What to Do If Your Baby Is Waking Every Hour
Why Babies Wake Frequently
Frequent wakes can occur anytime, but they often worsen around 4 or 5 months old when babies form mature sleep cycles. This means they start moving through more stages of sleep like adults, with partial or full wakes throughout the night.
These wakes serve an important survival function, allowing us to rouse enough to readjust our body and do a quick check for any potential threats.
You have similar sleep cycles and partial wakes too, but most adults know how to get comfortable and fall back asleep before we rouse completely.
If your baby is waking every hour, it’s during these transitions between sleep cycles. But the wakes aren’t the problem. Those are healthy and natural. The issue is that something is preventing your baby from being able to go back to sleep.
Why Babies Wake Every Hour and What You Can Do About It
Sleep Associations
This is the most common reason your baby might be waking every hour. If a baby is rocked, bounced, or nursed to sleep, it will be jarring when they rouse between sleep cycles and find themselves in a different place. They won’t know how to get back to deeper brainwave sleep states on their own and will need help.
There’s nothing wrong with supporting your baby to sleep, as long as it isn’t preventing either of you from getting quality rest. But if this is becoming unsustainable for you, the best way to resolve it is to teach independent sleep skills. There are compassionate, responsive ways to do this, I don’t ever recommend cry it out methods.
Developmental Milestones
While learning a new skill, your child will need lots of practice or they’ll start practicing in their sleep. If your baby recently learned to sit, crawl, stand, or walk, you may find them crying at night in an upright position. Give them plenty of time during the day to practice, and show them how to get back down to lying in case they find themselves in an uncomfortable position at night.
Discomfort or Pain
Babies may also wake frequently if they’re uncomfortable from teething, gas, food allergies, illness, etc. Ask what your pediatrician recommends to manage symptoms if your baby is teething or sick. Most babies need extra support with sleep when they’re feeling unwell.
Caveat: teething does not cause sleep issues for weeks or months. Many parents blame poor sleep on teething, but true teething pain only lasts a few days at a time.
Poor Naps or Sleep Schedule
If your baby’s wake windows are all over the place, they rely on you to fall and stay asleep, or they have to take naps “on the go”, this can contribute to nighttime sleep troubles. Babies need good sleep in order to get good sleep. Getting on a consistent, age-appropriate sleep schedule will improve their overall sleep, which means you both get more rest at night too.
Summary
At 4 or 5 months, babies form mature sleep cycles and move through more sleep stages, with partial or full wakes throughout the night. Here are the common issues that keep babies from going back to deep sleep states on their own and how to fix them:
Sleep Associations. Your baby may be waking every hour because they rely on you for getting back to sleep between sleep cycles. Sleep associations aren't bad, but can be unsustainable. Teaching independent sleep skills will help.
Developmental Milestones: Periods of significant development like sitting or crawling can cause temporary sleep regressions. Offering ample practice time for new skills can reduce the impact and length of these regressions.
Discomfort or Pain: Teething, illness, and other discomforts can wake babies. Always consult your pediatrician if your baby seems to be in pain. Ongoing sleep issues are likely due to sleep associations rather than temporary pain like teething.
Inappropriate Nap Schedule: Poor nap schedules can lead to overtiredness, causing bedtime struggles and frequent night wakes. Ensuring your baby has an age-appropriate sleep and wake schedule can help improve nighttime sleep.
