nighttime sleep patterns.
Sleep/Wake Cycles
In the early months, an infant spends most of his or her time sleeping.
This is good news for mom or so she thinks. Actually, the kind of sleep
baby achieves determines its true value. You see, half of baby’s sleep
time necessarily is spent in quiet sleep (relaxed sleep pattern or RSP) and
the other half in active sleep (active sleep pattern or ASP). Researchers
tell us these two patterns should alternate about every thirty to forty-five
minutes during sleep time.
Noticeable differences exist between these two patterns. During the
relaxed sleep state, you see a peaceful baby. The baby’s face is relaxed,
eyelids closed and still. He or she has very few body movements and
breathing is quiet and regular. On the other hand, the active sleep state is
more restless. In both children and adults, this is our dream state. The
extent to which infants dream is not yet known. However, during this
period the arms and legs stir, the eyes and mouth flutter, and facial
activities—such as sucking, frowning, and chewing motions—occur.
Breathing is irregular and slightly faster.
Marisa is missing out on the deeper, quiet sleep her body requires.
Although Marisa experiences some RSP, she fails to experience the cycle
on a continual basis. From the start, she has been put to the breast ten to
fifteen times a day and allowed to suckle for forty-five minutes to an
hour. With that type of feeding pattern, there isn’t much time left for the
RSP cycle to repeat itself. Marisa’s nights are much like her days, a
series of naps between many feedings. Not so for Chelsea. Chelsea has
learned to achieve the necessary length of sleep between feedings,
enabling the RSP/ASP cycle to naturally repeat itself. For her, this sleep
cycle is routine.