ABSTRACT
One of a parent's first jobs is to learn to recognize and predict their baby's states of consciousness in order to know whether he or she will be available—for feeding, sleeping, and for interaction. The six states are as follows: deep sleep; active sleep; drowsy, in-between state; awake, alert state; alert but fussy state; and crying. The length of sleep cycles changes normally with maturation of the nervous system. In a full-term baby, sleep and waking occur in approximately 4-hour cycles. Within these cycles, a baby is in deep sleep for 45-50 minutes and will then rouse to become active but still in light sleep. These cycles go on all day and night whenever the baby is asleep. Habituation is a protective response, a closing down of the nervous system against too much stimulation from the outside. It is essential to newborns' capacity for survival, helping them deal with potentially overwhelming demands on their immature nervous systems.
