False Starts

I like to think everyone knows exactly what I'm referring to here, and that I'm not just using an industry term when I refer to a "false start," but just in case - let's define it.

Unless you're lucky, and I mean exceptionally lucky, you've probably experiences a false start firsthand. You put your little one down for the night, they close their eyes, fall asleep, and BAM - are up again within the hour. THIS specific situation is what I'm referring to here in this post.

The reason it is important to distinguish between this scenario and the regular "nighttime wake up" is because they're caused by different things and therefore have different solutions. A nighttime wake up is similar - but occurs AFTER baby has been sleeping for at least an hour or so.

Nighttime wake ups are usually the result of either hunger or a baby's inability to string their sleep cycles together. If your baby is over 6 months of ago, and had a full feed before bed, then hunger is likely not the culprit. And if your baby is unable to string sleep cycles together... well, that's another conversation and a great reason to work with me *wink wink*

But false starts, as I mentioned, are a different animal and can often be solved fairly easily. The first step, as with any problem, is to identify the cause, and when it comes to false starts - here are three usual suspects.

1. Discomfort.
   If your baby is uncomfortable, there is a good chance they will not sleep well (as is the case with anybody of any age). Teething, gas, reflux, or even just being too warm or too cool can all cause baby to wake up quickly after they first manage to settle down. You can likely find remedies, temporary or permanent, to the first three. As for the temperature issue, you can use your judgment, but I've also got a guide to dressing your baby appropriately for different temperature nurseries that I'd love to share with you - just fire me an email and I'll send it your way.

2. Lack of Pressure.
   There are 2 things that help us fall asleep. One is our circadian rhythm, which signals our brain to start producing melatonin when it gets dark, and homeostatic sleep drive, which is the body's natural urge to sleep as we spend time awake, exert ourselves physically, heal from sickness/injury, or experience exciting or stressful situations.
   Given how quickly they are developing, a babies homeostatic sleep drive builds up SO MUCH quicker than it does in the average adult. (This is a big part of the reason they need so much daytime sleep.) But as they get older, that pressure accumulation starts to slow down, and requires more time awake between naps to build up to the point where they can fall asleep, and stay asleep, at bedtime. If your baby takes a long time to fall asleep when you first put them down for the night, and seems active and happy during that time, and then falls asleep but wake up shortly after - low sleep pressure could likely be the cause. In this case, they view it almost as another nap, and so it may be time to either drop or reschedule their naps in order to allow that pressure to build up appropriately before bed.

3. Overtiredness
   This is where things can get a little challenging because contrary to popular belief, overtiredness does not look like a more intense version of regular tiredness. Overtiredness causes cortisol secretion at the time when we want it least, and actually causes baby to get quite energetic, making it difficult for them to get to sleep. In this case - you might want to move bedtime up by 15-30 minutes.
   This is the hard part though because you may now be dealing with the same symptoms as the previous scenario - except instead of baby not getting enough awake time before bed, they've actually had too much. Two completely opposite causes resulting in very similar symptoms, but requiring opposite game plans.
   So how can you know what scenario you're dealing with and implement the right fix? You could try the trial and error approach - though if you do, start with moving bedtime earlier. Overtiredness is a vicious cycle once it takes hold. Baby does not sleep well which leads to short naps the next day, which leads to bad sleep at night, and on and on it goes. It's much safer to move bedtime earlier and see if that solves the problem.

Hopefully, one of these solutions takes care of your little one's false starts, but if the problem persists, it might be time to consider some one-on-one help from a pediatric sleep coach --- and it just so happens, I'm a great one ;)