What are false starts?
Does your baby often wake within the first hour (usually between 30-50 minutes) of going to bed for the night? This is what we call a false start.
What causes a false start??
▪️Overtiredness
▪️Under tiredness
▪️Needing help with a sleep association (feeding, dummy, rocking)
▪️Hunger
Overtired - We blame overtiredness for many things when it comes to our babies' sleep, but when we talk about false starts, it is often the culprit. An overtired baby will wake more in the night due to a rise in cortisol which subsequently releases adrenaline, so if your baby goes to bed overtired, they might struggle to link that first sleep cycle and wake quite upset.
Under-tired - An under tired baby might fall asleep quickly at bedtime, but their sleep pressure isn't quite strong enough to encourage a long stretch of sleep - they will treat bedtime as a nap and wake happily after 30-60 minutes.
Hunger - If your baby hasn't had a decent feed before bed, or they have fallen asleep before finishing their feed, they might struggle to fall into a deep sleep because of hunger.
Replacement of a sleep association - If your baby is assisted to sleep with feeding, rocking, patting or a dummy, they might need your help with that same association to get into a deep sleep.
To rule out over or under-tiredness, the best thing to do is follow an age-appropriate awake window from the last nap of the day until bedtime.
