Easy Dream to Help Baby Sleep

Rose knows that like adults, babies go through phases of sleep.  The phases or sleep cycle starts with a feeling of drowsiness to light sleep then dream sleep and finally deep sleep.  Then it reverses the cycle over and over until we wake again in the morning.  Dream sleep is also known as rapid eye movement or REM sleep.  REM happens about five times during the night.  Babies even go through these cycles before they are born. 

Researchers have seen rapid eye movement in the uterus when the fetus is six or seven months along.  Babies don't have dreams about objects or emotions until they are born and later in life. Rapid eye movement is when their eyes dart back and forth when their eyelids are closed compared to non-dream sleep when they show no movement.  During the non-dream cycle a baby may make movements with their body such as a sudden start or hypnagogic startles which are perfectly normal.
 
This hypnagogic startle also happens in children and adults often when you are just about to fall asleep.  During the first few months after they are born you will notice that it will occur in short bursts and gradually lessen as they get older.  Infants have 50% more dream sleep than adults, by the age of three it drops to 33% and 25% ten years and older.  By three months the baby is sleep twice as long during the night than during the day.  Daytime naps will become longer but less frequent by six months.  If you are lucky to have a six month old baby that has adjusted to night and day, you will appreciate them sleeping about 12 hours at night with two, one to two hour daytime naps.  At 12 months babies will sleep  12-14 hours at night with one daytime nap.  Between the age of two and three the naps might end altogether.  This might be good and bad. 

The toddler will sleep longer during the night, but by the time they are ready for bed they tend to be overtired and very cranky.  Also if you try to get them to nap, they may fight falling asleep until later in the afternoon which can interfere with their bed time at night, or getting up earlier than normal in the morning.  Disruptive sleep cycles also interferes with their dream sleep.  As the day stimulus or experiences are completed during their sleep.  If  they do not have enough time to experience more stimulus in between nap time and night time their dream "filing basket" won't be full enough and they won't sleep through the night. 


Like you, your body has a sleep-wake cycle that is controlled by producing melatonin from your pineal gland. This sleep-wake cycle also know as your circadian  rhythm  which cycles every 24 hours.  During the daytime their daily rhythm includes; feeding, body temperature and hormone release.  As it gets darker more melatonin is produced, your adrenal hormones and temperature drop.  This is why we get jet lag because our body temperature and hormone levels remain high when we travel across time zones. Also when we approach our sleep time our digestive system slows down so it maybe confusing to the baby's cycle if they are given a bottle of milk to get them off to sleep at night as a sleep aide.  It is more practical to start separating them from their bedtime bottle at around three months to either earlier in the evening or at the start of their bedtime routine.  Their bedtime routine can also include a bath, jammie time, a story or lullaby before being left to fall asleep.

It isn't advisable to rock or stay with the child as they fall asleep, because they will become dependent upon you to fall asleep and remember they go through their sleep cycle 5 times during the night.  If they cry let them if they cry or scream more than ten minutes or so check in and reassure them that everything is all right and eventually they will get used to falling asleep on their own and have sweet dreams all night long. 
Good Day
Rose Sheepskill