Troubled night sleep is one of the (many) banes of parenthood, especially during the first year of a young baby. There are babies who will wake up every 2 hours, or there are those are up to party at 4am. If your baby belongs to either of those categories, and you are sick and literally tired of hearing other sympathetic mums saying, “All babies are different”, or “They will sleep through eventually”, then it is time to dive in here to learn how to de-mystify and de-code your baby’s night wakes.
In This Article
- What is a good night’s sleep for babies?
- Why does my baby resist to go down for bedtime even though she is very tired?
- Why is my baby waking up within 2 hours after bedtime?
- Why does my baby wake up every few hours at night?
- Why does my baby wake up between 4am to 6am and does not want to go back to sleep?
1. What is a good night’s sleep for babies?
Before we go into the specific night sleep issues, we should have a better understanding of what a good night’s sleep mean for your baby. According to the American Academy of Paediatrics, babies between 4 to 12 months of age require an average total of 12 to 16 hours of sleep (including naps) and continuous night sleep should still dominate about 10 to 12 hours. (source: AAP).
That being said, the concept of “continuous” may be subjected to the age and feeding needs of your baby. Up to 1 year old, it is perfectly alright to keep 1 to 2 night feeds if your baby genuinely needs it and she maintains healthy growth and development, including steady increase in her wake windows for naps and bedtime.
To gear towards better night sleep, the following conditions can help to tip the night sleep game odds in your favour.
- Your baby is not overtired or under tired by bedtime.
- Your baby is able to connect her sleep cycles either independently or with the help of an effective sleep prop.
- Your baby’s bedtime is within Baby’s Natural Sleep Zone (NSZ) will receive restorative and continuous night sleep.
Your Baby’s Natural Sleep Zone (NSZ) is usually about 11 – 12 hours before her usual Daily Wake Time. (Eg if she usually wakes up at 7.30am, her body clock will naturally kick in around 730pm to 8pm, when she will fall asleep easier compared if she is outside of this zone).
If you are considering to sleep train your baby, read here on how to prepare for it.
2. Why does my baby resist to go down for bedtime even though she is very tired?
Red rimmed and watery eyes. Check. Fussiness. Check. Yawning and eye rubbing. Check. All the signs of a bedtime-ready baby are in place but once you put your baby down in her cot, the protests and cries start and show no signs of tapering, even with all the sleep props out blazing.
When your baby is very unhappy and fussy at bedtime, that is usually a sign that she is already overtired. Sleepy cues in babies can be subtle and once they are missed, adrenaline can cause babies to appear “alert”, “revved up” and “hyper”. Some parents may easily gloss over these 2 stages (early & late cues) and once the adrenaline wears out, your baby will be left tired and extremely grumpy.
What to Do:
- ~ If the bedtime battles happen regularly, try to start watching for her sleepy cues earlier, like almost 30 minutes before intended bedtime. Bringing bedtime earlier can also help your baby fall asleep easier and faster too.
- ~ Ensure you have a strong and consistent bedtime routine in place (read: ironclad) With a consistent bedtime routine, it will help your baby to wind down and be mentally prepared for bedtime. Get our sample bedtime routine for babies here.
3. Why is my baby waking up within 2 hours after bedtime?
It is bedtime and your baby has finally fallen asleep after a full day of wrestling with miserable naps. As you kick back to enjoy a cup of tea or to tackle Mount Laundry an hour later, your baby’s cries erupt over the baby monitor, shattering all dreams to have that much needed downtime.
When a baby wakes up within 2 hours after bedtime, it is known as a False Start. A false start can happen for several reasons. The most common cause is short daytime napping. A day of short or non-existent napping is a stressor that can lead to more fragmented night-time sleep. Less common are long naps happening very close to bedtime which can disrupt your baby’s sleep pressure, making it very hard for him to stay asleep continuously at bedtime.
What to Do:
- ~ Start by tackling the day time naps first. With better naps, you are able to get your baby closer to her Natural Sleep Zone and less overtired. We have some tips here to help handle those pesky 30 to 45 minutes naps.
- ~ If the naps are fine and you have been using the same wake time to bedtime consistently which worked before and now yields a False Start, it is likely that your baby is not tired enough and therefore you will need to increase the wake time to bedtime by 15 to 30 minutes to see if the False start goes away the next day.
- ~ if you have missed a nap or put her down too early for bedtime, your baby may treat that bedtime as a nap. If the sleep pressure is enough, she may be able to put herself back to sleep despite the wake up. If she is unable to after 10 to 15 minutes, do not hesitate to offer a feed or assist her to continue sleeping.
4. Why does my baby wake up every few hours at night?
Once after the newborn stages from 3 months old onwards, most babies are able to start sleeping longer stretches at night, and likely only need about 1 to 2 feeds a night, even none. It can be extremely exhausting when your older baby keeps waking up every 2 to 3 hours, and you are at your wit’s end as she does not seem even hungry at all but needs some assistance to continue sleeping.
Multiple night wakes are one of the most common sleep gripe parents have and it can be extremely detrimental to all involved in the long term as your baby’s development may be affected due to non-restorative night sleep and parents not being able to function to their fullest the next day.
What to Do:
- ~ Being overtired at bedtime is usually the main culprit behind those night wakes. Try to reduce your baby’s wake time to bedtime by 15 to 30 minutes (for infants between 4 months to 1 year old) and even up to 60 minutes for toddlers.
- ~ Your baby can also be waking up in between sleep cycles to signal for the sleep prop that helped her to fall asleep at bedtime, to connect to the next cycle. (Eg: rocking, patting, nursing or the pacifier). Try to reduce your baby’s wake time to bedtime first to see if that helps, but if not, you may want to consider to let your baby to try to fall asleep independently (without any sleep props or assistance).
- ~ Discern your baby’s sounds! Talking, whining, fussing, grunting, grumbling, kicking her legs, even pivoting and traveling around the crib – these are all normal noises and movements your baby will make as she figures out how to get comfortable and fall asleep again. Infants wake up multiple times a night as she cycles in and out of her sleep cycles.
- ~ During REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep (also called “active” sleep), babies tend to twitch, move their arms and legs, make sounds and breathe irregularly and they may even open their eyes. Roughly 50% of infant sleep is active, as most development occurs during REM sleep. However, if baby constantly snores, gasps, or snorts while sleeping, check with your doctor so that baby can be checked for any sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea.
5. Why does my baby wake up between 4am to 6am and does not want to go back to sleep?
If your baby wakes up before the rooster crows, and is ready to party, you have a case of Early Wake Up (EWU) in your hands. An early wake up means that your baby wakes up 1 to 2 hours (before 6am) before her usual wake time and is unable to go back to sleep.
What to Do:
- ~ Give your child 30 to 60 minutes to fall asleep again. If she is still awake after 30 to 60 minutes, offer her a feed and put her down in her cot.
- ~ If she does not fall asleep, start the day not earlier than 7am so that the first nap does not occur too early.
- ~ Try to reduce your baby’s wake time to bedtime by 10 to 20 minutes until the Early Wake Up goes away.
We Can Help You Today
At SleepKraft, we apply sleep methods and scheduling advice that is unique to your baby and your family. If you are struggling to improve your baby and your family's sleep, chat with us today so that we can offer the best possible sleep solutions.