Newborns cannot distinguish between day and night, often awakening multiple times throughout their sleep cycles and need help getting back to sleep.
As babies develop, they learn their natural circadian rhythm and how to link sleep cycles together so that they remain asleep throughout the night. Over time they will spend less time engaged in active sleep and more time restful sleep.
Stage 1: Quiet Sleep
Newborn babies generally sleep 14-17 hours each 24 hour period at this stage in development, typically in cycles lasting 50-60 minutes each and consisting of both active (or REM) and quiet sleep cycles, where during an active cycle newborns move around or make grunting noises while during a quiet cycle they drift off peacefully into deep restful restful restful sleep. At times they wake briefly before falling back asleep again quickly without assistance – they may need assistance to return to restful restful slumber.
Babies sleeping in deep, quiet sleep are more susceptible to being awakened easily compared to when in active REM sleep (Grigg-Damberger et al 2016). Researchers have demonstrated that when babies sleeping quietly experience a drop in oxygen levels while asleep they wake up much more gradually compared with when in REM sleep.
As parents, it’s crucial for us to recognize and understand baby sleep cycles in order to foster their child’s healthy sleeping habits. Luckily, as your baby ages their sleep cycle should become more like that of an adult and less time will be spent in REM sleep cycles and more time spent in deeper non-REM stages of the cycle.
Stage 2: Active Sleep
Your baby may engage in active sleep by jerking her arms and legs or sucking on his fingers, as well as twitching his eyes from time to time – easily wakenable moments! She may even pause her breathing for 10-15 seconds during this stage (Grigg-Damberger 2016).
Imagine trying to sleep through this stage! If your baby awakens during this phase, she may call out or grizzling; during this phase she is transitioning into her next sleep cycle stage.
Newborn babies typically spend half their sleep time in REM/active states and the other half in quiet restful slumber; they do not establish more sophisticated patterns including deeper non-REM stages until around three months of age.
Once your baby reaches this point, she’ll begin entering non-REM (slow wave) sleep. At this stage, she will move very little and may be hard to wake. Newborns often awaken during this phase and struggle to return back to slumber; due to entering an extremely dark and deep form of non-REM sleep which can be disorienting to them. At this time, however, your wee one will breathe deeply while you may see her twitch her eyes occasionally.
Stage 3: Transitional Drowsy
After progressing through REM and NREM sleep stages, they enter what’s known as transitional sleep. Here, newborns may temporarily wake up briefly but don’t seem to recognize that they have done so; crying may ensue at this stage but don’t panic: typically babies fall back asleep without needing your assistance.
As a general guideline, newborns typically take about 45 minutes for one sleep cycle and progress more quickly through each stage of their baby sleep cycles than adults do. Furthermore, their small bellies mean that they need frequent feedings; which requires them to wake up during both nighttime feedings as well as daytime wake up calls; therefore short naps become even more essential than before.
At this stage, newborns may move around while sleeping and make brief arousals that appear like they are awake. Unfortunately, new borns may be confused in this stage and do not realize they have awakened; usually though, they quickly fall back asleep again.
During this stage, a baby may begin to establish more sleep cycles and can start taking longer naps during both daytime naps and at nighttime – though still an immature pattern that could require assistance in returning back to sleep when awakened in the night.
Stage 4: REM Sleep
Sleep cycles in infants tend to move at an extremely rapid pace, leading them to wake more frequently during the night than adults do. Though they might appear awake, this could just be light REM sleep cycling through. When this occurs, it’s important to avoid jumping up immediately in an attempt to comfort them, as doing so could wake them up later again and lead them back out again – try waiting 2-5 minutes and see if they settle back down into restful slumber instead.
Newborns spend around 50% of their sleep time in the Rapid Eye Movement cycle (REM), so waking them during this stage may make it more challenging to return them to sleep. But this stage is crucial for their brain and physical development; increasing blood flow to their brain, aiding learning and helping them grow taller.
As babies age, their sleeping patterns gradually transition towards those of an adult. This may involve spending less time in the REM cycle and more time sleeping quietly or actively; experiencing three stages of non-REM sleep instead of just one; becoming easily disturbed during the night but eventually experiencing longer stretches of deeper restful restful slumber; understanding baby sleep cycles is critical to ensure healthy development in your little one.
