Baby sleep is fascinating as their development happens at a fast pace. Your baby is born without a circadian rhythm, their biological clock that helps them understand the difference between night and day.

As a newborn, your baby will be on a 24-hour sleep cycle that involves sleeping and waking around the clock. This is not only because of their unestablished sleep habits, but also because of their need to feed frequently. They’re born with a tiny stomach and as mammals with less fatty milk in our breastmilk, they’re designed to eat around the clock and frequently eat tiny meals. So tiny frequent meals means tiny frequent naps.

Using the Dream Sock, you will be able to have personalized sleep insights for your baby and know whether they’re in light or deep sleep and get to watch how their sleep develops overtime.

Light Sleep

Baby sleep cycles are very unique, because their growth and development happens during sleep and at a rapid pace during their first year. This is why their sleep needs are more than double an adult's needs and consists of much more time in light or REM sleep. Newborn’s spend 50% of their sleep in light sleep and as they grow and hit those developmental milestones, they will have less and less light sleep.

By 1 year old, they will have the same ratio of light/REM sleep as adults, only 20-25%. Light sleep is the time when their body and brain are focused on development. During light sleep your baby might show sucking movements, fine twitches, grimaces, smiles, vocalizations, and they may make large movements with their arms and legs. This is the sleep state that parents frequently mistake for a wake up and may rush in to help their baby only to wake them up! Using your Dream Sock, you can see a live sleep state on your baby and help determine if it’s a true wake up or just a noisy sleeper!

Deep Sleep

Deep sleep or NREM sleep is the sleep state we strive for when trying to put down your sleeping baby without waking them! Newborns do not transition into sleep through deep sleep, so you may have to hold them for 30-40 minutes before they’re in deep sleep. But using your Dream Sock, you can watch how their sleep states change with development and you will begin to notice the shift in pattern of them falling asleep in deep sleep as the months go by!

Deep sleep usually has very little movement, your baby’s breathing patterns become rhythmic and they are less likely to wake up! By age one, they will spend 75-80% of their sleep in this deep sleep state.

Number of Wakings

Dream Sock captures your baby’s wakings throughout the night. It is completely normal for them to wake 1-2 times per night even up to a year old and need assistance, but you may notice some wake times in your sleep quality summary that you didn’t get up and help them!

Just like how you sleep, when you wake for brief periods and roll around to get comfy again, it’s completely normal for your baby to do this too! A baby that is awake in the crib but not calling for help is a happy and content baby so you don’t need to worry about getting them out of their crib until you’re ready.

Sleep Quality Summary

Using your Dream Sock sleep quality summary, you can have overall insight into how and when your baby sleeps. This can give you back some freedom as you begin to plan your day around their sleep needs and habits. It will also help you know if they’re hitting a regression, or if you need to make some adjustments to their sleep habits.

Having an overall understanding of how your baby sleeps is the perfect way to feel empowered in a situation we all so frequently feel powerless!