When I say this is not “normal”, I always get a gasp.

What I mean is not that your baby’s not normal or that waking up at night is not normal but that unsettled sleep with this many wake ups usually tells us that there is something that needs to be addressed.

Largely and in most cases its schedule related.

As a Pediatric Sleep Consultant, with an extended knowledge of sleep science and how sleep cycles work and having worked with thousand of babies, I know this means that something is interfering with sleep cycles and making REM sleep lighter.

This is the first thing to consider.

Is your little one getting too much or too little day sleep and how is sleep pressure being released? If your day sleep is off, we can expect more fractured sleep at night.

This is not the only factor however.

The second question to ask yourself is: Can my baby/toddler put themselves to sleep on their own?

Do they need me to assist in any way?

If this is the case they are then going to require your assistant every time they hit a light stage of sleep. After 1am, we know that they will mainly be in light REM sleep (also known as DREAM sleep).

Why it’s harder at this time?

This is purely biological, as the night goes on our bodies melatonin levels drop, cortisol begins to rise and our body temperature starts to also rise. This in itself causes our body to be more “awake”. In the earlier half of the night, we have a strong drive to sleep helping us, and that starts to wear off as the night progresses.

Overtired or under-tired (when your body has elevated levels of cortisol or has maxed out their sleep drive) can make this even more difficult. And to make matters worse, if your baby doesn’t have the ability to put themselves to sleep and hasn’t practiced, then you are required to help and that can be very overstimulating and cause them to wake even more causing early wake ups.

https://www.lilbabysleep.ca/freeschedules

As you can tell all of these factors, including environment and feeds can create the conditions for poor sleep and a frustrated baby and mom.

Here are some steps to take if this is happening to you:

Let’s get your baby the RIGHT amount of day sleep. Start here with some free schedules 3-4 months,5-12 months
Understand WHY your baby is waking up so much - I can help assess and give you the reason.
Get a solid plan that addresses all of the factors affecting sleep. This will save you time, sanity and give you all back your sleep.
Reach out for support to get through the hardest parts. We aren’t meant to do this alone.

Book a discovery call with me here so I can assess and see how we can get there together.

It can 100% be fixed.

Let me help xx

Lily

Your Pediatric Sleep Consultant