Active Sleep, AKA the many faces of Miss Kyva

This next video is not only quite entertaining, it's also educational! It's an example of Active Sleep in the newborn...who knew?



There are 2 states of newborn sleep - quiet sleep, and active sleep. According to the cool new book I'm reading, Your Amazing Newborn, by Marshall Klaus and Phyllis Klaus:

During the newborn period, an infant sleeps most of the time - about 90 percent of the day or night - and will often fall asleep at the breast. Half of this time is spent in quiet sleep, the other half in active sleep. These two states alternate about every thirty minutes during sleep.

In quiet sleep, the baby's face is relaxed and the eyelids are closed and still. There are no body movements except rare startles and extremely fine mouth movements. In this state, babies are at full rest; breathing is very regular because they are taking in the same amount of air with each breath. However, in all states, babies take a deep sigh every several minutes which allows the lungs to be properly filled with just the right amount of air.

In active sleep, an infant's eyes are usually closed, but occasionally they will flutter from closed to open. One can often see the eyes move under the lids. Eye motion or stillness accompanying these two sleep states has even been observed in the fetus by means of ultrasound. The term rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep refers to the eye movements observed during this type of restless sleep.

In active sleep, occasional body activity ranges from movement of the arms and legs to stirring of the entire body. Breathing is not regular and can be slightly faster than it is in quiet sleep. While they remain asleep, infants in the active sleep state often make funny faces - grimaces, smiles, frowns - and may display chewing movements or bursts of sucking. When babies wake, they usually have been in active sleep rather than quiet sleep. Adults dream while in REM sleep; no one knows whether infants also dream in this particular sleep state.