Hi! I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program. If you’d rather read than watch, I’ve transcribed the text of this video below.
Hi, I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program — and coming up this weekend is daylight savings time. Most parents do not mind it so much in the spring when they gain an extra hour, but it sends fear through people’s bones when they hear they are going to have to lose an hour of sleep! Every year I get a TON of questions asking for the best way to handle daylight savings time and children’s sleep. So here it is:
If I had my way, there would not be a daylight savings time. I think it really does affect not only children’s sleep patterns but adults, too. In fact, statistically there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents the Monday after daylight savings time kicks in. It really does have an affect on all of us and it can increase our sleep debt — especially in children who tend to be much more structured with going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. That is usually why people notice it the most in young children.
So what is the best way to handle it? I get tons of calls the week following the rollback because parents are saying their children are up to early. My advice is to “split the difference.” So, if your child usually goes to bed at 7 PM, I recommend putting that child to bed at 6:30 PM on the first day following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) And it will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this. It takes everybody’s body roughly one week to adjust any kind of change in sleeping habits.
I know that for a week, it is going to be a little off. They will be up earlier. If you have children over the age of two, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. I would just set the clock forward half an hour so that at 6:30, it said 7:00 and I would let them get up a little earlier than normal and knowing that, by the end of the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wakeup time.
Now, if you are dealing with a baby, you cannot do that. They are not going to understand anything about a clock and so, just know that you are going to have your baby waking up at their usual time for at least a few days into the time change. Now, do not rush in as soon as you hear your baby waking up, because you do not want to send a message that getting up at 6 a.m. is okay now. If they normally slept until 7:00 and I would suggest that you just increase your “going to get them in time” by about five or ten minutes everyday. So if they woke up at six you will wait till ten after the first day, and then quarter after the next, then 6:30 the next day and, by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and waking up at their usual hour.
Sometimes it even takes into the second week. You cannot really expect children to bounce on to a new time difference right away. Some people even say it can take up to four weeks for a body to adjust to even the smallest difference.
Give it time and know that they eventually get back on schedule, but there is not point in trying to stay at the “old time.” It is better to just go with the “new time” and decide your child will go to bed at seven and they should go to bed at seven regardless whether it is spring or the fall.
So I hope that helps! I know it is an inconvenience, and it really can mess with everyone’s schedule, but just do your best to adjust and give yourself about a week to get used to it. And for adults too… Really honor the time change do not force yourself to stay up an extra hour just because the clock does not say it is bed time yet. Like I said, it does affect adults as well, so the more your follow the lead of your children and get yourself going to bed at your appropriate time, you will find that you adjust faster as well.
Good luck in the next week. Thanks… and sleep well!
To learn more about The Sleep Sense Program, click here — or you can click here to order now!
To ask a question about your child’s sleep, just leave it in the ‘Comments’ section below! I’ll choose one and create a new video answer each week!
my daughter is 2 1/2 years old and has been waking at various times over night. She has always been a good sleeper but lately shes been waking. we try and get her in bed around 7:30 but she procrastinates. Sometimes she falls asleep right away and other times she doesnt. When she wakes in the middle of the night she cries. We dont take her out of her bed, we keep going in and telling her to rest her head, its not light out yet. Sometimes she goes back to sleep with no problem other times she screems and cries. Ia m exhausted. What she we do??? Help!!!
With your help I have sorted out my baby sleeping through the night. What a difference! Thank you very much.
I have two other children who must have the light on through the night, How do I get them to sleep with the light off. Jack who is 6 is a very nervous child and he sleeps in the same room as his brother Tyler who is 3. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Hi!
My almost one year old is having an issue that my oldest never had. He goes to sleep at night at about 8 and recently sleeps through the night until anywhere between 5 am and 7 am. I can deal with that but now he seems to not want his morning nap and my not take a nap until 2 in the afternoon. I just am not sure that is enough sleep during the day. His nap maybe about two hours long. I give him a bottle before his nap and then lay him down awake unless he is just too tired to stay awake during the bottle. He was breast fed up untill recently. My real question is about the fact that most of the tim ewhen I lay him down he sits up and crawls around in bed like he is lost and doesn’t know how to lay back down by himself and go to sleep. If I go in sometimes I can get him to stay down with my hand on his chset untill he falls asleep. But I don’t want to have to keep doing this. What should I do?
hi i have had a pretty good sleeper for a while now thanks to your advice. However i have recently been set back due to illness and the clock change. He is 2 and usually goes to bed between 730-8 up between 530-630 and naps 1-2 hours. he had a bad cough that was waking him and i had to go in for comfort or water a few times and now he expects it. he is waking at 4 430 am every day i left him for up tp an hour finally i give in and go in and tell him its ok but too early and go back to sleep and he does but now i think hes used to this. also his naps are changed he wakes after about 40 minutes and cries and it takes about 30 minutes or so and falls back but only for about another 30-40 minutes. Not sure if the cause is the time change, the sickness, or an adjustment to day care resulting in separation issues or what. please help 4 is just too early and naps are too short. thanks tammy
Hi. I have an 8 month old baby girl who has slept all night (8:30pm – 7:00am) for the first 7 months of her life. I was able to put her in her crib for her naps during the day & for bedtime without any problems. About a month ago, her bedtime routine flip/flopped! She is able to get to sleep by me rocking her, then placing her in her crib. She will immediately wake up grabbing for me to pick her back up. She eventually made it to our bed. It seemed like the only thing that would work for my husband & i to get any sleep considering we both work full time jobs. She has always slept through the night, & for the past month she has been waking up atleast 3-4 times per night. Naps during the day are very difficult. It seems that if I lay down with her, she will sleep. Me nor the babysitter are able to lay down with her every time. What else can i do? I try the cry it out to sleep method, but it breaks my heart & is so hard for me to do!! Do I need to tough it out & persistantly try putting her down & letting her cry herself to sleep? Also, how do i ease her back to sleep when she has awakened in the middle of the night? Please help me to get my 8 month old back on a schedule that is good for her, my husband & I, and our babysitter! Thanks!
My 7 month old goes to sleep fine on her own in her crib between 7 and 7:30pm. For some reason she has started to wake up once a night. I go in to see her after 10 minutes and use the stay in the room technique until she falls asleep. This takes about 2 hours! Every night is the same. At first I thought maybe its her diaper, maybe she is sick, maybe she needs to burb, maybe she is cold. But nothing. No matter what it always takes about 2 hours before she is able to fall asleep again. Help!
Hi, I tried the crying it out method with my twin sons jake and max. I could not stand to hear them cry. Jake cried so much he through up. Do u have any advice? I knowgo in when he cries pick him up soothe him and then put him back down. Is it best to have them taking naps in the crib rather than the swing , stroller?
My little one is nearly 3 months old and can sometimes sleep all night and other times will get up at 2am. However, the problem i am having is that during day she doesnt sleep alot so by the time 6pm comes she is very grizzly and I try and because I try and feed her every 3-4 hours she sometimes fights with the bottle. I bath her 7pm giving me an hour for to get her ready for bed but she gets so sleepy that I cant feed and ends screaming. Please help me because I am by myself and there is no one to help me and I’m getting very depressed and upset all the time.
Hello:
My 5 month baby sleeps very well during the night 11 hours. next month I’m planning to go overseas 8 hours difference so I’m woried how to keep my baby on his sleeping track with the
time difference. the night is gone be day vise versa.
Please help. My 3 1/2 month old naps well during the day and is a very pleasant little one to be around. He also sleeps through the night without waking up. However, every night after we put him to bed at about 7:00 or 7:30, he cries for at least 45 min. We have tried EVERYTHING!!! Later bed time, earlier bed time, bath, no bath, etc. He has done this for over a month and a half now and I’m out of options. I have 3 other children and followed the same routine with all of them and it worked like a charm. What is the difference? Thanks in advance.
i need help now harley is starting to really upset both me and his dad at bedtime . He has always been a good sleeper at night and we were really lucky to be able to take him to his room at 8.30 say night night and walk out until 7.30 the next morn but two weeks ago harley decided he wer,nt going to bed and i have ended up givivg and end up laying on my bed with him then moving him to his own then hes there all night we have tried leaving him in his room for 5 mins befor returning but after 35 mins or so hes so upset i give in this is causing a lot of problems with his dad and i the other problem is harley is in a bed he would not settle in a crib and when we try the 5 mins he bangs on his door hes 20 months now and we dont understand why out of the blue this has happend
I have a question about my 7 month old. I start his bedtime routine at 6:30pm with a bath, massage,bottle, story then in crib. Lately he has been so tired that we barely get through the story. When I put him in his crib awake but drowsy, he falls asleep almost instantly. Does this mean he is overtired? or am I putting him asleep to late?
Thanks
Cindy
Hi Dana
My name is marisol and I’m Yandel’s mom. Dana Yandel is 7 month and he still wakes up 2-3 times a night. He usually take 2 day time naps frist nap is From 10:30am-11:30 am the next nap is from 1:30pm til 2:40pm. He goes to sleep at 7:00pm every day then at about 10:00pm his up again. I try to get him to stay asleep but it doesn’t work his really crying cause he want milk so then I feed him and he go’s back to sleep. Then at about 2 am his up again I change his diaper hoping that the problem and it’s not he want’s more milk. Then his up again at 6am I change the diaper feed him again and thinking and hoping that he can go to sleep for at least 1 more hour and it’s not working. Please Dana tell me anything to help me fix this problem. I don’t sleep well and I’m running out of energy.
We are in need of any help or advice. Our daughter is 19 mos. and has never slept through the night. She awakes up as many as 10 times and as few as 3 times per night. She sometimes wants a sippy cup and other times she does not. She will scream & cry as if she is scared or something is hurting her. She does have a toddler bed but ends up laying next to one of us since it is easier than getting up numerous times throughout the night.
Hi,
we live in one room apt with a small kitchen that is separate. It is our living room and also our bedroom and our daughter’s who will be 7 months this Sunday.
Caia still doesn’t go to sleep without either being rocked with a pacifier or nursing.
I intend on starting your program so she can learn to go to sleep by herself. I know this will be the first step.
We are looking to move house though(and have been for 3 months now) and I keep thinking I should wait until we go as it seems impossible as she sleeps lightly and we have to tiptoe and whisper in the evening and at nap time but it seems endless as we wait.
My boyfriend, her father, who has a new business, works from the morning until midnight when he is working(a lot) and otherwise, he is home all of the time.
She often goes down to sleep at 8pm but is up by 9 or 10 until midnight. Last night she did this and then only slept until 2 am. She stayed awake until after 6am. Usually though she wakes about 3 times and goes back to sleep after nursing.
Last night, she was happy if I held her and seemed like she was sleeping when in my arms(only when I am sitting rocking her or standing though) but cried if I put her in her bed, ours or the stroller and wouldn’t relax. This went on from 2 until after 6.
During the night, nursing used to work to put her back to sleep but nothing worked last night and some other nights lately. She has 2 teeth so it might be teething. She usually takes 1 nap of about 1 and a half hours to 2 hours and two shorter ones during the day. She has a problem going in to her bed though she will sleep in her stroller. I imagine this is not so good for her as her legs are not straight but she is lying down in a sitting position. The stroller works as I keep rocking it as she drifts off. During nap time too, I often put it in the small hallway in our apt so I can make phone calls etc.
Sometimes she goes to her bed for the first hour of the night asleep but will not after and she wakes every ten minutes or so after I put her down so I eventually put her in her stroller.
I give her a bath every evening which she loves and we have a routine of feeding, and calming music. She is breast fed and eats 3 solid meals a day too. Her weight is fine now but she was always the minimum for the first 4 months.
I am going to start her bath at 6 this evening instead of 7 to see if it makes any difference. It is depressing because of the fatigue. We only live in this country for 1 year now and are not so good with the language yet(german) so I am pretty isolated without family and friends.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, Thanks, Nina
My son is 29 months old and goes to sleep around 8:00 p.m. fine, but wakes anywhere between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. I do think he needs more sleep. I used to ignore him and he would go back to sleep within a few minutes. That is no longer the case. As he is getting older he is more consistant about waking earlier. I am terrified about what time he will wake with the time change.
Our daughter 2yrs 8 months goes to bed around 8 – 8.30pm each night, she usually settles fine with a dummy but I just can’t get her to sleep past 5 am (or sometimes 4am) in her own bed. We use to bring her into our bed at this time just to try and grab another hour or two but I desperatley need to get her to sleep in perhaps just another hour or two. If I don’t go and get her out of bed she just constantly keeps asking for different things then ends up screaming the house down. I have tried controlled crying but she makes herself physically sick. Once in our bed a 5 am she is awake for about an hour then goes back to sleep but this is when the rest of the house is starting to get up for work etc. If I don’t let her go back to sleep she is too exhausted before she’s even got to playschool.
She usually has a nap of anything between an hour and 2 hours around lunchtime. I have tried not letting her have this nap but it does not make any difference.
I would be grateful of any suggestions.
My nine months old daughter was waking up about 2 -3 times a night to breastfeed. I stopped feeding her at night, but she still wakes up at least once. She usually wakes up at around 2:30 a.m. and waits for me just to lay her back down. She than falls asleep on her own again. But she still wants me to go in and lay her down, otherwise she will just keep crying. Sometimes she repeats this at around 4:30 a.m. and then at 5:30 a.m. I finally wake up with her at 6:15 a.m. How can I get her to sleep through the night.
hi dana
i have a 12 month old baby namesd maho..
daily he get in to his bed at 8pm and fall asleep on his own..no problem inthat..but he wakes up 2 times at night (12.30 and 4.30 in the night) for bottle.he s taking milk(2ounces) with his eyes are open..afetr feeding he fall asleep on his own in another 5 min..i didnt put the lights ON.infact he s brisk to play when he wakes up like..pick a boo, hide and seek …
if i leave him for 10 min without bottle, then he will cry for sometime..then he will sleep for another 1hr..again he wakes up..only if i give bottle,then he will sleep for another 4 to 4.30 hrs..
i dont know the reason for this..
my question s ,
at this age,
wat could be the reason?
& is it normal?
how can i overcome this?
thanks for helping me dana.
My little girl is 2 and has only just started sleeping through I wish I had found your program 2 years ago!
Stick with it everyone they all sleep through in the end I had 2 years of 3 hours a night and I still have to spend over an hour getting her off but they do get better…………
My son joshua has just had his 1st birthday and sleeps less than most newborns. We usally manage to get him to bed between 7/7.30pm but he starts waking with absolute screaming anything from 10pm. He continues to be this unsettled along with some screaming throughout the night even when in bed with us. This can happen every hour all night throughout the night and i usually give in an get up with him at 4am. I just dont know what to do, nothing settles him and i am completley excausted. I so wish there is something or someone out there who can help me which is why im researching on this site but am concrned it will be of no help as doctors have suggested he is uncomfterable as has a history of reflux nd is also lactose intolerant. Will the sleep sense programme still help us??????????
Hello Dana,
So we have tried the 5-10-15 method. It worked great, but since he sleeps through the night, our 11 months old wakes up at 5:15 every morning. He goes to bed at 6:30, max 7, so I’m happy he’s getting eleven hours of sleep. Is he ungry? When I nurse him at 5:30, he can sleep an extra hour or more. Is there a way to have him sleep through 6:30 or 7am straight?
Our daughter is 20months old, and is waking almost every night bewtween 1:30 and 2:30. Sophie is usually put to sleep around 8:00pm and is in either mine, or her Daddy’s arms until she falls to sleep, after her feed. I have been seriously ill for the past 12 months and have therefore, given in and collapsed with her in our bed, and she usually falls to sleep. Some times, Sophie, will sleep through the night and wakes around 7am (her bed time routine never changes). Could you please tell me why she wakes up at the same time and then some nights (about once a week, if that) sleeps through? Please help. Thankyou.
Hello I need help my 7 month old daughter wakes up at least 3 times a night for a bottle, how can I get her to sleep through the night? I have a two year old also and our bed rooms are all right next to each other so letting her cry it out won’t work for us. Please help!
My son weighs about 26lbs and is 8 1/2 months old and i still cant get him to sleep through the night . I give him a bowl of cereal and a 8oz bottle of formula or breast milk and he still gets up to eat again maybe 3hrs later .What else can I do to help him sllep through the night?
Our daughter is almost 4 and still drinking a bottle. How do we get her to stop? We’ve tried talking to her about it but she panics if she can’t have a bottle and cries to the point of gagging and throwing up. She will wake up once or twice during the night and ask for one so she can go back to sleep. How do we break her of the bottle and get her to go to sleep without out? Thanks!
I have a question about my daughter Josephine, she is 10 months old and still waking at least 2-3 times a night. I nurse her and she will go back down but now she wants to nurse longer and it is harder to get her back down. She naps great during the day 2 naps 1 1/2 hours each. Her night wakings start 2-3 hours after I put her down!! I let her fuss for a while before I get her but if she goes too long fussing she takes over an hour to get back down. How can I get her to sleep through the night? She has put herself to sleep so I know she can do it.
My son is 4 months old and we are still having trouble finely tuning the bed time routine. He feeds at 6pm – 6:30pm, we grab a bite to eat and then begin his bedtime routine, which some days is bath, pjs, books. Then he feeds at 8pm because he starts melting down otherwise. He usaually stirs through the night frequently between 2:30am – 6am. My husband and I both have to work so we end up using a pacifier to sooth him. It does, but of course when it falls out he stirs again and we’re back up there putting it in. Ironically though I have to wake him in the morning between 6am – 6:30am as I have to feed him so I can get ready for work. Of course this is now probably going to go even more pear shaped this weekend with the time change. What can we do to get him to sleep through the night without stirring?
I have a difficult scenario. My 9month old son Max will not consistenly go to sleep without crying. He’ll do beautiful for several days, then out of no where he just will start screaming as soon as we place him in his crib. Generally we’ve just let him “cry it out” again, but it’s frustrating to keep having to repeat something that is so difficult to do as a parent. We’ve trying staying in the room to comfort him, and we’ve trying going in to tell him night night after 5-10 mins, but it seems like our presence just frustrates him more and his crying escalates. We’ve now had three incidents where he throws such a tantrum that he vomits almost his entire dinner requiring us to change him and strip/change his crib. This obviously causes a major disruption to getting him to sleep (it’s happened 2X in the last 4 nights – once Friday when we left him with a sitter and then Tuesday night; in between no crying at bedtime). I’m going to check with his doctor today, but honestly the puking really seems to be caused by him getting very worked up.
hi
i have a 17 month old daughter who falls asleep on her at night but she wont sleep through the night she will wake up on the bad night around 2 times and on good night 1. when she wakes up i bring her to my bed because she will not settle back to sleep on her own. please help me get her to sleep through the night
My son is going to be 2 in 6 weeks time and he is still waking through the night only if his dummy falls out and i have to get up and put it in his mouth again for him to fall back to sleep and this can happen 4 or 5 times a night sometimes. What is the best way 2 wean him off it?
Thanks
FIrst off, THANK YOU for your program! It is the best money we’ve ever spent, and the best thing we could have done for Jacob. At 10 1/2 months, we finally tried your prgram and haven’t looked back.
However, after establishing a great 11-hour nighttime sleep and 2 – 1.5 hour naps during the day, I’ve had to return to work & Jacob now goes to daycare. All the other kids are on 1 nap a day, but at just 12 months old, I feel he’s too young. My DCP has made minimal effort to nap on my requested schedule, but with the other kids playing, and the inconvenience factor, it just hasn’t gone well. She now puts him down at 12:30, for 2-3 hours, meaning he’s awake between 6:30 and 12:30, and 3-ish till 7:30. Needless to say, I have a very cranky boy by dinnertime!
Help! Do I need to go to daycare to teach them the sleep method? Am I unreasonable in expecting 2 naps a day? How do I approach this?
Hi just wanting to know my 10 mth old has been waking in the night x2 just recently, I let him cry about half an hour and then go in and he seems to arch his back, crying and hard to console after 20 mins of cuddling to settle him I end up having to giev some pamol as nothing else seems to work, and then he settles and goes off to sleep, only to sometimes wake again in a couple of hours. I have been having good success with the putting to sleep awake and making betime at 730 or 8 pm but now this is the problem I am having.
cheers kylie
Hi Dana,
Thanks to your website we finally have our third child (one year a week ago) falling asleep on his own! His naps are several hours long and he is our best sleeper yet (I wish I had found your website 6 years ago!). However, he has a habit of waking up at least one time a night for 1-2 hours. We repeatedly go to him, tuck him in and say goodnight but he fights it very strongly, screaming most of the 1-2 hours. After a week of this my husband finally insisted we pick him up and he fell asleep instantly. The baby will usually do this around 4-5am (sometimes 3am). I am at a loss! I feel like we really gave it a good go and everything else has fallen into place, PLEASE help!
Thank you so much! April
Hi Dana,
I have a 7 months old son , Joshua , he always wakes up 3-4 times during the night …
This is how his day is like ..
8:00 wake-up …i breastfeed him ,
9.00 cereals ,
11.00-1.00 naps
1.00 breastfeeding ,
1.30 lunch ,
4.00-6.30 nap ,
6.30 breastfeeding ,
7.00 fruit,
8.00 cereals
9.00 breastfeed & sleep .
He sleeps in my arms with the soother then i put him in his crib,,,he then wakes up every now & then crying & screaming for me to put the soother back in his mouth ..i still feed him at around 12.00 am when he cries because he usually doesn’t nurse well at 9.00 pm , then he wakes up at 2.30 am & 4.30(i nurse him again at that time ) & 6.30….
I can’t stop those night wakings …Please Help …
My 18 month old is wearing us out!!! She has started waking up 2-3 times a night screaming and it takes up to an hour to settle her back down. We have recently set up a pack ‘n play in our room, where we bring her when she wakes up. Once she is in our room, she sleeps very restfully knowing that we are right there. Am I creating a bigger problem by bringing her into our room, even though we aren’t bringing her into our bed? Help!!!
my daughter is nine month old. i tried to get her to sleep at 7′o clock. but most of time my husband come back from work, so i have to prepare dinner for him. on that time i let my baby to play with toys.after that she play with her father. then she go to bed at 9 or 10 pm. but still she wake up two times during night. i really dont know why? i always give feed before sleep. she sleep with full tummy then again she wake up. what else i can try? sometime she wants to play at 3′o clock in the morning. please tell me what else i can do? thanx
My 8 month old only goes to bed after 10pm every night. Nothing I do can make him go to sleep earlier. Always wakes up in the middle of the night a few times crying histerically! When I finally get him to stop crying he is wide awake and ready to play. The only thing that “maybe” gets him back to bed is having a bottle and that’s if Im lucky. I really would love for him to sleep a full night, 10+ hours like most babies, and go to bed at an earlier hour. What can I do?
My son Gabriel is almost 8 months old. At about 4 months, we started him going to bed by himself. He cried for about 20 minutes the first night, 10 the second and finally on the third night he didn’t cry at all. Now he goes down for his naps awake and puts himself to sleep and at night we put him to bed at around 6:30/7:00 p.m., again awake, and he puts himself to sleep – no crying. He has night wakings, usually only once a night at around 3:00/4:00 a.m. where he’ll breastfeed and I’ll put him back in his crib awake and he’ll go back to sleep until about 6:30 a.m. But sometimes he’ll have his waking at around 1:30/2:00 a.m. and I’ll do the breastfeeding routine and then put him back and he’ll wake up again at around 4:00 a.m. and then he won’t go back to sleep at all – he’ll just keep crying. So I end up walking him around trying to calm him down, until 6:00 a.m. where he’ll sleep finally, but only for a half an hour or an hour – then his older sister wakes up and makes such a racket that it wakes him up as well. I am so tired and his sister is 2 1/2 and is going through a difficult stage and needs her sleep (which is why I have been reluctant to let him cry it out in the middle of the a.m. – I’m afraid he’ll wake his sister up)! Gabriel sleeps during day – usually from 9:00 a.m./9:30 a.m. to 11:00/11:30 a.m. and then again from 2:00/2:30 p.m. to 4:00/4:30 p.m. and then bedtime is always at around 6:30/7:00 p.m. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I really need to get this little guy to sleep through the night. Am I asking too much of him? His sister was going all the way through the night at six months (13 hours straight). She was a bad napper, though. And he’s a skinny little guy. I keep thinking he must need those night feedings because he’s little – he’s on his curve and everything, it’s just a low percentile. Do you have any advice?
My son just turned a year and we seem to have the night time sleep down pat. But the naps I am still having a really hard time with. I can’t get him to sleep (most days) past a half hour. He really needs to sleep longer because in the evenings he is really grumpy and tired. But i am not sure what else i can try? I have tried the going in every 15 to let him now that he is fine and that it is sleep time but it seems to not work. Any ideas to help? Thanks
I have a 10 week old who is sleeping 10 hour stretches through the night about 50% of the time. I still have not been able to establish a night time routine and he is inconsistent on when he eats last – sometimes he wants to eat at 6pm and try to go to bed for the night. If I wake him up to get a last feeding in he does not sleep all night?? He is my fourth and the 3 others did the same – why is this and how do I get him to be a little more consistent in the pm??
my son is turning 3 next month and he is still waking up at least 2-3 times in the night, to have his sippy cup with milk in it and he shares a room with his older sister who is 7 and and if I tell him he can’t have his milk in the night he screams
and screams and keeps every one up and it effects my daughters sleep as well and her school work. I’ve tried all kinds of ways since he was a baby. my child is very persistant and wont give up until he gets what he wants.
I give in every time because if I don’t my husband and I don’t get any sleep as we get more sleep when I give him his milk in the night. but I still want him to sleep through
the night so we have more restful sleep.
my son goes to bed every night at 7:30. We have a regular schedule that we fallow every night. he falls asleep just find with no problems.if you could give me more ideas that would be great.
My son Nathan (10 Months) can’t get himself to sleep without nursing. he wakes up about every 2 1/2 hours and only once have I been able to get him to sooth himself to sleep. He has no interest in nuks and hasn’t taken a bottle since he was 3 months. I can’t seem to get him on a schedule.
I don’t have a problem getting my 7 month old son Kyle to sleep, in fact, my worry is that he might be sleeping to much!
We have a great bedtime which includes a bath, changing into pajamas and a bottle. He is put into his bed awake around 8:30pm and sleeps until 8:30 the next morning. He rarely wakes up at night.
He also seems to need 3 naps per day that usually last a few hours each. I feel like I don’t get to spend any time with him because hes always sleeping! Everyone wants to know what I do to get him to be such a great sleeper! I am not complaining because I do enjoy the peace and quiet, but I want to know that my boy is healthy. He is very happy and energetic when he is awake. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!
My son, just passed his 4 month birthday, still wakes up 2-3 times a night. He screams until you give him a bottle, then passes back out, most nights. But how can we get him NOT to wake up screaming? It just doesn’t seem to matter if he sleeps 2 hours or 5, he just won’t wait more than a few seconds from waking up to start screaming! Is there anything we can do? Thanks.
Our son is 9 months old and has always had to have comfort going to sleep. So from a young age we used the technique of a hairdrier..the sound seemed to soothe him to sleep, and so every night it was an essential! Recently he became ill with the flu. He was very restless and for the lenght of time he was sick he missed his bedtime routine. He also had to be rocked to get him to go to sleep during this time. But as a result his bedtime routine is now to be rocked to sleep, even at naptime! Which is so exhausting, and he also seems not to want to lay in his cot. For the majority of the time he is in his rocker chair..which must be very uncomfortable, but its where he feels safest to sleep?! I read your website about the controled crying tecnique..but I would like to know how to start that, and if it will work in his case. It would be great if we could get our evenings back..as I have read soo many success stories..PLEASE HELP!!!!??? (p.s..his usual bedtime routine was bath. bottle and bed between 7-8pm and he slept untiil 7-8am..but stil with the use of hairdrier..even when he woke in the night)!!! HELP!!!
My daughter just turned 2. She still does not sleep though the night. She falls asleep anywhere between 9:00 – 10:30pm and usually wakes around 3 times during the night. She demands a bottle of formula and will then be able to go back to sleep. How can I get her to sleep though the night without needing a bottle to soothe her??? PLEASE HELP! My husband and I are EXHAUSTED!
My child is 11 months old and has started waking up at 1:30am each morning. I have to lay down with him in order to calm him back to sleep. This can take up to an hour. Do you have any suggestions? Could this be a result of teething?
Something I don’t have to worry about being that we live in Arizona and therefore never change our clocks :O)
The only thing we need to get used to is some of our favorite TV shows changing times LOL
I have a 20 month old son who is unable to sleep through the night in his crib. He is rocked to sleep and put in his crib, and lasts maybe three hours at most in his crib. He then wakes up screaming, sometimes to the point of throwing up, and ends up sleeping the rest of the night in bed with me, his mama!! Once he is next to me, he plays with my hair and is out like a light. He does sometime wake up while next to me, but once he is assured that I am next to him, he drifts off. I am so exhausted!! I do not know what to do!! It is like he is terrified of his crib? Being alone?? I did not have these problems with my two older children. They never slept in bed with me. Please help me!! I feel like I am living on a cloud these days. So tired!!
My son is 18 months old and still doesn’t sleep through the night. He wakes anywhere between 1 and 4 times and can’t put himself back to sleep. I (mum) have to take him out of his cot and sit with him until he goes back to sleep. We have tried leaving him to cry and he just gets so wound up that he makes himself sick and can cry for hours and hours. We have another baby on the way soon and need help to get him to be able put himself to sleep and sleep through the night!
Here in Australia, we have just begun Day Light Savings. My son is now 18 months old and for the longest time now he has been sleeping through the night, but always wake very early the next morning, usually between 5am and 5.30am (sometimes a bit earlier and sometimes a bit later). He goes to bed at about 7 pm – 7.30pm at night and has a very good evening routine. Now that day light Savings has started he is wanting to stay up a bit later (which i don’t really mind) and thought that he would probably sleep in a bit in the mornings too……but no……he is still waking at about 5am in the mornings and no matter what i do i can’t get him to back to sleep. What can i do???
my son is 10 and a half months and still wont sleep by himself please help
Dominic is waking up 2-3 times a night along with restless sleeping throughout the night. He has never slept the entire night for me since I brought him home from the hospital. He has improved from only a few hours a shot to now waking 2-3 times a night. I admit when he wakes up he wants to be rocked back to sleep. I have concern when my daughter is born that I’ll be waking up with her and him and I will never sleep. I will not be able to function on no sleep and two little one’s. HELP!
Hi There, My 6 month old daughter goes to bed easily at 7.30pm and wakes every 2 hours for comfort feeds (I am breastfeeding). She pretty much falls asleep feeding so when I put her in bed she is always half asleep. Sometimes I can stretch it out to 2.5 hours but much more than that and she gets fairly distressed. I am exhausted by this and don’t know how to break the habit. Please help.
My son Joshua (13 months) keeps waking up 5 to 10 times a night from 1am, mostly because he end up on his tummy and for some reason doesn’t turn back over……even though he can – so screams until I turn him over. He used to be a really good sleeper but it seems to be getting worse and worse. I have tried controlled crying and he cried for over 2 – 3 hours every night for over a week….then I gave up! Am getting desperate as have a 2 1/2 year old as well and she needs a sane mum to deal with her terrible 2 stage.
What is the best way to wean a 7month old baby off a dummy or soother to put an end to interupted sleep? Thank you.
My 17 month old son goes to bed like clockwork around 8:30 every night. However, by 3am he is awake and screaming/crying. I will go in after about 10 minutes of listening to him, pick him up and rock him for about 3 minutes. I’ll then put him back into his crib, put on some lullaby music and he’ll go back to sleep. How do we get him to sleep through the night?????
P.S I’m due with my second child at the end of December and really need to get him sleeping by then.
no matter what we do we cant get Amy ( 10 months old ) to sleep past 4.30am – regardless of daylight saving – ??