![]() Interestingly, studies with mammals and birds shows that there’s plenty of REM sleep during early development. Think of it as processing sensory input and a mapping of sorts of the sensorimotor system. Research on animals suggests that activating these circuits teaches babies’ brains about their limbs and what they can do with them. Meaning, that when your sleeping baby twitches, they’re actually activating circuits in their developing brain. They’ve linked these instances of baby twitching in sleep to sensorimotor development. Some researchers believe that the twitches during REM sleep are more than just a meaningless spasm or movement related to dreams. It’s characterized by rapid eye movements, dreams, and almost complete paralysis of the body. REM sleep occurs after your body has cycled through the four NREM stages and is the deepest stage of sleep. There are five different stages of sleep: four stages of NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep and one stage of REM (rapid eye movement). Another type of myoclonus you’re likely familiar with? Hiccups.įirst a little about the different stages of sleep. If you’ve ever been just on the verge of sleep and suddenly felt your body jerk, startling you, you’ve experienced a form of myoclonus - a hypnagogic jerk. Myoclonic twitches caused by muscle relaxation.Myoclonic twitches caused by sudden muscle contractions.In fact, some researchers now believe that these myoclonic twitches help babies transform their rudimentary movements into coordinated movements. Generally, these twitches are perfectly normal. Here’s the correct term for the twitches: sleep myoclonus (Thank the Greek language: myo for muscle and clonus for twitching). That’s when you’re likely to notice that your baby is twitching in their sleep. You’ll spend some of that time wishing those hours were consecutive and some of that time just watching your baby sleep. ![]() You can figure on about 14 to 17 hours per 24-hours. While it may not seem like it when you wake up in the middle of the night for the fourth time, babies actually sleep a lot.
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