False start
Also called false starts, false start bedtime
A false start is when a baby falls asleep at bedtime, then wakes fully within the first hour or so and needs settling again. It comes before the night's first long stretch of sleep.
How it's said
A false start is when baby goes to sleep for their first stretch of the night but wakes up 10, 20, 30, whatever minutes later...
For the last 3 months he has had a false start every single night.
...we got stuck with a false start wake 40 minutes after bed, leading to screaming and tears every night for months on end.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- A split night is a long, wide-awake stretch in the middle of the night. A false start comes early, a full wake within the first hour or so after bedtime.
Where it came from
The phrase is borrowed from sport, where a false start is a start that doesn't count because someone moved before the signal. Baby sleep guides use it for a full wake less than an hour after a baby goes down for the night, before the longer stretch of night sleep begins.
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