warmth, and her sleep state was so deep that she could not communicate her needs, her survival would be jeopardized.

Nightwaking has developmental benefits. Sleep researchers believe that babies sleep "smarter" than adults do. They theorize that light sleep helps the brain develop because the brain doesn't rest during REM sleep. In fact, blood flow to the brain nearly doubles during REM sleep. (This increased blood flow is particularly evident in the area of the brain that automatically controls breathing.) During REM sleep the body increases its manufacture of certain nerve proteins, the building blocks of the brain. Learning is also thought to occur during the active stage of sleep. The brain may use this time to process information acquired while awake, storing what is beneficial to the individual and discarding what is not. Some sleep researchers believe that REM sleeps acts to auto-stimulate the developing brain, providing beneficial imagery that promotes mental development. During the light sleep stage, the higher centers of the brain keep operating, yet during deep sleep these higher brain centers shut off and the baby functions on her lower brain centers. It is possible that during this stage of rapid brain growth (babies' brains grow to nearly seventy percent of adult volume during the first two years) the brain needs to continue functioning during sleep in order to develop. It is interesting to note that premature babies spend even more of their sleep time (approximately 90 percent) in REM sleep, perhaps to accelerate their brain growth.“

“When I noticed this face-to-face, almost nose-to-nose position, I wondered if the respiratory gasses from mother's nose might affect baby's breathing, and there is some experimental evidence to support this.

Could there be sensors in a baby's nose that detect mother's breath, so that she is acting like a pacemaker or breathing stimulus? Researchers have discovered that the lining of the nose is rich in receptors that may affect breathing, though their exact function is unknown. (Widdicombe, 81). Perhaps mother's breath and/or smell stimulates some of these receptors, and thus affects baby's breathing. One of the main gases in an exhaled breath is carbon dioxide, which acts as a respiratory stimulant. Researchers have recently measured the exhaled air coming from a mother's nose while sleeping with her baby. They confirmed this logical suspicion that the closer baby is to mother's nose, the higher is the carbon dioxide concentration of the exhaled air, and the concentration of carbon dioxide between the face-to-face pair is possibly just the right amount to stimulate breathing (Mosko 1994).

1. Sleep-sharing pairs showed more synchronous arousals than when sleeping separately. When one member of the pair stirred, coughed, or changed sleeping stages, the other member also changed, often without awakening.

2. Each member of the pair tended to often, but not always, be in the same stage of sleep for longer periods if they slept together.

3. Sleep-sharing babies spent less time in each cycle of deep sleep. Lest mothers worry they will get less deep sleep; preliminary studies showed that sleep-sharing mothers didn't get less total deep sleep.

4. Sleep-sharing infants aroused more often and spent more time breastfeeding than solitary sleepers, yet the sleep-sharing mothers did not report awakening more frequently.

5. Sleep-sharing infants tended to sleep more often on their backs or sides and less often on their tummies, a factor that could itself lower the SIDS risk.”

“I am a follower of the “never let your baby cry” rule, and I took it very seriously. What I didn't understand, though, is that babies make sounds in their sleep. And these sounds do not mean that baby needs you. Babies moan, grunt, snuffle, whimper, and even cry in their sleep. Babies can even nurse in their sleep.

The first step to helping your baby sleep longer is to determine the difference between sleeping noises and awake noises. When she makes a noise: Stop. Listen. Wait. Peek. As you listen attentively to her noises, and watch her, you will learn the difference between sleeping snorts and “I'm waking up and I need you now” noises.”

“

• Family bed babies cry less than babies who sleep alone-a boon to both babies and parents.
• Family bed children end up more independent and better adjusted later in life than those who slept without parental contact.

And this will knock your socks off:

• Most family bed parents have very satisfying sex lives. This finding demolishes the nagging myth that the family bed spells death to sex! “

“Will giving formula or solids at night help baby to sleep better?

The idea that solids will help your baby sleep is an old wives' tale that has been disproven by medical studies. Feeding your baby solids or formula in an attempt to make baby sleep longer is not a good idea for several reasons:

1. There's no evidence that it will help. Some babies will sleep worse, due to reactions to the formula or solids…  (And solids or cereal in a bottle are very dangerous choking hazards.)

2. Formula requires a baby's digestive system to work overtime as baby tries to digest something not specific to the human body. Formula is harder to digest than human milk; thus formula-fed babies tend to go longer between feedings. While this may seem like a benefit, it's probably not something we want for our babies' bodies unless there are no other alternatives.

3. Early introduction of solids (before six months) carries its own set of risks. (health problems, obesity, allergies, etc.)
4. Recent research suggests that longer stretches of sleep are associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and babies who sleep longer may be more vulnerable to SIDS…”

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep.html

http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/newsletters/sleepbookann.htm

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T071000.asp

http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/content/excerpts/lethersleep.htm

http://www.drjaygordon.com/goodnights/index.htm

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html

Research done by the Mother-baby behavior sleep laboratory at Notre Dame on sleep sharing and the inappropriateness of the CPSC’s recommendation to never sleep with your baby:

http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/

Co-sleeping is only dangerous when done incorrectly.  How to Safely Co-Sleep