Waking up during a sleep cycle - what kind of things cause this?

[RedKites]

DS2, nearly 6mo, has never been a fantastic sleeper, he wakes 2-4 times a night. On a normal night, he will have a feed (he's BF) and then settle quickly, although on a bad night he can be awake for a stretch.

A couple of nights ago, he stirred after I had gone to bed but while I was still awake. I heard him suck fingers/thumb and eventually resettled himself. However, perhaps ten minutes later he stirred again, this time waking properly and was starting to get upset so I picked him up, fed him, etc. However, my understanding (which may well be wrong) was that babies were more likely to wake up as they moved between sleep cycles (which is what I assumed the original stirring was?) rather than during them (which the proper waking then would have been?). Does it depend on what might be causing the wakings, e.g. sleep association/ environmental/ teething pain, etc? I guess I'm hoping to work out what might be causing some/all the wakings, so I can try to fix it, rather than just waiting for it to sort itself out...

[BecAndAlex]

Not sure I know the answer, but I recently got a book from the library called baby and toddler sleep solutions for dummies. It was very helpful and talked about the sleep cycles, and habits. May be a good book to read. I found in very helpful.

[Andcake]

Not sure if this is right but I've noticed that just after falling asleep about 10 mins in ds stirs a little before going into a deeper sleep. This seems to be a prime wake up period. If we move him into a different place between him falling asleep and this 10 min rumble he wakes. I'm sure a book about sleep cycles will explain this better.

[RedKites]

Thank-you both. Andover that's interesting and would certainly fit with what happened. DS2 doesn't need left that long before I put him down, but I remember DS1 used to need to be held for 10/15 minutes before being put down. I don't know what age your DS is, but the time we needed to hold him got quicker as he got older, and then he just started self settling in his cot with no fuss or tears which was even better! BecAndAlex that's a good idea, my local library has a few sleep books, I might borrow a couple and will look out for the one you mentioned.

[Andcake]

Ds is 7 mo... And on occasions it takes less time to be able to transfer him. I always feel awful as I know I should be trying to get him to self settle but I can get him really sleepy but awake in my arms put him down but only 10% of times does he fall a asleep the rest it's play time again or in the middle of the night cries :-(

[RedKites]

Andcake, firstly sorry I got your name wrong before. I'd like to blame autocorrect but it may just have been my nonfunctional brain! And don't feel awful when you put him down asleep. Personally I think if it's working for you right now, go with it, and when it's no longer working for you, try to change it then. And there's definitely something to be said for a baby who is happily asleep, especially in the middle of the night!

[Andcake]

Thanks redkites- don't worry about te name hung. Thanks for the reassurance. There is just so much advice out there and I just feel that somehow he would just sleep through if I don't cave in and duke him to sleep. But ten I love the cuddles too :-) just less at 3 am!