Spontaneous awakening from sleep in infants

Spontaneous awakenings from sleep were studied in a group of 20 infants whose sleep-waking patterns were recorded polygraphically for 24 h. While 10 infants were orally fed the other 10 underwent continuous feeding for various gastrointestinal diseases. Spontaneous awakening from sleep was analysed with regard to the prior sleep state, age and feeding condition. Infants awoke preferentially out of REM sleep and less often out of non-REM sleep. The feeding condition had no significant influence on the distribution of awakenings. The propensity for REM awakenings was significantly greater than would have been expected according to the REM sleep amount. This tendency was more pronounced for younger (less than or equal to 3 months) than for older (greater than or equal to 4 months) infants. REM sleep episodes which were interrupted by awakenings were significantly shorter than uninterrupted ones, since awakenings occurred predominantly shortly after REM sleep onset. It is proposed that the specific pattern of brain activity during REM sleep facilitates the transition from sleep into the waking state, particularly in the youngest infants.