Studies show that babies wake up an average of three times during the night, some more, some less. The key to knowing if your child is sleep deprived is to observe signs of lack of sleep.
Around 9 months, sleep trains begin to flow simply because of brain development. Before this age, the brain is still immature and the sleep-wake rhythm fluctuates a lot from one baby to another.
Nighttime awakenings: the harsh reality
This is one of the realities of infant sleep for which parents must have realistic expectations. However, there is reason for optimism that with time, brain maturation and the right conditions for autonomy, the awakenings will disappear. Just as with learning to walk, consolidated sleep will set in when the time is right.
Awakenings are normal and useful
Some children have few awakenings and others, many. We must try to follow their rhythm because waking up is linked to vital needs such as hunger, thirst, the need to be changed, pain, etc. Awakenings are also related to the maturation of the brain and the acquisition of sleep autonomy.
Awakenings occur between the different sleep phases (stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 or REM) and sleep cycles (from 40 to 90 minutes depending on age). Thus, the transition from one train car to another (the phases) and the sequences of sleep trains (the cycles) can cause arousals and micro-arousals.
No diagnosis of a sleep disorder can be made between 0 and 1 year of age.