63 responses so far ↓

• 1 Lija // Nov 25, 2008 at 1:53 pm

  How do I know if my child has a medical problem that is disrupting his sleep or if it just a behavioral problem that needs some training? My 5 month old has not slept well since birth but for the last few days his sleeping is getting worse. For example, last night he was up over a dozen times crying and fussing and even nursing him didn’t help to get him back to sleep. We’ve consulted with several doctors who say he has some mild eczema and he’s being treated for reflux but none think that should be disrupting his sleep that much. We’re starting to get desperate but don’t want to let him cry if he’s in true distress. What can we try tonight?

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• 2 Nancy // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:05 pm

  I have a question concerning eating habits. My 20 month grandson doesn’t like to eat much. He still nurses about 5 times a day but often just spits other solid food out. He is growing and developing well and enjoys his vitamins. Any suggestions?

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• 3 Laurie // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:11 pm

  My daughter, Emma, just turned 2. She does down to be just fine at night — falls asleep on her own, and doesn’t stir in the night. However, she’s been waking around 5:00 or 5:30am…too early for us, and too early for what the day has ahead of her. She attends daycare, so the only nap she gets in the daytime is around noon. Rising that early, she’s ready for a nap by 8:30, which just won’t do. We’ve tried to let her “whine it out” and go back to sleep on her own. We’ve tried putting a timer on a light to go on at 6:00, saying that at that time she can get up an play by herself in her room, etc. etc. None of it works. She’s up for the day, and feels that everyone else should be up with her (by-product of daycare…demanding constant stimulation by others). She goes to be between 7:30 and 8:00pm. HELP! Oh, and light in the room isn’t the issue…it’s always still dark outside when she wakes.

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• 4 Danielle // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:19 pm

  Hi Dana
  I am having a very difficult time with my little guy Ethan. He is 22 months old and has NEVER slept through the night, not even once. I have tried every method I know of to get him to fall asleep, and to stay asleep. Since day one Ethan had trouble sleeping, he had very bad colic until he was about 3 months old, therefore we got into bad habits of taking him for walks at night. Currently we are going through a dreaded process of taking him into his room and reading to him and then lying on the floor, pretending to be asleep until he gets worn out enough to go to sleep! ( this horrible process can take up to 2 hours). Ethan is usually up again in less than 4 hours, and then every few hours after that before finally waking up, un-rested and cranky! He is refusing to have a day time nap atall.
  I am at my minds end with the whole situation, do you have any ideas?

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• 5 Sue Wolfe // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:23 pm

  Kelan sleeps in bed with parents or grandparents every night. How do we get him back in his crib? Whenever we try he wakes up in the middle of the night and just cries until he’s back in bed with us.

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• 6 Clare // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:30 pm

  HI Dana
  I have a similar problem to Danielle, my little girl Neve is 5 1/2 months old and suffers from colic and also does not sleep through the night (5hrs max). She is always fussing through the night, mainly because she has lost her dummy and wants it back. She doesn’t sleep much through the day, mainly just cat naps for about 20-30 minutes and we do struggle to get her to sleep at night. She does go off to sleep in our arms with her dummy. Once we put her down in her cot she tends to wake up about 10-20 minutes after. I have tried allsorts including giving her different milk for hungrier babies…do you have any ideas for me?

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• 7 Jamila // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:34 pm

  I have a 2wk old daughter, I notice that she tends to do the bulk of her sleeping during the afternoon, and the early evenings. How can i alter this to get her to sleep a bit more throughout the night

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• 8 Shantal // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:34 pm

  Hi Dana,

  My son Tyler just turned 10 months on Sunday and both dad and I are still not sleeping throughout the night because I can’t get Tyler to sleep throughout the entire night. I tried creating a regimne at night. First I feed him, give him bath, story time (he may or may not have a bottle during story time), brush his teeth and then put him down for the night. No matter what he wakes up between 11P-12A. Usually I will put his pacifier back in his mouth and he will return to sleep, but on most nights he just wants to come get in bed with us. He keeps us up by tossing and turning, sitting up and talking until I give in and go give him a bottle and he will then go right back to sleep. Then he wakes up around 4A and he’s tossing and turning and wants another bottle. On any given night he has 1-2 bottles per night and wakes up twice. I’ve gotten him down to one bottle, then it will go back to 2 bottles. I have never gotten him to sleep in his own bed the entire night. I know that I created this problem with putting him in our bed but what can I do to fix this problem?? All three of us are restless every morning because we just aren’t getting any sleep?

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• 9 Kris // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm

  Hi Dana,

  My 8.5 month old daughter was sleeping through the night since she was 4 months until a couple of weeks ago. She’s teething right now so I don’t know if this can contribute to the problem of her waking up at night. She wakes up at least twice a night now crying, and she wakes up once to feed. She seems very hungry when she feeds at that am session. Will she sleep through the night again after teething? thanks.

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• 10 Jennifer Wrightsell-Hughes // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:42 pm

  What do you do when your nearly-3-year-old wakes up 4 or 5 times per night? This has been going on for several weeks since my son gave up his pacifiers. Every time he wakes up, he cries loudly and my husband or I have to go in and comfort him. Sometimes I have to sing him a song or get into bed with him for a few minutes. It is becoming exhausting and I am nearly out of patience! At first I thought that he was getting his two-year molars or that something else was bothering him but now I think it’s just a bad habit. I don’t want him to feel abandoned at night so I don’t want to just ignore his cries, but I don’t know what else to do… Help!

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• 11 Shari // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:57 pm

  Can you tell me how much sleep my almost 7 month old should be getting? He gets about 2-2 hour naps a day and about 10 hours at night. He wakes like clock work at 5 am too and will not go back to sleep.

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• 12 Pat // Nov 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm

  My 5 1/2 month old son continues to awaken 3-5 times a night even thought he has a pretty good nap schedule during the day, a bedtime routine and always puts himself to sleep. I’m baffled as to why he wakes up so much. His longest stretches are 4 hours but 3 is more typical. I’ve set him up with a lovey, music that I play when he goes down, and verbal cues. All help him to go back to sleep pretty quickly, but he just doesn’t stay asleep. If I nurse him he’ll sleep about 3 hours if not he’ll continue to wake every 20-30 minutes. Please help with suggestions. No one ever seems to mention what to do when the baby puts themselves to sleep, it’s always about getting them down initially, so I feel lost.

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• 13 Maggie // Nov 25, 2008 at 3:27 pm

  My daughter turns 2 in one week and still doesn’t sleep well. Since birth she was up several times a night, sometimes as many as 6 times! At around 18 months she started going to sleep by herself and staying asleep for most of the night. However, for the last month, she will not go to sleep without me (her mom) lying with her in the bed or rocking her to sleep. And if she wakes in the night, she comes to my bed. I don’t let her sleep with me, but she won’t go back to sleep unless I lay with her! She is too old for this, but I don’t know how to stop it. Please help me!!!! I’m at my wits end!!

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• 14 stefanie // Nov 25, 2008 at 3:30 pm

  My 5 month old son William was diagnosed with acid reflux problems. They did x-ray of his esophagus and found that his top valve does not close all the way and after eating and laying on his back the food comes back up. They wanted to start him on baby zantac but I really do not want him on medicine so I asked if there is anything else I can do . So I pump breast milk and add 1 teaspoon rice cereal to the 3 ounces of milk every time he eats. It seems to have now upset his stomach. He no longer has regular bowl movements. He seems to be in pain still. I have tried GRIP Water and Gas drops. I am not sure what else to do. I have a hard time leaving him while he is crying if he is in pain. So I guess I am wondering if you have any suggestions. I do have his mattress elevated. During the day he may sleep in his bouncy seat which seems to help.

  Thanks for everything,
  Stefanie

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• 15 Tina Brennan // Nov 25, 2008 at 3:43 pm

  Hi Dana,
  I have a question regarding Eamon’s sleep. In general, Eamon has a history of being a good sleeper. He is nine months old. He goes to bed around 7:30PM and 80% of the time will sleep through the night until 6:30AM. Recently, he has been waking-up a few hours after he goes to bed (around midnight) and will be up for at least an hour…sometimes longer. He stands up in his crib and is crying as if something is bothering him–his tummy or maybe his teeth?? We try everything to get him to go back to sleep without giving him a bottle. We check his diaper, rub his belly, sing to him, etc. Nothing seems to work. The only thing that will get him to go back to sleep is to give him a bottle of formula (we have tried to give him water). Why do you think he is waking up after a few hours? And what do you suggest we do (or not do) to get him to go back to sleep?

  Thanks,
  Tina

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• 16 Jillian // Nov 25, 2008 at 4:05 pm

  If I can say anything…they key is to be consistent! Most of the time sleepers are not born..they are taught :). The moment my child hit 2 months i took that middle of the night bottle away. Nap time from 3 months forward consisted of a bottle..clean diaper…then patting to sleep. If I could give any advice it would be to never pickup that baby until you want them to get up. If they wake in the middle of the night do not get them up…Dana gives wonderful advice that works. Tend to them make sure they are ok but do not stimulate when it is time for sleep. I found my daughter would wake in the middle of the night due to being a terrible teether…tylenol worked wonders. Just remember depending on the age a bottle is not always the answer :).

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• 17 Janette // Nov 25, 2008 at 4:59 pm

  Evie tends to rock herself back to sleep out 4 in morning, the problem is she bangs her head on side of cot what can I do to stop her doing it and is it common

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• 18 Patricia // Nov 25, 2008 at 5:05 pm

  Hi Dana,
  My daughter Isabella is 8 months old and still wakes up every 3 hours to feed. During the day she won’t have more than 5 oz of formula. She has solids for breakfast lunch and dinner, and she has formula between meals. She goes to sleep on her own after a 5 oz bottle, she will sleep for 4-5 hours, and after that wakes up every 3 hours to feed until she completes 12 hours of sleep.
  What can I do to stop feeding her at night?
  Thank you!

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• 19 Lisa // Nov 25, 2008 at 5:28 pm

  We still have our almost 1 year old sleeping in her bassinet in our room and she is about a week from outgrowing it! How do I transition her to her bed? Our 5 year old STILL is in bed with us too! It’s my fault because I love to have them with me but HELP!

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• 20 Stephanie // Nov 25, 2008 at 5:45 pm

  Hi Dana,
  My nearly 7 month old was sleeping through the night from 7 till 6-7am every night from about 4 months. When he was about 5.5months he started waking a little bit earlier and a little bit earlier, but would generally put himself back to sleep for another cycle and it wouldnt be until 6ish that he would wake up fully. At about 6months we had to take him away for a night, and he had a terrible time getting to sleep and then woke at 1am and 5am, and since then so nearly a month now, he has been sleeping terribly. Either waking earlier and earlier, 5am went to 430 went to 330 and it seems every other night he wakes up twice, so either 10 and 2 or 1 and 5.
  At about 6 months we started him on solids, now he is on three solid meals a day, plus fruit in the afternoon, plus his normal milk feeds.
  Do you think it is the solids, or an age thing, will he grow out of it or is there anything i can do to help? I was just getting used to having my nights back!! Please Help!!

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• 21 Lorraine // Nov 25, 2008 at 5:56 pm

  My 6month old twins (boy/girl) are sleeping great through the night about 11-12hrs. They nap about 1-2 1/2 hrs in the am and I am consistant with the time I put them down. Their pm nap is a little more difficult. The time varies depending on how long they slept in the am usually the pm nap is only about 45min-1hr and it usually takes me 15-20 min to get both or one of them to sleep. Are or should nap times be more consistant with length and time on a daily basis. Oh and they have been sleeping in their cribs scince about 3 weeks old. Am I doing ok?

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• 22 Gail // Nov 25, 2008 at 6:16 pm

  We started using your program when Riley was only a few weeks old. He’s slept through since he was 9 weeks old. Your video this week was right you just have to wait for the day time napping to come - it’s taken us 4 months to get him to sleep longer than 40 min in the day. I decided just to get over it and accept that it’ll happen when it happens. now he’ll at least have an hour and a bit. Keep working at it it’ll happen - but we’ve been really strict on the the principals that you recommend to get to this point

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• 23 lindsay // Nov 25, 2008 at 7:05 pm

  my 2yr old girl as never been a great sleeper through the night,sometimes through the day she doesnt have a nap at all and is up and down for most of the night and gets overtired what should i do im really struggling 2 cope she wants to get in my bed once shes up and i have a fight on my hands if she dont get her own way please help! 2yr without sleep cant be healthy for her or myself. thankyou

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• 24 Kally // Nov 25, 2008 at 7:32 pm

  I kinda have the same problem Maggie does…my three year old daughter will get into bed with no problem and once I tell her she needs to stay in her bed she does. BUT…she will hollar for me several times before she finally goes to sleep and this is over the course of a couple of hours! She wants me to pat her or sit with her but not sleep. Why is it taking her several hours to settle down and sleep? we start getting ready for bed between 7 and 730 by 930 I’m ready to pull my hair out help!!

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• 25 Tina // Nov 25, 2008 at 8:45 pm

  My 4 month old daughter has a regular night time routine and is able to self-sooth to sleep, however she wakes up usually around 4 am and again at 6 am and then sleep until about 7:45 daily. She is pretty good at self-soothing for nap time although does whine occassionally, which I just let her “whine it out” although do not believe in letting her “cry it out”. My main problem is that she does not generally nap much longer than 45 minutes to an hour during the day and is not sleeping through the night.
  Do you have any suggestions for getting her to sleep for longer periods?
  Or have any other parents on here experienced this and have advice?

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• 26 Sherry // Nov 25, 2008 at 8:54 pm

  My 8 month old has yet to sleep through the night. He always goes to sleep on his own and has ever since he was born. However, at night he’ll wake at different times and thinks that it is time to play. I hear him talking to himself but don’t go in because he’s not crying so I assume nothing is wrong. After months of this, I figured he would get the idea that night time is for sleeping and that noone is going to come get him. Unfortuneatly this is not the case. The night time “chats” prevail. What can I do????

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• 27 Jayne // Nov 25, 2008 at 9:02 pm

  Our 5 month old son, Grant, is slowly but surely transitioning from our bed to his own crib using Dana’s “Stay in the Room” approach. While the past two nights have been successful with Grant sleeping from 8:00-4:30am, naps are still a major challenge. He will cry and fuss for the first and second set of 70 min so then I am faced with the “nap-emergency”. I will then put him in the carrier and he is out in no time. This also messes up the schedule for the day because by the time he wakes from his 2 hour nap it is 2pm and hard to fit in one more nap before bedtime so then he is overtired and crabby. Should I work on naps later? Should I do a longer than 70 min. interval? What is the nap solution? Thanks!

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• 28 Stephanie // Nov 25, 2008 at 9:21 pm

  How do I begin teaching my 3 month old to fall asleep on her own? I end up rocking her for hours before she finally falls asleep.

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• 29 Mimi // Nov 25, 2008 at 10:38 pm

  My son is 7mths old. I put him into his bed to sleep but i stay there and sing to him, i cannot seem to leave him because i cannot bear the crying. Can you suggest anything else. He does get himself to sleep but wakes up a few times during the night sometimes even stays up for 1-2hrs. Can you suggest anything?

  M

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• 30 Rachel Henningsen // Nov 25, 2008 at 11:10 pm

  My 7 month old daughter is very inconsistent with her getting off to sleep, sleep times and waking in the night. We have been very routine with sleep time since she was a young baby. Sometimes she will put herself to sleep, sometimes she will sleep through the entire night for 12 hours. Other times I will have to go in and out of her room every few minutes to put dummy in or pat her, sometimes she will sleep 1.5 hrs and other times only 40 mins. The night time sleep varies with sometimes she will sleep the entire night and other nights she will wake and I will have to put dummy in or pat and she will go back to sleep other nights she will wake and thinks its play time and it might take me 1 hour or more to resettle her where she finally goes to sleep.,,,can you advise on what I should me doing in each siutation please. thanks Rachel from Australia

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• 31 Clisty // Nov 25, 2008 at 11:20 pm

  I have a 7 month old son. He has always been one to fight his sleep terribly and I found that the noise of a hair dryer comforted him and helped him to fall asleep. We bounce him in his bouncy seat and ran the hair dryer til he fell asleep. He will not fall asleep in his crib at all. I am trying to break him from relying on the “white noise” but nothing I seem to do works. People tell me to let him cry it out and I have let him cry for probably 30 max and I can’t do it I feel like I am being mean. Do you have any suggestions? I am in desperate need!

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• 32 megan // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:12 am

  Please help. My daughter is 6.5 months old and up until about 2 weeks ago was sleeping in her crib. She is now in a cot and it almost seems as though she does not like the cot - I battle to get her settled at night and she wakes up during the night many times and I find her crawling around and up on all fours - something she has never done before. She also wakes for the day at 4.00am - 4.30am - I cannot get her back to sleep. Help

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• 33 Geraldine // Nov 26, 2008 at 2:31 am

  Hi Dana,
  I have a 7 month old daughter who has yet to sleep through the night. Her crib is in me and my husband’s room. The problem I am having is that she cries for 10, 15 or more minutes when she wakes up. I can’t stand listening to her cry so long and so I usually give in and pick her up. She has become accustomed to me nursing her at night when I pick her up. How do I stop the night nursings and reduce her crying so she can sleep through the night?

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• 34 Tarlochan Landa // Nov 26, 2008 at 4:03 am

  Morning Dana,

  Hope you are well, we have a daughter who has just turned 1 years old, and she does not know the meaning of sleep. Her food intake is good and she eats really well, and before she would go to sleep she would have a bottle of milk usually 8 ounces, and then a topup of 2 or 3 ounces. From this she went to sleep between 10 - 11pm, she doesn’t fall asleep she has to be forced to sleep at this time other wise she would fall asleep at possibly midnight. She doesnt sleep through and wakes once or twice and wants cuddling back to sleep. We then were advised not to give her so much milk before she goes to sleep as this may upset her stomach. So what we decided to was split her milk. She now sleeps slightly earlier say between 9 - 10pm. We give her 5 ounces and then another 5 ounces say 45mins-1 hour later. Her sleeping has now become awful, she wakes so just does not sleep through she winges alot and does not get into a deep sleep. Firstly how can she get to sleep earlier and how do we stop having to put her to sleep so she falls to sleep herself.

  A response would be very helpful.

  Thanks.

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• 35 Melinda Rose // Nov 26, 2008 at 5:19 am

  G’day
  My daugther Laurana is 17 months old and has slept with me most of her life. I am keen to get her to sleep longer and in her own bed. currently she wakes 2-3hourly. I breastfeed her back to sleep but have recently cut back on this. at times she settles fine others not…but she wakes 2-3hourly regardless of breastfeeing back to sleep or if i am close by or not…. any ideas… i think i am on the right track but am desperate for an 8 hour uninterrupted sleep as it as been 17 months!
  thanks melinda

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• 36 Michelle // Nov 26, 2008 at 6:02 am

  My 9 month old son is consistently sleeping 11-12 hours a night, goes to sleep on his own and has 2 good naps a day. He still gets up for one breasfeeding session per night at about 3am. How can I go about taking away this feed?

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• 37 adaeze // Nov 26, 2008 at 9:48 am

  Hi Dana, I have a 16 month old who is having some difficulty falling asleep on her own. It is exhausting for me because each night, i have to do the routine of carrying ,rocking her to sleep. That is the only way she will fall asleep.
  I am expecting my second baby and dont know how i will be able to carry on this routine with my toddler once I have a demaning newborn to take care of; ps I really need your advice and solution to this problem.

  Thank you.
  Ada
  (ps. my 16 month old has this daily routine: she has her dinner at 7.30, then story and play time a few minutes before her bath time at 8.00. then I try to put her down for the noght immediately after bath time by rocking, singing her to sleep.)

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• 38 Krista // Nov 26, 2008 at 12:27 pm

  HELP please! I have 4 1/2 month twins who wake from their night sleep about 4-5 times and cry until I come in and find their pacifier and put it in their mouth. Sometimes they even smile at me - it’s like they know exactly what they are doing!! I can’t keep having sleepless nights. I do let them cry for about 20 minutes to see if they will put themselves back to sleep - and they are relentless! They will cry until I come in. What can I do to stop this cycle?

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• 39 Lynn // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:33 pm

  Hi Dana,

  My daughter Maxine is 5.5 months old and has a history of being a good sleeper (falls asleep on her own and sleeps about 6 hours before needing a feed again). The caveat to this is that she has always slept swaddled. Now that she is bigger and stonger, she is able to get out of her swaddle no matter how tightly she is swaddled. I have tried to get her to sleep in a grobag (arms free) and she just doesn’t seem to be able to settle. She has her hands in her mouth, the blanket in her mouth and cries and screams until she passes out. Of course, this starts all over again every 20 or so minutes. What can I do to help her sleep without being swaddled?

  Thanks,

  Lynn

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• 40 evis // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:39 pm

  Hi Danna,
  My son is 19 months now and sleeps through the night but my concern is that in about 2 months he will have a brother or sister. Sure, we are going to keep the baby for may be 6 months in our bedroom, but what is going to happen after that? How can they share the room together when the baby will be waking up to nurse say or just because it’s a baby…? I believe that the crying baby will affect his sleep as in general he is a very light sleeper. Do you have any advice for me? Thanks a lot in advance for everything…
  Evis, Harrison’s mom

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• 41 Cheri Lynn // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:39 pm

  Are 10 month old daughter is not sleeping threw the whole night. She wakes up twice sometime 3. We give her a bottles and she goes back to sleep. Now should we be not giving her a bottle and just let her cry?
  She sleeps good in the daytime. She has two teeth, could she be getting more. Ask the doctor if it was normal for her sleeping at night and he was ok with giving her a bottle.
  What should we do? HELP ! Soon i have to go back full time to work.

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• 42 susanne // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  Do I need to help my child differentiate between naps and nighttime sleep? If so, how do I do this so he knows it’s OK to get up after an hour for a nap, but not for nighttime sleep. Thanks!

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• 43 Pernille // Nov 26, 2008 at 3:47 pm

  My 11 month old still awakes up several times a night. She actually sleeps worse now than when she was a newborn. I’ve read everything I can get near and done everything to make her sleep but nothing works. She goes to bed at a reasonable time about 7.30, we have a good bedtime routine with bath, bottle, cuddle then bed, she goes to sleep in her cot on her own and sleeps for a few hours. She then strats to wake up sometimes as much as every hour for the rest of the night. She sometimes goes back to sleep on her own, sometimes needs her dummy and sometimes she needs a bit more, but I never feed her, turn on the light or talk to her at night. She normally goes down quickly again, but no matter how she went back to sleep, an hour later she’s awake again. I’ve run out of ideas an I’m getting very very tired to the point of feeling sick.

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• 44 danielle gambrell // Nov 26, 2008 at 7:01 pm

  i need seriouse help cos my daughter does get tired at about 7 ish. I let her get tired first then put her down to sleep but then before 30 mins is up she is waking and crying and winging. some times i leave her to cr for 5 mins or i might go in but nothing really makes a difference. I tap her bum til she goes back and then she wakes again usually before 30 mins again. after tapping her bum getting her up to calm her down then putting her back in for bout 2 hours every night she eventually wakes and has sometimes nearly 2 hours wheres she’s just wide awak. I don’t undrstand but i’m so tired and need sum desperate help please?

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• 45 christina // Nov 26, 2008 at 8:37 pm

  I’m in trouble. I am a single mother to a 16 mth old. She will fall asleep in her crib but not unless I’m sitting beside the crib with my head hanging over so she can play with my hair. Usually by the time I am ready for bed she awakens and I UNFORTUNATELY STARTED PUTTING HER IN BED WITH ME. Now not only will she not go to sleep on her own, but she will not sleep a full night in her bed. I know I have got myself in big trouble with this situation. To change this I know it will get worse before it gets better if I try to change this. This whole thing is exhausting. The new change is this.. She goes to be about 6:30 or 7:30 and around 11:00 she starts waking up every hour or two wanting to get up. Is this because of a change coming? Or is this another action played out because of the whole sleeping situation?? HELP??

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• 46 Gail // Nov 26, 2008 at 8:44 pm

  Hi, My 9 month old son Connor had been sleeping thru the night from about 8 weeks old. However for the last 2 months or so he has been waking up crying 2-6 times a night. Sometimes he will cry for a few minutes and go back to sleep other times i will have to nurse him, or rock with him. We have not changed our routine, Dinner, Bath, Book, Nursing, then off to bed. What can i do to get him to sleep thru the night again?

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• 47 Linda // Nov 26, 2008 at 9:22 pm

  My daughter is 18 months old and has never slept through the night. I stopped nursing when she was 11 months old, yet she still wakes once a night for milk. However she could just be awake for 10 minutes or up to 4 hours. I recently tried the method of leaving her to cry it out in between checking on her periodically but not picking her up. We did this for two weeks and there was no improvement. She slept through the night for 3 nights during this time but just because she was so exhausted. She has one nap a day, anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, each day is never the same. Do I try the same method again but for longer? I am desperate for some advice. Thank you.

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• 48 Carmelina // Nov 27, 2008 at 12:13 am

  Hey Dana,

  Even though my 17 month old son is sleeping almost 12 hours a night now, he still wakes up screaming in the mornng when he wakes up at 6:30. I think he is afraid we will never go and get him, because we have been letting him “cry it out” in the middle of the night. He usually cries only for 10 min (if he wakes up at all) then he goes back down. Is it normal for him to wake up screaming and screaming until we go in and take hime out of his crib?
  P.S. he does the same at nap time.

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• 49 Liz // Nov 27, 2008 at 1:31 am

  My 5 month old baby use to be the perfect sleeper and daytime napper. Now I’m back at work 3 days and my mom watches him and she rocks him to sleep and picks him up everytime he cries so he doesn’t get much sleep during the day and he comes home overtired. Now he wont go down at night till 9pm sometimes later and he’ll wake up every 1 to 2 hours. I’m exhusted, so my question is can we use different routine to put him to sleep cause my mom wont change what she does.

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• 50 Andrea // Nov 27, 2008 at 5:44 am

  Hi Dana,

  Thanks for all your video’s they have helped more than you will ever know. My son, 1 year now, goes to sleep on his own at night between 7 and 8h30. He then sleeps throughout the night and wakes without fail between 4 and 5h30. I used to breastfeed him then and we would both fall asleep in my bed till 7h30. Now I have stopped breastfeeding and try and get him back to sleep at 5ish. However he ties to go back to sleep but gets up after a few minutes wide awake. He also throws a tantrum when I try put him back to sleep. Can I make him sleep longer? Thanks Andrea

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• 51 Shelley // Nov 27, 2008 at 8:07 am

  I work night shift so it is hard for me to work on a schedule for her sleep. My husband is one that lives for the moment and puts our daughter to bed with a bottle. I have learned from you that doing that prevents her from sleeping through the night. Do you have any suggestions

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• 52 Karine Asselin // Nov 27, 2008 at 11:55 pm

  My 10 month-old son sleeps two good naps a day, gets put to bed awake and always falls asleep with ease on his own. However, at night, he usually still wakes up once, twice, sometimes three times. We have tried waiting to see if he’ll go back to sleep on his own or if not my husband goes in to pat him and reassure him in order to put him back to sleep. But he usually sits and cries louder and louder until he gets picked up and only goes back to bed quietly after he’s been nursed. What should we do to get help him sleep through the night?

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• 53 Monica // Nov 28, 2008 at 12:29 am

  Hi there, my little guy is 18 months old and goes to bed around 7pm after being put down at 630. He takes around a 2 hour nap between 12:15 and 2:15 pm. His problem is that many nights a week he will get up in the middle of the night and stay away for up to 2 hours! He doesn’t cry, just sits there and sings, sometimes whines, then eventually goes back to sleep himself. We rarely go in to check on him. The lights in the room aren’t an issue, as its dark, nothing that he could be playing with in the room. He only has a blanket and his lovey in the crib….any thoughts on how I can make this stop? I feel like he’s not getting the rest he needs (me neither!)

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• 54 Werner // Nov 28, 2008 at 12:59 am

  Our 18 month old daughter has most of her teeth but is pre-teething as her molars are coming in. She goes to sleep in her crib aprox 8 or 9pm but wakes after only an hour. If we try intervals to help her settle on her own she gets hysterical quickly. If we pick her up to settle her and resume bedtime routine she gets hysterical again. She will settle only if she can sleep with either my wife or me. She may wake after that but doesn’t scream as long as she can still have one of us close by. We are getting really tired but afraid of 90 minute hysterics at 3am. It would be great if you could suggest something to help make nights quieter.

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• 55 Nikolaya // Nov 30, 2008 at 4:45 pm

  Hi Dana,

  My baby is 1 year old and she doesn’t want to get asleep in the night without breastfeeding, even though she is eating solid foods during the day. She also awakes one time during the night and cannot get asleep without the breast. Can you please help.

  Thanks.

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• 56 Pamela // Dec 1, 2008 at 4:39 pm

  I have an 11 month old son who has co-slept with us until 2 weeks ago. He has now moved into his sister’s room in a crib. He still nurses 1-2 times a night. He is accustomed to pitch black room with the door closed. His almost 3 year old sister now needs the door open and a nightlight on. Last night, we put them in the same room with a nightlight and door open and it was awful. Our son woke up multiple times and I nursed him each time to keep him quiet. I think its because he is not used to light while sleeping. Then he was up for the morning before 6 am!! Which got my daughter up at the same time - both crying. I have since put my daughter back in our room on a little make-shift bed, until I can figure this out. Any ideas on how to put two kids in the same room?

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• 57 michelle // Dec 4, 2008 at 10:08 am

  I have exactly the same problem as Laurie, my daughter Orla is 17 months and goes to daycare, goes to sleep at 7:15 and sleeps till around 5:30 - 6am then wakes screaming but is still tired (she wants attention from me) - any suggestions. One thing that helped slightly is giving her snacks before bed, I wondered if that’s why she woke so early, but I don’t want to over feed her - daycare give her tea at 4pm

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• 58 cloniExanna // Dec 20, 2008 at 12:39 am

  Thak you for the news

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• 59 Jen // Dec 23, 2008 at 2:20 pm

  How long should a 7 week old be awake before being put down for a nap again? Does the wakeful period get longer as they get older?

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• 60 Malanie van der Vyver // Dec 31, 2008 at 5:16 am

  Hi Dana,

  The sleep sense programme has been a blessing in our home and my daughter of 8 months old has been sleeping through the night for over 2 months. We just came back from a week’s holiday and she is out of her routine. The problem now is that she is crawling and pulling herself up in her cot. How can I get her to settle herself if she stands up the whole time? I tried to leave her a bit, but she cries histerically and non-stop for almost an hour.
  Thank you
  Malanie

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• 61 Sarah // Jan 8, 2009 at 9:51 pm

  My 5 month old will sleep through the night usually, she sometimes wakes up around 5 and talks for a half hour, but during her naps she wakes up like clock work after about 30-45 mins. She always has a burp. I burp her really well after she eats and she still does it. I have tried everything to going in burping her and rocking her back to sleep, just leaving her be, etc. Nothing seems to help. I am going crazy because I am a very routine person and this makes her nap randomly throughout the day. Any tricks? Thank you.

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• 62 Courtney // Mar 3, 2009 at 9:54 pm

  Dana,

  I have a soon to be one year old who has become a handful over the past two months. He sleeps through the night generally, but he has suddenly stopped wanting to take naps. He was sleeping before the holidays for 2 1.5hr naps and then after the holidays he stopped. He now goes down for about 20 minutes. However sometimes he will sleep for more than an hour usually he does not. If he is in our bed he will sleep just fine no matter what kind of noise we make. When he is in his crib we have to creep around the house and be quiet as church mice. Just a quick bit of info, his father started staying home with him full time after Christmas and he knows that he can get away with stuff with him that he can’t with me and that is when all these problems started. HELP!!!

  Brian and Courtney Baxter

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• 63 Charlene / Shane // Apr 14, 2009 at 2:46 pm

  Hi There

  PLEASE HELP!!!!!! Our baby is 1y3month today and is a boy. He only sleeps 20 - 30min at night, screams until we touch him and comfort him and the he goes back to sleep and same cycle starts over and over through the night. We were at the doctors and find that our son is very very healthy, no problem, then they reply to us, babies must wake up at night.

  What are we doing wrong?

  Please Help.

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