Български
The baby sleep considerably differs from the adult’s one.
The light sleep of the babies alternate every hour with the deep sleep. The result is a continuous change between light and deep sleep.
First stage: This stage begins with the drowsy state of the baby when it begins to fall asleep.
Second stage: This is the so called REM stage of the sleep – a lighter stage when the baby could move its eyes, even closed, slightly moves its hands, fingers and feet and sometimes looks even nervous. If in this moment you make louder noises around your child, it could easily wake up. The breath of the baby is irregular during the REM stage. It could even stop breathing for 5 or 10 seconds and immediately after that to start breathing rapidly. This is something very usual and normal and it shouldn’t bother the parents.
Third stage: Light sleep. The breathing gradually calms down and the sleep is no longer as active as in the previous stage.
Fourth stage: Non-REM stage. This is when the deep sleep begins. When it starts, the baby could sleep without waking up for at least 50-60 minutes. In this stage it could be hard for you to waken your little one. The breathing and the pulse are slowing down. This is when the baby is having a real rest.
The baby enters and goes out of these stages several times thought out its sleep.
The transition between the stages is quite important. For instance, entering REM stage for the second time, the baby could wake up, start crying or be nervous instead of just moving between light and deep sleep. On the other hand, if the mother is close enough she could caress the baby’s back or hand and the little one could easily move into the next sleeping stage.