Have you just put your baby down for the night and BAM they have woken up within the hour…. Again??

A false start is simply when you put your baby down to sleep for the night and they wake within the 60min of going down.

They may wake once, or may wake several times before falling back asleep and getting their long stretch for the night.

False starts are caused do a misalignment between their homeostatic sleep drive (AKA sleep pressure) and their circadian rhythm (internal biological clock)

This means, they are either going to bed too late OR too early!

So what does this look like? Let's have a look.

YOU HAVE A NEWBORN

 It is not uncommon for newborns to have relatively late bed times that can vary between 7.00pm – 12.00am (sometimes even later!) If you find your baby is treating your desired bedtime as a catnap, consider when their longest stretch of sleep actually is and work around that.

BED TIME IS TOO EARLY 

 What does this mean? It could be that your baby actually needs more awake time before bed therefore they do not have sufficient sleep pressure before bed time to encourage a more consolidated stretch.

BED TIME IS TOO LATE

 Opposite to the above, if you notice that your baby is having false starts and very difficult to comfort it could be that you need to reduce the awake time before sleep

PAIN OR DISCOMFORT

Pain or discomfort can be another cause for a false start especially if your little one is unwell or teething. Cortisol is a natural inflammatory therefore pain and discomfort are more noticeable at night.

PLACED INTO THE COT ASLEEP OR DROWSY

This can be a very common factor when it comes to babies' who are placed into the cot either drowsy, or asleep. Drowsy is the first stage of sleep, therefore if placed into the cot either drowsy or within the light stages of sleep (first 20min of falling asleep) they may startle either within the first 20min or once they start entering the lighter stages of sleep again between 30-45min due to a change of environment.

If your baby's routine seem to be in line with our recommendations with sleep is still messy, we can help!

• For small tweaks to routine, have a look at our Quick Chat - 15min  option
• For parents struggling with several things such as catnapping, frequent night waking, early morning rising or things that simply no longer work, have a look at our Phone + One Week Support option.
• Our 3-12 Month Sleep Guide will help you find a great routine to limit nighttime sleep disruptions and lay a great sleep foundation.

We work with thousands of families world wide towards better sleep.