Why Do Babies Wake So Often?
Waking more than four times during an eight-hour night is described as frequent waking. So why do babies wake so often? Is sleeping with support the only reason? Below you will find the causes of frequent waking that have been identified in research:
- A need to spend more time with their mother (especially when she returns to work),
- The separation anxiety period,
- Teething,
- Periods of physical development (learning to roll over, crawling, walking, talking),
- Periods of cognitive development (growth spurts),
- Illness, allergies, eczema, nappy rash,
- Hunger (during growth spurts in particular they want to eat a great deal more),
- Not feeding during the day and feeding at night (some babies do not breastfeed during the day because their attention is on the outside world, and they make up for it at night),
- An anxious attachment relationship with the caregiver (in a relationship where secure attachment has not developed, the baby is not certain the caregiver will come when needed and therefore asks for them constantly),
- Depression in the caregiver,
- Being alone and in the dark (because this signals danger in evolutionary terms, the child may ask for their caregiver),
- Traumatic experiences (separation from a caregiver, bereavement, moving house, divorce, the birth of a sibling, and so on),
- Exposure to television and screens, or to a loud, noisy home environment, which overstimulates the nervous system
Causes such as these can lead to frequent waking.
"Reducing frequent waking to the single question of supported sleep means overlooking important causes like the ones described above."
About the author
Clinical Psychologist Orlit Linet Haklı — After completing a double major in Psychology and Sociology at Koç University, I graduated from the Clinical Psychology programme at Bahçeşehir University. For three years I worked with the Solidarity Association with Refugees and Migrants, a UNICEF project, conducting individual psychotherapy and group art therapy sessions with refugee children and adolescents. I currently provide parental counselling at a private practice in Kadıköy on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, working with children, adolescents and adults using psychodynamic psychotherapy, play therapy and art therapy.