Do you have a newborn who is a noisy sleeper and often smiles, moves around, flinches and even opens their eyes when they’re asleep? This is called active sleep and I’d like to answer a couple of the most popular questions I get on active sleep to help empower you to understand your little one’s sleep better.

How long does active sleep last?

Newborns spend around half of the time they’re asleep in active sleep, otherwise known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Around the 3-5 month age babies go through a developmental brain shift often referred to as the four month sleep regression. I like to call it a progression as they aren’t going backwards, but growing and developing. In this time their cycles mature and similar to adults they start to cycle through light and deep sleep (REM and NREM sleep) phases.

Do I need to do anything while my little one is in active sleep?

Simply put no, and often I talk to parents and caregivers who hear their baby or think they’re waking up because they may be squirming around and rush over to them. We can actually wake them up by doing this, therefore I always say to pause before responding if you can just to give your baby that time to keep snoozing in case they aren’t about to wake up.

If you’re finding it hard to sleep while your little one is being noisy you can use a white noise machine, this is the one that I recommend. This can also help your little one’s sleep too as it’ll drown out external noises and remind them of the loud and comforting sounds from inside the womb.

Follow me on instagram @themindfulsleepcoach for an abundance of free sleep tips!