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Posted by Rowena on November 18, 2002 at 01:22:43:
In Reply to: Re: to Rowena..one more thing posted by chelsea on November 17, 2002 at 23:17:46:
Hi Chelsea, All humans sleep in cycle or waves, meaning we go from awake, to light sleep, to deep sleep, to light sleep before waking briefly and going into the next sleep cycle. A sleep cycle for a young baby lasts 20 - 40 minutes (around 90 minutes for adults) A baby of this age needs to go through 2 or 3 sleep cycles between each feed to feel well rested. When we are in a light sleep phase we are semi aware of what is happening in our environment and would wake with any sudden noise. But we are unaware of what is happening around us when we are in the deep sleep phase. If a baby needs help to fall asleep (in other words has a sleep association) and you try to place him in his crib while he's in a light sleep, he is semi aware that things have changed and he will wake within a few minutes. If you wait until he's in the deep sleep phase before popping him into his crib he will be unaware of the change. However he will naturally progess into a light sleep phase with 20 -40 minutes, at which time he can become aware if things have changed. If they have changed he will wake but if he's still in your arms when he stirs, things have not changed and he will quickly return to sleep. This is why he sleeps for 2 hours while he is in your arms. I don't believe you can "spoil" a baby but without realising it you can be teaching him to depend on you to help him fall asleep and by doing this he will have great difficulty falling alseep on his own. The best sleepers are babies who can self settle. By achieving this they can resettle themselves back to sleep when they wake between sleep cycles. If you can I would suggest you encourage him to relearn how to do this. Babies are born capable of doing this but being the very best parents we can be, we help them fall asleep. In doing so, by about the age of 2 weeks they have lost the ability to fall alseep on their own and now depend on mom or dad to help them. I hope this help to explain your little one's behavior.
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Sounds like your little man may not necessarily have a sleep association with feeding but it does sound like he has a sleep association with being held.