Reasons for Night Time Wakings
Sleeping long stretches at night gradually happens for most babies. For example, your baby may have a 4 hour stretch at 4-6 weeks old and then at 8 weeks, they may have a 5-7 hour stretch. This stretch of sleep comes when babies begin to produce sleep hormones and establish a circadian rhythm.
But once you establish longer stretches at nights, what are some things that may interfere with your baby’s sleep? You may ask yourself, “why is my baby waking up at night?”
Growth spurt or illness
Sleep regressions
Not having independent sleeping skills
Separation anxiety
Not having a great sleep environment
Inappropriate schedule
Growth spurt or illness:
In our household, sleep is always disrupted by an ear infection or congestion. Both a growth spurt and illness can result in your baby being more fussy in the middle of the night!
Read more about sleep while sick in this blog.
Sleep Regression:
A sleep regression is a period of time when your baby’s sleep patterns change. It is a temporary set back from your normal sleep habits. It is a time when your baby would typically be sleeping but they are awake more during the night and are having a hard time going BACK to sleep! We are most familiar with the 5 main sleep regressions: 4 months, 8 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months! There is also a 6 week sleep regression that is less commonly known. Check out those blogs for tips and tricks on getting through them.
Not having independent sleeping skills:
It is biologically normal to have multiple night wakings in the middle of the night, if your little one cannot put themselves to sleep at bedtime, then they will not be able to put themselves BACK to sleep when they wake during these biologically normal wakings through out the night. However you put your baby to sleep at bedtime is how they will look to go to sleep when they have these normal night wakings. So fi you are rocking them to sleep, when they wake up after a sleep cycle, they will be looking for you to rock them back to sleep. This is totally fine and normal if you want to continue doing that.
If you’d rather work towards minimizing those night time disruptions, you can certainly do so. This blog about sleep training methods can get you started in the right direction!
Separation Anxiety:
Separation anxiety is a phase most babies go through and can often peak when your little one is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night. Some signs of separation anxiety are refusing to go to sleep, crying at bedtime and or they may wake more in the middle of the night. This is absolutely normal, even if it’s frustrating for you. Check out this blog on handling separation anxiety without ruining sleep!
Not having an optimal sleep environment:
An optimal sleep environment is dark room, cool (68-72 degrees) and white noise. If the room is bright, it may wake baby up! if they hear a sudden noise, they may wake up. IF they’re too hot, they may wake up. Get the idea? Optimal sleep environments can only help sleep.
Want to read more about night time wakings? Check out this blog!
If you’re ready to make some changes around sleep to get longer stretches at night, make sure you check out our packages for support.
