8 Infant Sleep Facts Every Parent Should Know by Dr Sears

Nightwaking has developmental benefits. Sleep researchers believe that babies sleep "smarter" than adults do. They theorize that light sleep helps the brain develop because the brain doesn't rest during REM sleep. In fact, blood flow to the brain nearly doubles during REM sleep.

During REM sleep the body increases its manufacture of certain nerve proteins, the building blocks of the brain. Learning is also thought to occur during the active stage of sleep. The brain may use this time to process information acquired while awake, storing what is beneficial to the individual and discarding what is not. Some sleep researchers believe that REM sleeps acts to auto-stimulate the developing brain, providing beneficial imagery that promotes mental development.

One day as I was explaining the theory that light sleep helps babies' brains develop, a tired mother of a wakeful infant chuckled and said, "If that's true, my baby's going to be very smart."

Yup, Jack too. :) He wakes every hour...!

Oh and the sleeping through the night part? 1-4 months is right. They begin night-waking after that.

Meanwhile, Jack is teething and has been waking up rolling over onto his tummy, and even sitting up once. So I reckon the wakings is likely due to both teething and his developmental milestones.

Yet, even though babies achieve this sleep maturity some time during the last half of the first year, many still wake up. The reason? Painful stimuli, such as colds and teething pain, become more frequent. Major developmental milestones, such as sitting, crawling, and walking, drive babies to "practice" their new developmental skills in their sleep.

Jack's sleeping well again. Last night he slept 1+2+3+3+3. Well, better than 1+1 or 2+2 ad infinitum.

Now he can crawl, pull himself up, sit very steadily, and in the past 3 days, practicing clapping. He recognises his Mom, Dad, Grandpop and Grandma, regular aunts and uncles and cousins. And yes, he still smiles at girls. More so at the pretty ones. :p

AskMoxie has some words on how babies sleep poorly when they are learning new things and sleep well again when they master them. Considering what Jack has achieved in the past few months, I'd say he's mastered a lot.

Jack's been physically and vocally very active.

Aside from standing with support and pulling himself up, he's started crawling. Not the shuffle-butt type but the actual crawl.

He said Mama for three days or maybe five, then began saying Baba. His Dad is very pleased. :)

These mornings Jack wakes before me and pats my face with a smile. Other times he'll bawl but smile when he sees me loom above him. He's not happy when I leave to wash up and feed the cats so I carry him with me. He's most entertained by the odd human habit of toothbrushing.

He's more wary of strangers now but will still smile at any cooing female (human, that is). He won't let anyone but his Grandma and I put him to bed but will allow Dad or Grandpa to carry him for a nap.

He giggles when he sees his Humpty doll, with him since he was born, and gives it a pat of acknowledgement and a smile when I put it next to him.

He can sit on his own very well now and easily pulls himself up to standing. There is always a chuckle of delight when I put him in his cot as he swiftly grabs the bars and pulls himself up. He beams while he stands and cries in annoyance when his legs fail him 5 minutes later.

He loves his football and once sat for almost an hour patting and swatting coloured balls in his cousin's Ball Pen. He's regarding his small football most intently as I type this. :)

Last night I felt the tips of two little teeth emerging from Jack's lower gums. Although there had been a lot of noise about him teething since his 4th month (and progressively less sleep - he wakes every 2 hours now), this is the first time I've actually seen and felt any unequivocal proof of his teething. :) He's started solids as well, faring well on rice cereal, mashed banana, and apples. So quickly they grow up...

Jack turned 6 months just a week ago and since then, he's been sitting up without support and has a soft spot for a small rubber football. :) He can say Mama in between his cries and always beams when he sees his Grandma and Grandpa.

Yes I think I qualify.

Since he turned 4 months, Jack's sleep had regressed from 5-6 hours (first sleep) to 3 hours and last night, 1-2 hours.

He even rejected the pacifier I attempted to give him to coax him to sleep. In the end, only the boob would do. I relented.

Fortunately, thanks to the supportive hub and my wonderful parents, I can still work by day with a clear mind.

It's just that from around 9.30pm I turn into a zombie all through the next morning.

The quest for solutions begin. I plan to hit Borders later to check out more parenting books.

He is delightfully happy today playing with Grandpa, giggling and laughing as I type this. He was quite happy to play by himself, under our watchful eyes.

He's started on bananas this week and seems to really love it. I let him eat on his own and despite the mess, he's pretty skilled with feeding himself. :)

At the end of the day, despite the zombie-inducing sleep deprivation, it's still an unparallelled joy waking up next to his curious face peering at me and then a smile.

Last night I put Jack to bed at midnight. He'd had 2 hour-long naps in the day, one in the evening. I was so engrossed in finishing The Game by Neil Strauss that I didn't sleep till almost 2am. He woke at 2.45am, 7.20am, and then once more (I was too buggered to check when).

I had the ioniser on at Medium and then a/c on at Low. May have been my constant moving around that disturbed his sleep.

Let's try again tonight.

Jack had sleep regressed around 4 months (I think, memory no longer 100% reliable) from 5 hours to 4 hours, sometimes 2 hours but finally stabilised at 3 hours. At Borders' latest book sale, I picked up Dr Harvey Karp's Baby Bliss (also known as Happiest Baby on the Block).

Scouring through the book, I decided to try white noise (with our ioniser) set to low. Another realisation that hit was that around the time he sleep regressed, I'd started to set the air conditioner to Auto. Last night I turned it to Low.

Jack slept for 6 hours!

Was it the white noise, the constant temperature, or both? I'll bet on the temperature but will keep the white noise (from the a/c too anyhoo) on too.

We'll try the same config again tonight and we'll see if we get the same results. :D

The combination was irresistable.

Kino vouchers from the girls, Ange calling me for a shop-out (she has the Kino card), and that shop-out is a day after my birthday!

I bought:

The Game by Neil Strauss
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill
The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten by Julian Baggini

Earlier that month I'd picked up Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Diane Eyer, three PhDs writing on evidence-based parenting. Their premise is that, as I understand it, children learn on their own from play (with encouragement from their parents) and structured learning is unneccessary and even harmful to their (particularly, creative) development. That is what I have always felt instinctively, as one brought up on play. Childhood needs to be returned to children.