Baby's sleep
Having a baby is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a source of anxiety and stress, especially when this little being does not sleep.
There is a very important difference in rhythm between the sleep of an adult and that of a baby. This article aims to help you understand how baby's sleep works to help you manage it better.
Baby's sleep pattern
A baby's sleep lasts about 16 hours out of 24. This approximation varies depending on the child, in fact, just like adults, some children are heavy sleepers, others are not.
A baby does not know the difference between day and night, he has just spent 9 months in a liquid and dark environment .... He therefore has regular periods of wakefulness throughout the 24 hours of the day and therefore at night. This is perfectly normal.
Baby's restless sleep / calm sleep
Many of you are concerned about your child being so restless during sleep. Rest assured, here's how the phases of sleep are broken down
The quiet sleep phase (< 25% of sleep time)
During this phase, your baby is calm, immobile, with occasional jerks and sucking movements with his mouth. This phase lasts about 20 minutes. It is the equivalent of deep sleep for adults.
The restless sleep phase (60% of sleep time)
During this phase, your baby is more agitated: he makes many small movements such as the mobilization of fingers, feet, stretching, we also notice that his eyes move under his eyelids which can be half-open. Sometimes you can even see him smile. His breathing is more noisy and less calm than during the calm sleep phase.
This phase lasts between 10 and 45 minutes. It is the equivalent of REM sleep in adults.
Doing his nights
The average stated time for a baby to sleep through the night is 4 to 6 months, but this is only an average. The variability is important from one child to another and can be a function of the experience (complicated neonatal period, birth weight, hospitalizations, etc), and the more you will be stressed by the fact that your child sleeps through the night, the less he will sleep...
Mistakes NOT to make:
- Let your baby cry. Science has shown that a baby does not throw tantrums, so if your baby cries, you must reassure him and hold him. You will meet many people who will tell you that if you let your baby cry for the first 3 nights he will cry and then you will be fine and that you should hold on. Don't do it because in reality, neurosciences have shown that in this case, the baby, by dint of crying and being terrorized that nobody will come, will decide to shun, to inhibit his emotions. So of course he will stop crying but you will create a suffering individual later on... You will quickly recognize the types of crying (crying of pain, crying of hunger, small crying that will stop by itself and big crying). Don't rush at every cry, learn to decode it but never let a child cry at full force.
- Make him sleep less during the day so that he sleeps more at night: don't do this, it won't help.
Best practices for your baby to sleep:
- Routine is key. For baby to fall asleep easily, it is important to establish the same sleep routine (same time, same bed and place if possible, etc).
- Your child needs a moment of calm, of serenity, it is necessary to put him/her to sleep in a calm and serene place.
- Accentuate the day/night contrast:
- During the day, place him in a room with light, talk to him normally and play with him.
- At night, place him in the dark and take care of him in silence.
- Have him sleep on his back in his crib (ideally next to your bed in cododo) in a room between 19° and 20°.
Crib:
- No bed bumper
- No comforter
- No big cuddly toys
- Avoid overstimulation:
-
- No mobile above his head but possibly at his feet
- Small night light but not too much light
- Small music possible
-
Baby's diet and sleep
It is not necessary to wake up your baby to feed him except in certain cases (premature babies, small weight babies). But even in these cases, after 4 months, you can help your child to settle down with more regular hours.
It is around 4 months that the night feeding disappears. A possible bottle or a nipple at around 10-11pm will help him to sleep through the night, but once again, each child is different.
Evening Cry:
This crying is often misinterpreted as a sign of hunger or pain. In reality, this crying corresponds to a kind of hyperactivity phase of his awakening system, as if he could no longer put it on pause.
The solution is to :
- Don't get upset;
- Try to be as patient as possible;
- Holding your baby;
- Talk to him calmly, very calmly;
- Take him to a dark, quiet room;
- Possibly have him take a hot bath in a dimly lit room;
- Be as reassuring as possible;
- Do not stimulate it but rather soothe it.
Osteopathy and baby's sleep
In some cases, your baby is having trouble sleeping because he or she is embarrassed. Sometimes it is an ear infection or another pathology and we advise you to consult a pediatrician as soon as possible. Sometimes your baby has what we call in osteopathy somatic dysfunctions, that is to say small blockages, loss of mobility at the joint level, muscular tensions and all these dysfunctions can disturb your child's sleep.
A consultation with a specialized osteopath will allow to remove all the small disturbances of the body likely to alter the sleep of your child.
Marie Messager
Osteopath D.O
Specialized in pediatrics
2 rue Alexis de Tocqueville
78 000 Versailles
