Hi All, Coach Smith again with more sleep comments.

Restless babies who are light/intermittent sleepers are a lot like restless
adults who are light/intermittent sleepers. Think of the causes of poor
sleep in adults: hungry, lonely, afraid, bad day today (or tomorrow), pain,
miss your loved one, etc. The exact same issues apply to babies. "Night
people" sleep late in the morning and stay up late at night, while "morning
people" are just the opposite. Trying to get a nightowl onto an early
schedule is just as difficult as trying to get an early bird to sleep late
and enjoy late nights. I strongly suspect we're hard-wired that way from
birth. My children showed individual sleep patterns even before they were
born, and those preferences / patterns are essentially unchanged two
decades later, long after they weaned.

In addition to all of the above, babies' developmental stages play a HUGE
role in their sleep needs. The ages of "disequilibrium" certainly affect
sleep. And babies are trying to gain weight very quickly - if you had to
double your weight in 5 months, you'd be eating at night too.

One more thing. Who says 8 hours of solitary uninterrupted sleep is (1)
normal, (2) healthy, or even (3) possible?  I'm 50 years old, not trying to
double my weight, and I wake up every 3-4 hours at night. I sleep with
another human, two dogs, and occasionally a cat. So what? Does that mean
I've failed to meet some standard of "Sleep Excellency?"

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre, Dayton OH
http://www.bflrc.com