Babies go through sleep cycles. Problems emerge when parents mistake a cry after the first stage of sleep as a cry for help. Let's talk about sleep cycles and the development of 'catnaps'.
Sleep cycles in babies become more obvious as the baby reaches 5th, 6th and 7th week. The 1st cycle of sleep may last about 20 to 40 minutes after which the little one will stir and possibly cry for a short time. This could be about 2 to 5 mins perhaps, and will resettle (without your intervention) into the next stage of sleep. the second stage of sleep is usually a much longer and deeper sleep stage.
Problems emerge when parents mistake the first stage cry as a cry for help. Often proceeding to pick the baby up. Many will proceed to feed baby again and rock/pat/bounce. They assume the baby has had enough sleep and commence to play with baby only to find that baby 'cracks up' after a short time. This provokes the parent to walk/rock/pat etc to soothe the baby. Many parents fail to recognise the difference between a HELP cry and a I'M LEARNING TO TALK cry. And so 'catnap' sleeping starts. Interupting a baby's sleep after the first stage of sleep results in: the baby learning not to settle well, difficulty staying asleep (these bubs often jerk alot in their sleep), over alertness which then affects how they feed. Babies need at least 2 to 3 hour between feeds often waking 'happy' when a little older than 6 weeks.
Many babies will sleep exhausted sleep at night for a couple of months but often become night wakers later. An 'antsy', clenched fisted baby is a very tired baby. I have often heard Mothers being told that their baby may not need as much sleep, as long as they sleep well at night! I can assure you that is not correct. Babies can be conditioned never to sleep well.
When your bub wakes after a short sleep and cries, listen to HOW bub cries and give them a chance to resettle. This make take about 1 to 3 or 4 minutes perhaps and they may well fuss a little more and resettle into the second sleep stage. At most, some may benefit from a brief shush/pat, but on the whole parents need to take a STOP, ASSESS and ACT approach (see previous articles).
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