Getting Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Our infant son is still waking up four times a night after recovering from a period of illness. How can I get him sleeping for longer periods?
There is an internal timing mechanism or clock that controls when our children and when we should be entering sleep. This clock has a genetic basis so there is some variation between children and between adults and this clock control over sleep changes our pattern and need for sleep as our toddlers and children get older. We call this clock control over sleep circadian rhythms. The incontrovertible fact is that you can't fight circadian rhythms.
If our children don't get the right amount of sleep at the right time when they need to sleep, they accumulate a sleep debt. The body fights for survival and tries to stay alert and awake despite this sleep debt by producing stimulating chemicals and this "turbocharging" ratchets up the level of neurological arousal. This is what we call a "second wind." Now it becomes harder to fall asleep unassisted or stay asleep overnight or both. Sometimes this sleep debt slowly sneaks up and the resulting cumulative sleepiness does not much affect our child's behavior except for sleep problems.
After 6 weeks of age, all infants began to need an earlier bedtime. This is the circadian rhythm for night sleep. Instead of falling asleep between 9 and 11 PM, he needed to fall asleep between 6 and 8 PM. The bedtime may not be the same every night but it tends to drift to an earlier hour.
Your son was headed in the direction of sleeping through the night around 4 months but got off schedule and got sick and accumulated a sleep debt. So during naturally occurring arousals at night, he has more complete arousals instead of partial arousals because he is in a more alert/wakeful state 24/7. This makes it more difficult for him to return to sleep unassisted (self-soothing) in the middle of the night.
Other common situations causing a bedtime to be too late include:
1. An older sibling distracts the parents and they do not notice the baby getting drowsy at an earlier hour.
2. Day care when the naps might be too brief or occurring at the wrong times so the child gets drowsy at an earlier hour.
3. Parents who both work outside the house and do not see drowsiness develop at an earlier hour and when they return home from work their enthusiastic play masks the child's drowsiness.
The solution is to experimentally, by trial and error, move the bedtime earlier. My research proved that simply changing the time when the baby sleeps can reduce or eliminate night time awakenings.
Additionally, if possible, consider moving him to his own room and feed him once or twice (no more than twice) if you feel he is truly hungry.
More from Dr. Weissbluth:
If our children don't get the right amount of sleep at the right time when they need to sleep, they accumulate a sleep debt. The body fights for survival and tries to stay alert and awake despite this sleep debt by producing stimulating chemicals and this "turbocharging" ratchets up the level of neurological arousal. This is what we call a "second wind." Now it becomes harder to fall asleep unassisted or stay asleep overnight or both. Sometimes this sleep debt slowly sneaks up and the resulting cumulative sleepiness does not much affect our child's behavior except for sleep problems.
After 6 weeks of age, all infants began to need an earlier bedtime. This is the circadian rhythm for night sleep. Instead of falling asleep between 9 and 11 PM, he needed to fall asleep between 6 and 8 PM. The bedtime may not be the same every night but it tends to drift to an earlier hour.
Your son was headed in the direction of sleeping through the night around 4 months but got off schedule and got sick and accumulated a sleep debt. So during naturally occurring arousals at night, he has more complete arousals instead of partial arousals because he is in a more alert/wakeful state 24/7. This makes it more difficult for him to return to sleep unassisted (self-soothing) in the middle of the night.
Other common situations causing a bedtime to be too late include:
1. An older sibling distracts the parents and they do not notice the baby getting drowsy at an earlier hour.
2. Day care when the naps might be too brief or occurring at the wrong times so the child gets drowsy at an earlier hour.
3. Parents who both work outside the house and do not see drowsiness develop at an earlier hour and when they return home from work their enthusiastic play masks the child's drowsiness.
The solution is to experimentally, by trial and error, move the bedtime earlier. My research proved that simply changing the time when the baby sleeps can reduce or eliminate night time awakenings.
Additionally, if possible, consider moving him to his own room and feed him once or twice (no more than twice) if you feel he is truly hungry.
More from Dr. Weissbluth:
- Twin sleep issues
- Sleep for colicky babies
- Getting babies to fall asleep earlier
- When toddlers climb out of their cribs
- Getting kids to stay in bed
- Crying at bedtime
- Keeping kids in their own rooms
- Teaching kids to fall asleep on their own
- Naps for fussy babies
- Crying it out
- Putting kids back to bed
Answered by
Dr. Marc Weissbluth
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