Nurturing Healthy Sleep Habits In Newborns
Why You Shouldn't Immediately Pick Up Your Newborn When They Stir at Night
I'm going to let you in on a little-known fact surrounding newborns.... they are the NOISEST sleepers! They grunt (a LOT) cry out, wiggle, whine, and even chuckle, but why? Newborns spend a large portion of their sleep cycle in light sleep, also known as REM.There are a few reasons for this:
During the early stages of life, newborns experience rapid brain development. Light sleep plays a vital role in allowing the brain to process and organize the information it receives, supporting cognitive growth and development.
REM Sleep: Newborns spend considerable time in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, characterized by vivid dreams and rapid eye movements. This stage of sleep is lighter and is believed to contribute to learning and memory consolidation.
Digestive System: Given their small stomachs and frequent feeding requirements, newborns often experience disruptions in their sleep patterns. Light sleep helps them remain easily awakened for feeding, ensuring their nutritional needs are met.
Sensory Development: Newborns are highly sensitive to external stimuli as they acclimate to the world outside the womb. Light sleep allows them to stay alert to potential discomfort or dangers, enabling quick responses for their safety.
Growth and Development: Sleep is crucial for the growth and development of newborns. Light sleep aids in the release of essential growth hormones, supporting their physical development during the initial months.
As a new parent, it's natural to be anxious and attentive to every sound your newborn makes, especially during the night. Many parents may feel the urge to pick up their newborn immediately when they stir or make noise in their sleep. However, there are good reasons to resist this impulse and avoid picking up your newborn right away when they stir at night.Why you shouldn't pick up your newborn immediately when they stir at night?
Letting them settle: Newborns are born with the natural ability to self-settle, which means they can calm themselves back to sleep without needing to be picked up or comforted by their parents every time they wake up. When you rush to pick up your newborn at the first sign of stirring, you may inadvertently interrupt their natural, innate self-soothing process and disrupt their ability to learn how to fall back asleep on their own.
Preventing sleep associations: Sleep associations are the external factors or actions that a baby associates with falling asleep, such as being rocked, fed, or held. If you pick up your newborn every time they stir at night, they may start to rely on this action as a sleep association, meaning they may come to expect being picked up every time they wake up, and may have difficulty falling asleep without it. This can create a dependency on parental intervention for sleep, making it harder for your newborn to develop healthy sleep habits.
Disrupting sleep cycles: Newborns have shorter sleep cycles compared to older infants and adults, and they naturally wake up multiple times throughout the night. This is a normal part of their sleep pattern, and they often settle back to sleep on their own. However, if you pick up your newborn immediately when they stir, you may unintentionally disrupt their sleep cycles and prevent them from transitioning to the next sleep phase, resulting in more frequent awakenings and fragmented sleep.
Promoting Self-Regulation: Facilitating the natural process of your sleeping baby stirring and settling back to sleep autonomously can foster the development of self-regulation skills in their sleep patterns. By allowing them to self-soothe and learn how to fall back asleep independently, you empower them to acquire valuable skills that will prove beneficial in managing sleep challenges as they progress through different stages of life.
Fostering Healthy Sleep Patterns: Nurturing healthy sleep habits right from the beginning plays a crucial role in your newborn's overall sleep development. Instead of immediately rushing to pick them up when they stir at night, you can promote healthy sleep routines like self-soothing and independent sleep. These habits can contribute to enhanced sleep quality and longer periods of uninterrupted sleep for both your little one and yourself.
Cultivating Long-Term Sleep Independence: Encouraging your newborn to settle back to sleep unaided can also foster long-term sleep independence. It aids in building their self-assurance and confidence in their ability to sleep independently, which translates into improved sleep habits as they advance into the toddler years and beyond.
Pausing when you hear baby stirring allows you to listen and assess. If the baby is being noisy, they may be in that light phase of sleep and will quiet back down as they go into the next sleep cycle. Allowing babies to move through their natural sleep cycle without interruption is important. You can gently lay your hand on the baby's chest and shush them to see if they settle back down. If a newborn starts to cry, then it's time to pick them up. They have a need such as hunger, discomfort, or need for reassurance and touch. We can work on healthy sleep habits with newborns, but sleep training methods such as letting them cry to settle, are not developmentally appropriate. Sleep training happens closer to 5-6 months with infants having the development skills to self-settle as well as have a more mature sleep cycle.
As a parent, it's essential to use your judgment and intuition to determine when it's appropriate to pick up your newborn at night. If you understand newborn sleep and there is still something telling you to pick up your newborn immediately, do with that intuition. However, in general, allowing your newborn to stir and settle can promote healthy sleep habits and support their long-term sleep independence.
If you'd like more information on newborn, infant, or toddler sleep, Nurtured Foundation offers one-on-one Sleep Consulting appointments and Custom Sleep Packages as well as Overnight Newborn Care for those under 5 months of age. We offer our Sleep Consulting nationwide with our Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant who is committed to helping families meet their sleep goals with plans that fit their parenting philosophy.