32 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | L&L
A
h, sleep. It sounds so simple, doesn’t
it? You put your tot to bed, he closes
his eyes, soaks up hours of refreshing
rest, and wakes with a smile on his
face at 7am. But the reality for most of us (even
when our babies are well past the stage of needing
to feed during the night) is very different.
“Sleeping well is a skill,” says Lucy Wolfe, a baby
sleep consultant in the UK and mom of four. “Learning
to be a sound snoozer takes time, practise, a good
sleep environment, and some dedicated help from
parents.” And there’s one fundamental skill your
little one has to have before he becomes a master
of sleep: stitching his sleep cycles together.
“Sleep isn’t one long, deep slumber,” says Lucy. “Weall – babies and adults – sleep in cycles.” We go from
drowsiness to light sleep, then into deep sleep and
onto very deep sleep. Then it’s back the other way:
from very deep sleep to deep sleep to light sleep. And
it’s during the light-sleep stage that we dream, which
is called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. “When we
move between deep sleep and light sleep, or when
we’re in the light sleep stage, it’s much easier for us to
be woken up,” says Lucy. “Babies spend more time in
light sleep and dream sleep than older children and
adults, so they tend to wake up more than we do.”
If your tot is old enough to not need night
feeds, but still wakes up lots, or if he never
naps for longer than 40 minutes, chances
are, he hasn’t learnt this crucial skill yet.WHAT’SYOURBABY’SSLEEP CYCLELIKE?
IF YOU’RE PREGNANT...
“Your baby first started sleeping
when he was in your womb,” says
Lucy. “This was mainly REM sleep.
Scientists have discovered that we
spend more time dreaming when we
are in the womb and as newborns
than at any other time of life, probably
because we are trying to process all
the new sensations and experiences
that are coming our way.”FROM 0–4 MONTHS
“In these months, your baby’s sleep
pattern is immature,” explains Lucy.
“Your baby has a tiny stomach, so milk
passes through him quickly, which
means he wakes up regularly to feed.Plus, he’s still spending a lot of time in
REM sleep. As this is a light sleep, it’s
much easier for him to be woken up.”FROM 4–9 MONTHS
“This is when your baby’s sleep
pattern starts to mature,” says Lucy.
“His circadian rhythm (internal
body clock) will have kicked in at
three months old, so his body is now
giving him regular prompts about
when to eat, fall asleep and wake
up. By now, he’s also producing the
sleep hormone melatonin, another
biological prompt that will help
him fall asleep at night.” But your
baby still has a relatively short sleep
cycle – just 50 minutes long – andstill spends a lot of time in REM sleep.
“That means he’s still easily disturbed
and may wake often,” says Lucy.9 MONTHS PLUS
“As your baby grows, the amount of
time he spends in REM sleep goes
down and, at the same time, his
sleep cycles start to get longer,” says
Lucy. “By the time he starts school,
his sleep cycles will last around 90
to 100 minutes. So, from nine months
on, he’ll spend more time in deep
sleep. If he’s still waking up during
the night or struggling with his naps
at this stage, it’s a sign that he needs
extra support from you to learn to
stitch his sleep cycles together.”Help your tot master the skills he needs to
sail through the shifts in his natural sleep
cycles, and he’ll snooze for longer...
SLEEP SECRET
The ultimate