What are False Starts?
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False starts can be a common, and frustrating, issue for parents when it comes to their baby's sleep. There are many common causes of false starts, including lack of sleep pressure, overtiredness, discomfort or pain, connecting sleep cycles, separation anxiety, and hunger. In this article, I’ll break down what false starts are, why they happen, and what you can do to help your baby get to sleep easier.
What is a “false start” anyway?
A false start is what we in the baby sleep world call it when your baby wakes up shortly after being put down for bed at night. Usually a false start is characterized by baby waking up quickly after being put to sleep, around 30-60 minutes after bed, or about one sleep cycle or less. I know lots of parents wonder about frequent night waking and come to me saying that their babies wake up every couple of hours at night. This is likely within the range of normal, though. More than an hour asleep means baby is connecting to the next sleep cycle on their own, and waking every couple of hours is actually very biologically normal. So let’s stick with talking about a true false start, where baby wakes up in the 30-45 minute range.
Why do false starts happen and how to help
There are a few common reasons for false starts. I’ll begin with the most common: lack of sleep pressure.
Low Sleep Pressure
Homeostatic sleep drive, also called “sleep pressure,” is one of the 2 driving factors for falling asleep and staying asleep, paired with the circadian rhythm, or body clock. Sleep pressure builds with time awake, and it’s what makes us feel sleepy after a long day. Babies build sleep pressure more quickly which is why they often nap at least once per day. By bedtime, we want our babies to have lots of sleep pressure so that they fall asleep easily, with minimal fuss, in less than 25 minutes. If it’s taking a lot longer than that to fall asleep, baby seems wide awake and wanting to play during their bedtime routine, or wakes quickly after bedtime (having a “false start”) then it may be a sign of not enough sleep pressure.
To help with this, adjust your baby’s wake windows, daytime sleep, and/or bed time. You might start with just tweaking one thing, like the wake window before bed. You can do this either by shortening their last nap (yes, you can wake them up!) and/or pushing their bedtime a bit later. I recommend starting with at least 15 minutes at a time, and you can even go up to 30 or 45 minutes over the course of a few days (go gradually!). If this doesn’t seem to make a difference, you might consider your child’s total sleep per 24 hours. Too much sleep during the day will likely disrupt your nights. If you want your infant (4-11 months old) to sleep 11 hours overnight, say from 7:30pm- 6:30am, they might only need to nap for a total of 2 hours that day. Some of this is trial and error, but if you observe your baby’s natural sleep rhythms and try to cap daytime sleep for a few days you may be able to find their sweet spot.
Overtiredness
Overtiredness is a huge buzzword in the sleep industry and tends to get blamed for everything and I actually don’t think it’s usually the culprit. That being said, if your baby IS showing signs of being overtired at bedtime, and have a false start often, and falls asleep VERY quickly at bedtime (within 5 minutes or so), you may consider shortening their last wake window by bringing up bedtime a little earlier. Again- move gradually, starting with 15 minutes or so, then adding on a little every couple of nights until you notice the false starts disappearing or your bedtime routine going more smoothly.
Discomfort or Pain
False starts can also happen when your baby is uncomfortable or in pain. It’s hard to settle into a peaceful, deep sleep if your tummy is upset or something hurts. Sometimes babies with colic, reflux, food intolerances, or other allergies have false starts because they have a hard time getting comfortable and need some reassurance and comfort from their caregivers to get into the next sleep cycle. Sometimes, if false starts are happening all of a sudden, it’s worth a check-in with your doctor to be sure your baby doesn’t have some sort of infection causing them pain or discomfort.
Connecting Sleep Cycles & The Sleep Environment
We all wake between sleep cycles. We just don’t remember! As adults, after each sleep cycle, we might briefly wake to take stock of our surroundings and to ensure we are still safe. Babies do the same thing, but their sleep cycles are much shorter- about 50 minutes to our 90. This is a common cause of false starts: babies not being able to connect to the next sleep cycle without support. This is incredibly normal, as babies aren’t designed to be separated from caregivers to sleep. However, if the environment is just right, it can be helpful for baby to transition with less help. The environment should be conducive to sleep so that your baby can cycle through their sleep cycles with minimal assistance from you. This means that you want the room to be dark and cool (some GREAT blackout curtains I recommend, use heysleepybaby for 10% off), and you may want white noise so household noises or things outside don’t prevent them from connecting to the next sleep cycle.
Separation Anxiety: Proximity & Attachment
Another common reason for false starts is lack of proximity. Babies attach through the senses in their first year (and beyond!) and rely on caregivers for, well, everything! It shouldn’t surprise us that they need and want to be kept close. If your baby has a false start and is easily soothed back to sleep just by your presence, they might be going through a bit of separation anxiety. To help with this you can try sleeping with your child’s crib sheet for a few nights so it has your scent. If your child is over 12 months, you can also introduce a small lovey or other attachment item that can help comfort your baby when you’re not there.
Hunger
If your baby is dozing off during the bedtime feeding, or if it’s been more than a couple of hours since dinner, they could be waking to “finish” that feeding to fill their bellies before the long night ahead. It’s very common for babies to wake every few hours for feedings, but they will wake much sooner if they are going down without a full stomach. Even a perfectly tired baby will not sleep well on a hungry belly. When a baby isn’t quite satiated, they might “fight” sleep, often crying and fussing, sucking on their hands and squirming around. This might even make you think they are gassy or “colicky”. They won’t fall sleep easily and will need lots of support from you to fall asleep, or will have a false start, and wake quickly after being put down.
Sometimes your baby might stop feeding and fall asleep before they are actually full because the flow has slowed down. By increasing your milk flow (adjusting latch, doing compressions, and switching sides) babies get more milk and are more satisfied. To keep your baby alert during a daytime feeding, you can be sure you are doing these things to increase your flow. You also might need to do things to stimulate your baby during a feeding to keep them awake for a little longer, such as tickling their foot, gently blowing on their face, or stroking their head. You also want to be sure baby is unwrapped or unswaddled during feedings, as being overheated inhibits the sucking mechanism. Once you feel that they’ve had sufficient time at the breast, you can allow them to fall asleep. Nursing to sleep is a biological norm for our species and there is nothing wrong with it at all if it’s something you and your baby enjoy!
If your baby is older/ not feeding at bedtime, you can try offering a high-fat bedtime snack closer to your baby’s bedtime to help fill them up before they go to sleep. Things like oatmeal, banana with peanut butter, or full-fat yogurt with tart cherries (cherries help with sleep too!) are great options.
What Else Can You Try?
If you’ve tried everything and nothing is helping your baby’s false starts, sometimes the best thing you can do for your own sanity is to practice radical acceptance. It won’t be this way forever. Most babies will grow out of doing this around a year even if they’ve been doing it for months. Just like everything else, it is a phase that will pass. A few ways to cope in the meantime:
Be sure to eat a full meal before your baby goes down for bed so that you aren’t rushing to scarf down food before they wake up.
Try having a partner put baby to bed or responding to the false start- sometimes this can break the pattern.
Think of bedtime being a “bedtime nap” so that if your baby does have a false start you have a different mindset.
If your baby cosleeps, consider whether you might be able to push their bedtime later so that you don’t have to get in bed for the night so early.
If your baby has a false start and just needs to be held and cuddled and quickly falls back to sleep, consider letting them sleep on you/ in your arms while you hang on the couch with your partner or put them in a carrier to sleep while you do things around the house or tend to other children.
Pick something you enjoy listening to/ watching with earbuds so that you can still feel like you’re getting to have some wind-down time while you soothe baby back to sleep or hold them.
Consider holding baby for their whole first sleep cycle. If baby always has a false start, then does a longer stretch, you might try holding them for their whole first sleep cycle of the night, THEN transitioning them to their sleep space. You’ll usually be able to know they are moving into a new sleep cycle because they will slightly stir and then resettle, or you can just assume that between 45-60 minutes of falling asleep they will be starting their next sleep cycle. So you might rock or nurse to sleep while listening to an hour-long podcast, and by the time the podcast is over you can attempt to transition baby to their crib.
Think about your baby’s nutrition in the hours before bed. Try and limit (or totally avoid) sugary foods or juices, and be sure they have a full tummy before bed, either with a breast/ bottle feed or a good dinner or snack with plenty of fat and protein.
TLDR:
If your baby is falling asleep very quickly, within 5-10 minutes, AND has a false start, they are likely overtired.
If your baby takes a long time to settle down for bed, takes 30 minutes or more to fall asleep, AND has a false start, they are likely undertired.
I hope these ideas and information are reassuring- I know “false start” land can be TOUGH! My daughter had false starts nightly for several months and nothing we tweaked seemed to help- she just needed closeness. It did pass, and she now sleeps though the night on her own. It will happen for you, too, I promise!
Want all this info in a beautiful, downloadable guide to keep handy? Grab the FREE Decoding False Starts Guide here!
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