What controls the circadian rhythm in babies and when is it developed?

At 6 week old baby has no idea about day or night, and has no 24 hour rhythm. By 60 days, to 3 months (12 weeks) this rhythm is developed or developing.  Hormones are beginning to shape your baby’s day and night. This internal biological clock is controlled by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus – in a small section known as the SCN. The SCN receives information from the eyes, from temperature, social cues and food availability.

Natural dawn light is white/blue light which encourages us to wake up by cueing the release of Cortisol, the wake up hormone. As the day passes to night natural light becomes orange/red light, encouraging the brain’s release of Melatonin, the hormone of sleep. Using electric white/blue light when attending to your child at night, is stimulating the release of “wake up” hormone. Using a low level red/orange light is going to naturally be less disturbing,

If food is always available from 7pm to 7am, you are training your baby to regularly be awake at night expecting food.  Again, this disrupts the body clock. Few children, from 9 months old, physically require feeding at night. These late night milk feeds have other physiological effects on babies. When babies consume milk, their bodies produce insulin in response to this. Insulin secretion has actually been shown to block the production of melatonin the sleep hormone.

These lowered levels of melatonin are what then create a fitful night’s sleep for your baby, who then struggles to get into a nice deep sleep cycle without enough of this hormone. This is why, if you resisted that feed after midnight, your baby would eventually settle until morning – even if you heard them wake and re-settle a few times.

Night time feeding also delays the production of another hormone called ghrelin, this hormone helps control appetite. Studies show as the number of hours of sleep increase, ghrelin concentrations decreases, thereby reducing appetite. This reduced appetite allows your baby to sleep for longer period without waking hungry.

So not only are there hormones disrupting his sleep, an excessive fluid intake can cause him/her to wake up wet and uncomfortable, and the milk in the digestive tract is sending information to tiny little biological clock controls, to tell baby to wake up, as food available = day time!

Each time your baby sees your beautiful face at night contributes to disruption by sending messages to that SCN in the brain that this is a social time of day and not a time to be sleeping. This further confuses your baby’s circadian rhythm. This is the  truth behind the strict “no eye contact no smiles at night” that parents are encouraged to follow. Eye contact and using a name is encouraging the possibility of a prolonged interaction, play or negotiation. Night time is sleep time and this should not be negotiable.

If you would like help and support to alter your child's sleep behaviour;-
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Sleep patterns in infants.

We expect babies to wake frequently through the night for feeds and for comfort. Most healthy term babies no longer require feeds at night when they are about 6 months old. Some stop looking for a mid night feed before that. Others are used to this feed and are reluctant to go without but usually they can be gently disuaded from maintaining this habit.

What may surprise mums, is that babies who are exposed only to daylight in the first few weeks of life demonstrate the begining of a sleep wake pattern at as early as 60 days/8 weeks. Starting to "sleep train" infants from this early stage could be highly effective.

When we start to discern a pattern to an infants sleep/wake periods the patterns could be reinforced by ensuring that naps are taken in daylight with normal ambient household noise, and night sleep started when the daylight fades. This follows our primeval sleep/wake pattern which we have adapted by using electric light and altering our lifestyles.

Learn to recognise your infants "sleepy signals". If your child is demonstrating these signs then take advantage of this and put your child to bed. There is only a short window when you can successfully persuade an infant to nap. Miss that slot and baby has gone beyond napping, got a second wind and become fussy and reluctant to settle.

If you would like help to improve your child's sleep Contact Dream-Angus.com