Why won't my baby sleep?

Babies wake — that in itself is not a disorder. What matters is how they wake and what helps. If the baby wakes, feeds and settles in your arms, that is ordinary and eases with age. If it wakes with a startle, arches backwards and being held brings no relief, physical tension is disturbing the sleep — and that does not resolve on its own.

How the baby wakes

Ordinary waking

  • Wakes and looks for food
  • Settles in your arms
  • Falls asleep within minutes
  • Content during the day

Waking from tension

  • Wakes with a startle or a scream
  • Arches backwards
  • Being held brings no relief
  • Falls asleep only from exhaustion

Tension from birth keeps the body on alert. The baby then cannot move from light sleep into deep sleep without waking — and the more tired it gets, the harder falling asleep becomes. That is why a darker room and a later bedtime make no difference; this is not a habit, it is a body that cannot switch into rest.

When it is not about sleep: when the baby breathes noisily or snores in its sleep, or the breathing pauses; when it is not gaining weight; or when it becomes suddenly very sleepy and hard to wake. That belongs with a paediatrician straight away.

How to find out what is behind it

The infant screening questionnaire maps three things at once — muscle tension from birth, the setting of the alarm system, and orofacial tightness that complicates feeding. It is usually their combination that keeps a baby from sleeping, and each of them is addressed differently.

A card on this topic — free

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