Baby sleep cues
Are you familiar with your baby’s sleep cues? Do you know what signs to look for to determine when the best time is to put your baby down to sleep?
If not, no worries, in today’s post I will give you all you need inn order to identify your baby’s sleep cues. Hopefully after reading this post, you will be a champ at reading those cues.
Sometimes it’s difficult to know when babies are ready to sleep because they may seem fine and not look tired at all, but meanwhile they may be exhibiting other sings of tiredness that are easy to overlook. That’s why paying really close attention to their sleep cues and their body language is crucial to ensuring that we are optimizing their chances for good quality sleep and getting them down at the most ideal times. Put it this way, If we didn’t follow their sleep cues, we’d likely miss that golden window of opportunity to put them to sleep when they’re actually ready, and we all know what happens when we have overtired babies on our hands…
Who do sleep cues apply to?
Sleep cues apply to newborns, infants, toddlers and even older children. Adults even have sleep cues (like yawning, rubbing their eyes, zoning out, etc…) Newborns and young infants have some slightly different cues which I have outlined below, but they also have many similarities when it comes to their sleep cues.
What do sleep cues look like?
Babies do a multitude of things when they’re tired; Some will suck their thumb or look for their pacifier, some will even start to doze, lay down on the floor while they’re playing, stare into space, etc…but those are only some sleepy signs and I’ve listed a whole bunch of the most common signs to look for. So keep reading.
Awake and content signs (newborn, infant and toddler):
No crying or fussing
Looking around the room
Interacting and playing
Alert
Cooing
Ability to focus
Ability to feed well
Newborn Sleepy/Tired Signs:
Rubbing eyes
Zoning out & staring into space
Yawning
Fussing & whining
Lack of interest in people or things
Eyebrows turning red
Pulling on their ears
Grimacing and making faces.
Jerky movements.
Not taking in full feedings.
sucking on their hands
Newborn Overtired Signs:
Excessive fussiness
Flailing arms or legs
Hiccups
Full blown crying
Arching back or turning neck/head
Inability to be soothed or sleep well
Infant/toddler tired signs:
clumsiness
clinginess
whining or crying
demanding attention
boredom with toys
fussiness with food
Yawning
rubbing their eyes
zoning out
looking for their pacifier or sucking their hands or thumb
Infant/toddler overtired signs:
Second wind and excessive bouts of energy (for toddlers)
difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
excessive crying or tantrums
flailing arms
difficulty calming down
What to do:
Simple. Start familiarizing yourself with your baby's sleep cues and watching for signs of tiredness so you can make sure to get your child into bed before he/she becomes overtired. The best time to put your baby down is when they are showing their first signs of sleepiness, not before and not after.
For overtired babies:
If you have missed the boat, don’t fret, it happens to all of us and totally inevitable once in a while, but here is what you can do to help your overtired baby fall asleep easier and decompress from all the overstimulation. It helps to calm an overtired or overstimulated baby by bringing them into a quiet and dark room. For very young infants three months and under, bring them into a dark room with loud white noise, swaddle them tightly and gently, rock or sway them in your arms until they are calm. This is usually fail proof! Once calm, put your baby down in the crib. Keep in mind that overtired, upset or very overstimulated babies don't fall asleep easily and have a harder time self-soothing, so it's important to calm them first before putting them down.
Be weary, though, of toddlers and older children, as they are adept at hiding their sleep cues; so pay extra attention to their schedule and how long they’ve been awake for, and make sure you don’t allow them to stay up too late with the assumption that they just don’t ‘seem tired’ - It’s a mistake we all make from time to time, but preventable nonetheless.
The importance of recognizing sleep cues:
Babies have a sweet spot for when they are most ready to sleep and that's where sleep cues come in. Put them down too early and they aren't tired enough and haven’t built up enough sleep pressure, put them down too late and they're overtired, at which point cortisol levels spike giving them a second wind or causing them to be really wound up and inconsolable.
Lastly, keep in mind that an under-tired and an overtired baby both won’t sleep well, if at all; So that’s why it’s important to recognize when your child is ready to sleep so that we can give them the best chance for optimal sleep.
