Like adults, babies have a variety of sleep stages and depths, some moving quickly through the stages to wakefulness, while other stay sleeping deeply. The stages of sleep that a baby goes through begins forming during the last months of pregnancy and keeps developing until they become able to sleep quietly through the night on their own at about eight months, according to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Non-REM (rapid eye movement) Stage 1
The first non-REM sleep stage is drowsiness. In this state the infant appears tired, and her activity level decreases. Her eyes will loose focus or appear cross-eyed and they will begin to droop or they may appear heavy-lidded in sleepiness. An infant's breathing will become irregular and she will react to external stimuli in a drowsy way. To avoid the newborn becoming more alert, avoid stimulating her and she will drift into a deeper stage of sleep.
Non-REM Stage 2
In this 'active' stage of sleep, a newborn may startle or jump more frequently with sounds. He may jerk awake when trying to keep himself alert. Just like adults, newborn babies prove more likely to awaken in this stage. Newborns remain in this active sleep for about 25 minutes before slipping into a deeper sleep.
Non-REM Stage 3
Compared to the active sleep of stage two, this stage is characterized by slower, rhythmic breathing and no eyelid fluttering. She rests quietly without moving. While she proves difficult to awaken, she can become startled and wake up because of loud noises.
Non-REM Stage 4
Stage four is similar to stage three, but is the deepest sleep that a baby goes through. In this 'quiet' stage a newborn becomes very relaxed and very still. She occasionally may jerk or make sucking movements, but these movements will not awaken her. In addition, you can feed or move the baby around and, even if she wakens momentarily, she will then resume her state of deep sleep. This is when most new parents try to have a shower, get a nap or clean the house.
REM Sleep
This is the lightest stage of sleep, and occurs frequently in newborns. An infant's eyelids may be closed but her eyes move behind her lids and she may move, make crying sounds, grimace, smile or suck. In REM sleep, a newborn will respond to noises around her and react to efforts to awaken her. Newborn babies spend about 16 hours each day, but, according to the University of Washington, they spend approximately 50 percent of this time in REM sleep. A newborn will pass through all of these stages several times throughout the night, sometimes having difficulty going back to sleep
References
- Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford: Newborn - Sleep Patterns
- University of Washington; Stages of Sleep
- "Pregnancy Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide", Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley and Ann Keppler, 2001
- Parenting Science: Newborn sleep patterns: A survival guide for the science-minded parent
