Great question!
When we sleep, we all have cycles or waves of deeper and lighter sleep. Each cycle of your baby’s sleep lasts about 45 minutes (yours is more like 90 minutes). In light sleep, some babies are awakened by outside stimuli (room temperature that is too hot or too cold; the sound of the TV or a passing truck) and others by internal stimuli (a little gas, hunger, teething pain, etc.)
During the first month or two, babies who awake hungry cry for food and will only calm by feeding. But some babies awaken —not because they are hungry—but as a natural part of the sleep cycle. And SNOO can aid in lulling these babies back to sleep.
By 2-4 months of age, your baby may become much more social. If they awake during the light sleep part of the cycle at 3 AM, they may call for you to keep them company or even to play.
For these alert, playful babies, SNOO’s blue baseline level may be too gentle and slow…too “boring!” They prefer a bit louder shushing and more jiggly rocking to aid sleep. These are the babies who love to sleep in cars—just the way some of us adults fall asleep in trains, buses, and planes.)
To aid your baby to not awaken during light sleep, but dive back down for another 1-2 sleep cycles, check the following:
- Make sure their arms are staying snugly swaddled
- Growth spurts may awake a baby due to hunger, so try boosting feedings to prevent frequent awakenings
- Try increasing the baseline motion/sound of the bed a level or two…for overnight sleep
- Make sure your little one is not sleeping too much during the day! (limit naps to 2 hours or less)
If locking your SNOO on a specific level helps…keep SNOO at a higher level for all naps and nights for 2-3 weeks. Then, see how your child does again when returning to the blue baseline level.
If you're seeking personalized sleep support for your little one, we invite you to try our Sleep Questionnaire, and our dedicated Sleep Consultants are here to help.
*Certain features and access are exclusive to the Premium Subscription of the App.
