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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.
Is your baby waking up after only a thirty minute nap? This is a common problem, and one that can be quite easy to solve!
Christina wrote in about her three-month-old son:
“We have trouble getting our three month old to take good naps. Once we get him down, he only sleeps for 30 minutes. It doesn’t matter if he sleeps on our arms, or the crib, or the car. I think he’s waking up when he hits the light sleep stage of a cycle… Any advice?”
Christina is exactly right about why her baby is waking up. When we sleep we need to be somewhat aware of our environment. From an evolutionary perspective, that was required to protect our families from predators, from danger. Sleep is not like a solid steel door slamming shut and blocking everything out; we’re still marginally aware of our surroundings.
If you rock a baby to sleep in your arms, getting him to the deep sleep stage then transferring him into the crib, chances are he’s either going to wake up as soon as you move him, wondering “Hey, what’s going on here? How come I’m not in your arms anymore?” Or he’ll wake up 30 to 45 minutes after falling asleep.
A baby’s sleep cycle is roughly 45 minutes long and at the end of that cycle is a very light stage of sleep. There’s often a momentary wake up at that point, hopefully just a brief fluttering of the eyes, then they’re back into another cycle. But if he was in your arms at the beginning of the sleep cycle and now he’s not, he’ll wake up fully wondering “Where am I? How come I’m not in mom’s arms anymore?”
Most babies who wake up in a new location wake up somewhat alarmed, and if you think about it, we would as well. Imagine if you fell asleep in your bed and then woke up in the bathtub. That would be an alarming feeling and you’d probably wake up quite startled.
Have you watched your baby wake up and immediately sit or stand up? They almost fly into that position and start crying. They’re thinking that either the nap is done or wondering why their environment changed while they were asleep.
The only way to encourage a longer nap is to let your baby fall asleep in the same place he’s going to wake up. It’s a simple matter of helping him learn the skills he needs to fall asleep, and stay asleep, on his own.
For instance, if you hold the soother in their mouth until they fall asleep, chances are when he comes to the light part of the sleep cycle he’s going to wake up because the soother is no longer in his mouth. Then you’ll have to go to them and put the soother back in, and maybe he’ll go back to sleep and maybe he won’t.
Again, the key to a successful nap is for the baby to have the skills to fall asleep, work themselves through that little wake up at the 45 minute mark, and then fall back asleep on their own. That mid-nap wake up should be so brief that the baby goes right into his next sleep cycle, turning the 45 minute nap into a good hour and a half nap.
Christina really has two goals for her baby; first, getting him to sleep in the same place that he’ll wake up, and second, for him to learn how to fall asleep on his own so he’ll stay asleep on his own.
We’ll do that either by putting him down in his crib and checking in on him or by staying in the room with him, perhaps doing some careful touching like rubbing his back while we whisper “shhhsh, it’s sleepy time” or by humming softly. In this way, you’ll help to sort of ease the journey to sleep for them. We have to be careful though not to incorporate too much external stuff into this routine.
An example of that would be to pat his back until he falls asleep. We don’t want to have to go in there and pat him on the back every time he wakes up. We really want him to put the pieces together and figure out how to do this on his own. Your job is to be supportive while he’s figuring out what those new skills are. Again, be careful that you don’t just create a new sleep prop, trading one prop for another.
The good news is that Christina’s baby will become a great little napper and he’ll definitely sleep a lot longer that he is now. Achieving that goal does take some work, but it’s well worth it. It’ll be a great day when he takes that long nap, when he is sleeping 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!
I have a lil dilema going on. Please bare with me why I try to explain. When my daughter was born she was a lil early. For the first 3 months, my husbands son was living with us and he would constantly try to hurt the baby (even sprayed clorax on her, he was well, well above the age where he knew better. He has always been violent and even tried to kill another family member and tried to poison myself) well I could never leave her around him. I even had to take her to the bathroom because he would hit her and I was scared to death that he would do something more. He was removed from the home. I also breast fed and pumped milk for my baby and she was a lazy eater. She would always fall asleep. Then I went back to work, and my baby ended always being shuffled around from place to place with baby sitter. I ended up quitting my job. I couldn’t do it anymore. Now I only work one day a week. My lil one is now 14 months and I am having a time having her go down for a nap without nursing or some bottle. She refuses a passy. And cries terrible. My husband has to get to work very early and needs his sleep. He drives an 18 wheeler and I really want him to get his rest.. But I am getting very frustrated. I know I brought a lot of this on myself. Can you suggest anything to help??
My 3 month old baby girl is now having the dreaded 30-45 minute cat naps throughout the day!
Up until about 3-4 weeks ago she was sleeping really well, especially at night she would wake for a feed once a night and then happily go back to sleep after the feed. She was also taking long restful naps of 3-4 hours and it was GREAT!
But now she protests and cries when I put her in her cot for her naps during the day and as I have a two year old to contend with as well it is really taking its toll on me and making me very frustrated!
I was doing as you said by putting her down in her cot awake each time after about an hour and half of awake time and for the first couple of days she was perfect! She fell asleep on her own and slept until the next feed time 4 hours later! But that only lasted a couple of days and then she started the cat naps!
I think that maybe she is using the bottle as her sleep prop so that she gets herself drowsy enough to go into the cot but then wakes 40 minutes later.
I think she is getting worse and worse as last night for the first time she cried at her 3am waking when I put her back in after her bottle…
I am becoming very frustrated and finding it very hard to get her to have long naps like she once did as I can’t really stay in the room with her as my 2 year old boy comes in etc etc…and at night I am scared that she will wake my toddler up as well if I let her cry a bit…
What to do?
Hello Dana,
My 29 week old son has begun waking up early from his naps, usually after about 50min to an hour and seems well rested and I can’t get him to go back to sleep. He usually takes a 1.5h nap in the morning and a 1.5 to 2 hour nap after lunch, then a catnap around 4:30). When he wakes up he just starts to play and babble in his crib, and if I leave him alone, he’ll continue playing for quite a while without going back to sleep. He goes to sleep on his own, he knows how to transition, sleeps though the night (7:30pm to 7:00am) and does not use any sleep aids. He just wakes up and wants to play, but this throws off his entire routine. Since he is not crying, I cannot do the leave the room/stay in the room method – what do you suggest?
Thanks
Hi Dana,
I have a 3 month old and we have just started the sleepsense program. We are working on Day 3. I am working on bedtime and naptime routines..trying to follow them exactly and leaving her to cry for 15 mins before shh’ing or patting her back. She has been getting to sleep around 10 mins after leaving her awake to sleep. She feeds however every two hours during the day and has been sleeping during the night from 630ish-700 p.m – 11:30ish, feeding for 5 mins, sleeping until 330ish, feeding for 5 mins and then up around 7 a.m. She is a healthy 14 pounds. My question is: During her naptime (especially morning), she often wakes up around that 45 minute mark – which is often around 2 hours since she last fed. She cries and I question whether I should feed her at that time or continue to help her by leaving her to learn how to self-soothe? Thanks.
Hi,
Thank you for all your help. I have a one year old who sleeps great through the night. I put him down a 7:00pm and he gets up at 6:00am. He naps about two forty minutes which i like to go to one longer nap. i have tried putting him down later and he did great for about two days and now get up after 40minutes he is getting up. He looks tired to me and I can’t get him to nap again. The problem is that when he gets up he cries every time for me to pick him up. Is that normal and should I be picking him up when he cries. How do kids wake up? when should you get him out of his bed?
My 6 month old son (was born 2 months premature) needs at least 3 naps per day but seems to struggle more as the day goes on to get to sleep. The morning nap is always easiest. He naps in his swing (not swinging) and I’m struggling to get him to sleep in his crib. He’s sleeps fairly well in his crib at night. Still working on night wakings but sometimes sleeps through the night.
What can I do to get him to sleep in his crib and stay asleep? Most of his naps are 45 min or less and he wakes crying. Sometimes at the end of the day I let him sleep for up to 3 hrs in his swing just to catch up on sleep. Any tips or thoughts?
my 4 month old son is a short napper always waking up after almost exactly 30 minutes. I have pretty much trained him to go to sleep on his own now and he will cry and fuss for about 5 minutes and then go to sleep on his own. But after about 30 minutes of nappying he always wakes up sometimes happy, sometimes crying. I have tried leaving him in there for another 15 minutes but he just keeps on crying till i pick him up. Is he just a short napper or is he waking up after his sleep cycle and not going back to sleep. What should i be doing?
Hi Dana,
My daughter is about one years old. She sleeps about 12 hours a night… puts herself to sleep and up to about 2 months ago would wake a couple of times during the night but now that seems to have sorted itself out.
Naps have always been problematic. I used to hold her until she fell asleep. For the last 2 weeks I’ve been sleep training her for her naps as I returned to work oct 25th and she’s now at daycare (this week is her first week). I have cut out the am nap and put her down at around 12:45 pm for her afternoon nap. Throughout the sleep training she sleeps for about 35 mins and then wakes up. I wait 15 mins and let her cry to see if she will go back to sleep but it’s not happening so I just get her up. She’s been doing the same thing at daycare. What can I do to get her to take longer naps? What should I tell caregiver to do once she wakes after a half hour? When can I expect to see results?
Please help.
Thanks.
My son Seth is 7 months and we have been implamenting the new sleep program for the past week. We are putting in place all the steps for him to fall asleep, but if anything he is becoming harder to put down and his crying is getting louder and louder and lasting for longer. He is showing signs of fatigue right when I am due to either drop of or pick up my daughter from school and I find that delaying these naps makes him more irratable. Or if he has fallen asleep in the car and then I try to put him to sleep he cries or if he wakes up and then I put him to sleep he still cries. Pls can you give me some advice on what steps I should be taking.
My 3 month old baby was napping well with no fussing or crying but has recently started to cry hysterically when i put her down for her naps. she will settle and fall asleep but only if i ssshhh in her ear gently and put my cheek nexted to hers until she is calm.
what has happened to my good napper?
She feeds every 4 hrs during the day and only takes one feed at night
She gets tired and fussy usually 1.5hrs after waking an takes morning, lunchtime and long early evening naps and goes down to sleep between 7.30 and 8pm
help
confused mummy Lisa
i have a 17 month old boy and he used to sleep in till 7.30am and now he wakes up at 6am everymorning. I have left him to cry but he just doesn’t stop. i just bring him in my bed sometimes he will sleep till 7.30 but sometimes he just plays. and his naps during the day a short, usually 1 15 min and i find that if he only has one nap an hour is all he will sleep. Please help me!
HI!! :)
i have 9 1/2 month old twins! :) our babies soothe themselves to sleep (for the most part…we just come in after 10 minutes of whining to put their pacis back in and then they drift off…)…but it DOES seem that AT that 45 minute mark, they WAKE UP! or 1 will, which wakes the other. we have them in separate cribs in the same room with white noise/fan on and a dark room…they sleep 11 hours at night (8pm-7am) then naps reek in the day! (trying to go from 3 to 2 naps, but hard if their naps are only 45 minutes!!!) thx!
my nine month old baby girl cat naps for thirty minutes during the day and wont resettle. She falls asleep in my arms always as she wont settle herself. Night times she is with me as she is more alert at night and wakes up straight away in the cot. How do I get herto sleep in the cot at night?
my baby girl of 6 months gets over tired and really cries and curls up her body! how can i get her to bed wouthout doing this each time? i check that she only been awake 2-3hrs between naps and when she rubs her eyes too. she sleeps well when she has her nap it just looks painful when she,s ready for one. i have to cover her up when we are out. Barb
I have used the sleep sense program w/ my 5 mo. He goes to sleep on his own (no props or sleep crutches) but still take short naps. Most of the time he wakes happy and plays in his crib but I know he is tired and by the end of the day those 30 min. naps take their toll. Any advice?
Hi Dana
My 5 month-old naps well once he’s asleep – about 45 mins morning, 2 to 2 1/2 hours at midday, 45 mins afternoon – but I have a very hard time getting him to fall asleep when we’re out without screaming. He sometimes gets so upset I think it’s distressing to other people, even when I have caught him before he is over-tired. He will eventually go to sleep but it seems only because he has exhausted himself with his screaming.
hi dana
night times pretty much resolved now she settles well and i dont really have to go into her unless to turn her over maybe once in the night its naps that are prooving difficult i have got to the stage where i am no longer in the room with her, she setles pretty easily for naps but other than the one day where she slept for an hour and a half both morning and afternoon the rest of the time she is waking after 35 to 45 mins, once she has resettled and a couple of times i have been able to ressetle her but gently stroking her face every now and then but no more luck with long naps so far resulting in 3 naps a day because she gets tired after about an hour and a half of being up or is still tired when she wakes.. hep help help please.
hi, my 3 year old son lost his dummy over a week ago and things are terrible at night. Before he use to take himself off to bed and now he can’t settle. It looks like he is so aggitated and keeps saying he cant sleep. he is also now complaining that his feet are sore and i have had to sit and rub them until he falls asleep, then he wakes up in the middle of the night and i have to do it all over again, this took 2 hours last night – help – what can i do for him to easy this?
princess is 8 weeks she always wriglling or unsettle while asleep this makes her not to have a sound sleep also she wouldn’t sleep on her own expect pat or rock her to sleep
hi dana, my son Alex is 3 yrs old. I started the sleep sense program when he was 9 months old. It worked great right up until we moved 2 months ago. I put him to bed and he gets up out of bed and comes to the door about 3-6 times before he settles himself in his bed for the night. The last 2 nights he has gotten up around 2am and refuses to go back to bed. We go in and put him in bed, cover him up, and walk out. We don’t talk to him and he screams and cries. I have a 7 month old baby girl across the hall from him and sometimes he wakes her up because he just wont give up. PLEASE HELP!!!! I don’t know what else to do.
my 6mth old son goes to bed @ 6 – 7 pm at night with a formula bottle (only formula at night) he is still waking once sometimes twice a night. when he wakes before 2ish i let him cry for 10mins to see if he will put himself back to sleep then go in after 10 mins to rub his chest to calm him down he puts him self back to sleep but sometimes this takes up to an hour then he will wake around 2-3ish and i feed him then please help me to get out of both of these wake ups?
My daughter is 10 months old and wakes 3-4 times through the night. Sometimes she’s fully awake, standing and wailing or just wimpering with her eyes closed. I don’t enter the room and don’t let her see me unless it passes 10 minutes. Dose it have to do with her old nursing schedule? We always blame it on “teething” but its been going on for many months and still no teeth?! Any insight as to why she’s not sound asleep and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
My son is 4 months old and is just beginning to sleep well. He is putting himself to sleep and always in the crib, but is having trouble with night sleeping. He goes to sleep about 9pm but still wakes two times (1ish and 4ish) and then is up between 6-7am. When he wakes during the night he feeds and goes back to sleep quickly , but that doesn’t last. He will then arouse (not completly awake) every 20 minutes and we will have to help soothe him back to sleep. This will last anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. How do I get him to stay asleep and possibly sleep for more than four hours at a time?
My 4 month old has started waking at 2am, when he used to sleep through until his feed at 4-5am.
I don’t feed him when he wakes at 2, just sooth him in his cot, but it seems to have become a habit as he has been waking for about a week like this.
All the advice says to not feed them and to sooth them in their cot, but yet he is still waking.
What am I doing wrong?
My daughter has such a tough time going to sleep at night. My fiance and I (either or) will sit in the rocking chair next to her bed just so she can fall asleep because otherwise she will cry so hard to the point of throwing up for hours on end. She has done the throwing up thing since she was very little and she is 2 now. At one point she was finally able to fall asleep without anyone in the room but all of the sudden one night she started crying as if she was scared. I want to know why she cannot fall asleep by herself and why she tosses and turns for one hour plus until she finally passes out from exhaustion. It is extremely frustrating and I do not know what to do!
my nearly 12 month old girl will only have her daynaps if pushed around in the buggy, then she sleeps for at least an hour sometime 1 1/2 hours in an upright position in the buggy, she will not sleep in her cot during the day but has no problems going to sleep at night time. still breastfed and still wakes a least once most nights, how do i get her to sleep in the cot or go to sleep without motion, ever since she was born i have always been out walking with her in the buggy.
My 7 month old goes to bed at 8pm and wakes at 3am. He’s wide awake so I can’t soothe him to try to get him to settle back into his sleep pattern. The only way to get him to go to bed is to get him a bottle or breastfeed him and then transfer him back in the crib. He later wakes again 3 hours later. What can I do to stop this habit when he’s wide awake?
My 6-month-old baby girl, Tina, cannot fall asleep without her soother. When she wakes up at night, she won’t go back to sleep until I put the soother back in her mouth, which is exhausting for me (she wakes up 2 to 3 times).
Thank you.
Hi my daughter was doing the same she is 7 and a half months. i did exactly what Dana suggests and chucked them away and followed her advise on how to get her to settle herself without dummy. nights werent too bad naps are still geting sorted but after a week of doing it where she used to wake anywhere from 3 to 8 times in a night for me to put her dummy in last night she woke at 0245 i had to turn her over as she still hasnt mastered rolling back on her back and then again at 0620 where i left her to play untill 7. i used the stay in her room method as i couldnt leave her to cry on her own and now i put her down and walk out and after 10 mins of talking to herself she goes off without a problem. if you need anything else just shout. hope this helps
My child is almost 11 months now, I have always nursed him to sleep, a week now I nurse him but I put him drowsy in his cot. He falls asleep ok but he wakes up in an hour again.I got to help him go back to sleep by singing or rubbing his back. Then after that he wakes up again and again every 2-3 hours sometimes even every hour all night long.I am exhausted .
Can someone tell me how to teach him to go back to sleep on his own please? And stop this cycle ? Thank you
My 11 week old has just started sleeping 6-7 hours a night; the problem is that those hours are between 8 pm and 2 am. He wakes up for a feeding, then goes to sleep for another 3 hours or so. I’ve tried to wean him off the 2 am feed to no avail; he’s definitely hungry, it’s not just habit. I’ve also tried to wake him up around 10 pm for a feeding hoping that he’ll then go a little longer in the middle of the night so we can make it till 5 am or so… this also hasn’t worked. Any other suggestions on how to get him to sleep either longer or between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am?
My 5 month old was sleeping through the night 4 weeks ago. She would have her last feeding around 6:30 then sleep 12 hours without waking up for a feeding (sometimes she would make noises but would go back to sleep). The past week she will wake up almost every 3 hours. She doesn’t always need to eat but while cry very hard (scream) if we leave her in the crib. Her naps have also changed. She goes to my mother-in-law’s and my father’s 3x a week while I work part-time. For the past 6 weeks she has taken a quick power nap about 2 hours after she wakes up, then 2 hours later will take a 3 hour nap. She will not do this for me when I’m home with her. She will often sleep in 3, one hour increments.
My child is 4 months and cannot fall asleep without his pacifer. I run into his room about 10 times a night to put the pacifer back in his mouth once he wakes up. How do i teach him to fall asleep without it. I’ve tried taking it away but he will cry for about an hour and 20 minutes until he falls asleep from exhaution. Please help, I feel like i can’t do any other techniques untill he learns to sleep with out his pacifer!!
Hi. My baby is six months old. From the newborn age up until about 5 1/2 months he was a great sleeper. He took naps daily and also he slept from about 9pm well into the next morning. All of the sudden he wont sleep at all. He has never been a baby who needed to be rocked or held to fall alseep. Now he can’t sleep without it. He completely changed his sleeping schedule. When I try to give him his naps in the afternoon he cries until I give up. I literally try to put him to sleep for at least two hours and he rather cry. When it comes to trying to put him to sleep at bedtime he will sleep for maybe 30 minutes. 9pm to 5am is spent trying to put him to sleep. I am not sure what made him not want to sleep anymore. I havent changed his schedule or mine. I dont know what to do anymore besides sleep on the same schedule as him. PLEASE HELP.
My daughter Is 8 weeks and can self settle but I still can’t get here to nap atnist half an hour at a time during the day?
How to get a nine month old to sleep more than 2 hours at night ?
My 11 month old daughter was a great sleeper from 7 mths up to last month when all of a sudden she wakes up 3 times a night. She is teething (she has no teeth yet) so i don’t let her cry it out but we do have to get up and console her each time, she falls asleep with the sound of a blowdryer which is in her room and seems to work but once we turn it off she’ll get up a couple of hours later and the cycle begins again. My husband wakes up for the night wakings, but it’s still frustrating!! What should i do?
my son is 2 years old on tuesday 17th November, he still does not sleep through the night, he has always had a good bed time routine, and he goes no bed no problem and falls a sleep on his own. But he can wake up to 5 times a night, he does go back to sleep. I am not sure why he wakes up. I think that it is cos he has a active imagination and cannot switch off. My local health vistors have suggested putting him on some kind of drugs, is this my only opition. please help
my 1 year old boy has trouble sleeping.. ive tried putting him in his bed to sleep on his own but crys instantly when i leave him there to sleep on his own..he is too needy and wants his parents all the time… and then during the night, he crys standing in his cot wanting mommy or daddy..and is frequently..almost every hour or two.. how do i get him to stop doing that and what are some solutions i could possibly do because i am not getting enough sleep..i feel so lightheaded most of the time because i dont have enough rest.. he is also premature
what should i do with my 4 wk old baby? everytime he wakes up from his naps he crys until i carry him. he only wants me to be carying him when his awake i cant find a way to have him calm without me carying him when his awake he always wants to be in someones arms i put him in his swing try giving him a pacifier and nothing works what should i do? and he wont fall asleep unless i rock him and pat him on his back. thank you!
My 15 mo old is a great sleeper, 11-12 hrs at night and 2 11/2hr naps, but the pediatrician said try to get him on one nap durring the day and he might sleep longer at night. I have tried this for 3 days and he just seems VERY fussy and tired, and does not sleep longer at night, or more than the original 1 1/2 hr nap. When should you go to one nap a day? and should you force?
Why would you want him to sleep longer at night? Seems like 11-12 hours would be enough. My daughter took 2 naps a day until she was about 2 and gradually just played during one nap. That’s when I knew that she only needed one a day. So we switched from sleeping at 10am and 3pm to just sleeping at 1pm. She still slept from 8pm-7:30am overnight. At 3.5 yrs old she still does.
when your little one is ready to take one nap he will let you know. he wont sleep as well during one of the naps dont force it onto him when he is ready he will do it and as regards to sleeping longer at night you are very lucky to have a baby who sleeps those hours and probably wont get anymore sleep out of him at night… let him be for time being sometimes the health profesionals dont have the right info for you, you are home with him not them you know what he needs and doesnt need.
My daughter is 4 months old today. Her naps last around 20 to 45 minutes. I put her in the crib for each nap and she falls asleep on her own with 10-15 minutes. I dont rock her, she doesnt use a binkie or a bottle to fall asleep. My question is how to he her to stay asleep longer. She sleep 11 1/2 hours straight at night just doesnt like naps……
Morris is now 6 months, but he has not devloped a proper sleeping pattern yet he keeps getting up in between in the middle of the night, we try and get him to bed at 6:30pm every night, and then you’re gauranteed he’ll be up at least five times in between till 6am. Anything we could do? He also stands up and is crawling, which everyone says is too early!
My question is Jacopo still has a pacifier from the minute we get home yet at Nursery he does not have I do I take it off with out a big fuss he is a good sleeper
Thank you
Hi Dana,
Your emails and weekly discussions always seem to arrive in my inbox at the time I need them the most!
Here is my question: Do you believe in the four month sleep regression? And if so, how can this best be managed?
My son Jeremy is almost 5 months old. He was sleeping very well at night, from 8pm until 6 or 7 am. This stopped suddenly approximately 2 weeks ago, and now he is up anywhere from 2-5 times per night. He isn’t looking for anything in particular (a bottle, diaper change etc) when he wakes. He’s just awake and noisy.
How can I get my good night sleeper back?
Carley is 21 months. She sleeps 3 hours at nap time. Goes to bed at 8 pm everynight. But wakes at 11, 1, 3, 5. She is fully awake and will not lay back down. She wants to be held and have a couple sips of water or milk then falls back to sleep. any suggestions
I have a 27 month old little girl her name is MaKayla. When my husband and i lay her down at night for bed we tuck her in and give her her baby doll and her sippie cup. She sleeps fairly well at night but wakes up every now an then in the middle of the night wanting more to drink. how do I break her of sleeping without the sippie cup? now, the real question is : Every morning she wake up at about 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. every morning. I am a stay at home mom with typical health problems, I have nuropathy in my legs and it take a bit for me to get out of bed in the morning because they are either very numb and asleep ofr in alot of pain. Is there any advice that you can give me to get her to sleep a little later? We have tried to put her to bed at 7:30-8:00p.m. and she wakes up at the same time we have also tried keeping her up later until around 9:00 p.m. and still she wakes up at the same time. If you have any advice….. Please Help!
Thank You,
Taryne Beene
My daughter is 2 months old…She likes to sleep while nursing.How can i change that pattern?For how many hours should she sleep during the day and how many hours in the night?
Hi Dana,
My 8 month old boy is not a great sleeper. He still wakes during the night. Sometimes he’ll put himself to sleep without a peep and in the past he would sometimes cry himself to sleep but now that he can get to sitting position by himself he just sits up and howls. Can I really expect him to put himself to sleep when he’s sitting up?
Carlene
My daughter Mikayla 2 yrs (sept) as of Oct (1 yr
ago our uncle passed away) as strange as it may seem she has refused to go to bed and when I finally do it has to be in my bed. Now this is coming from a child who from about 3 weeks old to present had slept from 9:00pm until 10:00 am the next am now I am lucky if I can get her to bed before 11:00 pm now what can I do to get her back on her schedule oh and mind u if I try to put her to bed normal time she get so upset that she makes herself volmit. I really am at a loss I don’t know what to do. Please help me.
my six year old grandson clayton is still waking up at 2am and is not wanting to go back to sleep. and by 5pm he is ready to go to sleep. and he is so cranky it is really bothering me.
I have recently found out that I will be returning to work a month early within the next few weeks. My husband will be staying home with her for the month what can we do or what should we do to get our 9mth use to fact that mommy won’t be home with her all the time? In the new year both myself and my husband will be back to work I have never done this and don’t know where to begin. PLease help.
My 9mth old goes to bed at 7:30pm she still awakes 2 times through the night though puts herself back to sleep within minutes. She awakes at 5:30am I am not sure what to do to get her to sleep 12 straight hours? Is this normal for her at this age?
I tried following your advice of putting my baby down to sleep while he is a little drowsy at night but it is a complete nightmare! He screams and kicks until he is about to be sick so therefore I have to pick him up. Ive been trying for about two weeks and it still has not helped at all. Please help!
Jun was sleeping well enough but not great from about 5 to 8 mths. Since then, he seems to bebothered by teething, gas due to new foods, or turning in his sleep a lot maybe due to the onset of walking. There always seems to be something new. Now we are still struggling with the fall time change and the fact that we went on a short trip where he slept with us for the week. We are back home at 9000 ft. He slept great with us in bed at sea level. I’m confused by all the changes and the many things that could be affecting his sleep. My instinct is that the high altitude is a major obstacle, since I too, have a harder time sleeping here. We’ve been living at 9000 ft since he was about 4 mths. Sleep is a constant battle. I let him have his pacifier since it is so dry here (colorado) and it seems to help keep his mouth from getting dry. Please help!
Also why was my 3 1/2 month old sleeping through the night at 2 weeks old and now she wakes 1-3 times a night? I’ve tried waiting to see if she’ll fall back to sleep on her own, but if I wait to long then she’s screaming and very difficult to settle down. Also we live in a small house and if I don’t get to her before she’s really upset it wakes my husband and makes him crabby because he wakes up very early for work and works long late days. What should I and can I do so that she can go back to sleep on her own or better yet stay asleep so we all can be more rested? Thanks.
Thanks for this advice. Some days my 3 1/2 month old naps for 20-30-45 minutes and other days she’ll nap for 1-3 hours. Why is she so inconsistent? Also some days I can lay her down fully awake, but tired and she’ll fall asleep on her own, while other days I have to breast feed her, rock her, walk with her, ect. Also just when I think I’ve figured out her feeding times and nap times the next day she wants to eat and sleep at a different times. Why is she so inconsitent with her nap times, length, and whether she needs help to fall asleep or can do it on her own?
Hi Dana
my daughter is 8 months old and has always been a off and on bad sleeper; some weeks she sleeps great only waking up once for a feed about 4 or 5 am, but other weeks it is 2-3 times a night waking up. I have her on the same routine bath around 7-730 pm and then breast feed after and bed. How can I get her to sleep better and through the night? Her babysitter can get her to lay down in the pack n play and go to sleep, and sometimes I can too, but most of the time she is rocked to sleep. After the time change, she has been waking up around midnight to 1 am and wanting to be fed and then she will sleep til 7am. Please help!! I work and only getting 3hrs straight sleep is not good.
my daughter is 20months,she still breastfeeds and bottle feed.so she keeps waking up at night most of the time wanting to breastfeed or bottle feed.please help me how should i cut her breastfeeding and bottle feeding?
I put my 15 month old son down in his crib for his nap everyday & he refuses to nap. I have to stand there & rub his back & then he will consistently stand up & I will lay him back down and say it’s nap time. I can do this for about 30 min. or longer. After awhile he will fall asleep but he’s back up in 15 minutes. So, I go back in there and start the whole routine again and he will never fall back to sleep. I have tried not going in there and letting him cry but he went for an hour screaming his lungs out. He has never been a good napper & I have tried everything. Bedtime though is a breeze. He is bed by 6:30 and I don’t hear from him until like 5 or 6am. I am starting a in home daycare and I need him to take naps not only for himself but for the other children, that he will be waking up. Any good advice for me and my son.
hi dana
i have a 16month old child and recently have had problems getting him to go to bed. i have tried to put him in his bed awake but he just screams and screams untill he gets himself into a state. do you recomend taking the bars down on his cot as he seems to sleep well in my bed with me? i know i shouldnt be putting him in the bed with me but sometimes i will be up with him for about 3-4 hours during the night. any ideas on what i can do?
My question is similiar to the other ladies. My 13 month old sleeps through the night from about 7pm till 6am. I can lay him in his bed asleep and he will go to sleep on his own without any props. He is ready for a nap 3 – 4 hours after waking. Some days he will sleep for 1 to 1 1/2 hrs and other days only 30 – 45 mins. He always wakes crying no matter how long he slept (including after sleeping all night). When he wakes after a shorter nap, I leave him in bed to see if he will go back to sleep. He will lay back down quietly for a bit, but does not go back to sleep. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance. Any advice is appreciated.
Hi Dana
my daughter is 9 months old ,I have been following the programme and have been sucessful when it comes to the bed time rountine. I use the leave and check method and she always goes down straight away and sleeps through the night. I’m having problems with nap time though. I have to use the stay in the room method as she constantly moves and turns herself onto her stomach in her cot(even when she is exhusted!) so i have to keep turning her back round so she can get herself to sleep. How do I gradually go from sitting by the bed to by the door ect when she refuses to stay still? please help
My 6month old daughter does not know how to fall sleep alone. I really want to try the cry it out method with her but my husband disagress. I have attempted it twice, once at night and once in the afternoon but I can never go further than 40 mins. How long am I meant to let her cry after checking her twice? and hour or 2? I really need some support in doing this and ideally would like my husband to but he just doesn’t agree. Plus we live with extended family which means I’m conscious that someone will say something. I don’t talk to them much. As a result my daughter can wake after 1 or 2 hours in the night, rarely more than that these days even though she is tired. Her sleep association is breastfeeding and rocking which I really try not to do even if she is screaming and crying in my arms but than I end up doing it at times. I breast feed her every 3 hours in the day. I feed her solid at around 12.30pm followed by breast milk or juice. I am so stressed. I don’t feel like she will ever sleep through the night and I’m going back to work in February. I ideally want to stop breastfeeding altogether before January.My husband says that she will get into her own sleep routine but I don’t agree if we are not teaching her how to. Please help, I really need a step by step guide. I’m at my wits end. Last night was a bad night and I just cried wondering what am I going to do. Dal
I can get my 6,5months old to get use to sleep in his own cot, He is also waking up a few times at night for a feed(i do breast feed him) is there anything i can do about it???? should i still feed him at night?
With thank in advance
kasia
Hi Dana,
Adam is 5 and a half months now and is napping well during the day but he still isn’t sleeping through at night. He wakes about 4 times a night his longest sleep is 3 hours girlfriends say its because I’m breast feeding? How do I get him to sleep through I would love an unbroken nights sleep…….don’t know how long I keep this up I’m so tired some days and struggle to function normally.
Achilleas seems to sleep better during night time but if I do not put him with me on my bed he cannot settle in his bed. Is it bad to put him next to me before he sleeps?
Dana my daughter is 5moths this week.She goes to sleep between7.30pm and 8pm and gets up once or twice a night to have a bottle but then she wakes up at 5am and doesnt want to go back to sleep. Dana once she wakes up at 5 i try to put here back to beb but it doesnt work so i pick her up. How can i make her sleep in?
Hello, My daughter is 4 months and has been sleeping 12 hrs since she was a month old. But it seems as though now she only wants to sleep 8-10 hrs. We did not change anything with our routine, except I would normally nurse her after her bath and then put her to bed and she would sleep like a dream. Now we do the same time bath then nurse before bed, but it is like she is much more alert, eyes open and laughing, it takes her 30-45 mins sometimes just to fall asleep. And its not because she naps too much during the day because sometimes she only naps for 30- 1hr 30mins and they are broken naps. What can I do to get her to sleep those 12 hrs again and take better naps. She falls asleep and wakes up in the same spot everytime.
Hi Dana my 14mnth old daughter isabella goes 2 bed every night at 6.30 with no problems she goes down awake for the last few months she has been sleeping till between 4.30-5.30 having a bottle and going back down awake and sleeping until 7-7.30!!this is hard as I don’t go back 2 sleep properly I tried your advice from last week about going in telling her nte nte time an no bottle I’ve been doing this for a week and she stays awake for amost 2 hours until I take her down stairs at 6.15 and give her a bottle and start the day it’s getting very hard as my husband works away I work evenings so I’m very tired an moody with my 6 yr old boy and Isabella is also moody!!!how long will this take to sort so she sleeps 6.30-6.30 or should I go back to giving her a bottle at 5am I need advice asap!!! Thankyou Karen
Hi…I need help, my baby 6 months old has been waking up every 2-3 hours every night since he was born, he is breastfed, I used to breastfeed him and he will go back to sleep, now after he began teething, its becoming very difficult to put him to sleep, today it took us from 7 pm to 9:30 , I didnt breastfeed him as I am trying to break the association, but he’s stubborn and would cry and cough and make himself choke..he only slept for like 45 min and then woke up to feed. I know at this age they dont need any night feeding, I dont want to try the CIO method, but nothing settles him at night , I dont know what to do…
It takes my daughter 2-3 hrs to fall asleep is there anything I can do to help her?
My 9 weeks old falls asleep in his cot with his dummy. At night it is not an issue, he goes for 6.5 hours, without calling out. However, he wakes at the 40 minute mark of a nap like clock work. This only started about a week ago, since then he would take 2 hour naps straight through. I am thinking that it might be the dummy not being in his mouth when he hits the light stage. How do I get rid of the dummy, helping him sleep independently, without putting him in distress?
My son is 4months old and I am breastfeeding. He goes to bed at 7:30 (last feeding at 7) and usually wakes for a feed around 4am. I feed him and put him back to bed until 7am. (even if he wakes at 6ish). Should I be trying to not feed him at 4am and wait until 7 or is he still too young to go longer than 9hrs?
My son Rylan is sort of a hold me baby. He will not for nothing sit, play, or anything of that sort for longer then 10 minutes unless he is entertained. He also only sleeps for 30 to 45 minutes at a time during the day sometimes even only for 10. I do rock him to sleep or sometimes take him for a car ride. I am wondering if you have it tips for getting him to fall asleep on his own? Since he usually cries to be held when I sat him down, getting him to learn to fall asleep on his own is very difficult.
My 10 month girl has for the past 3 weeks started waking frequently during the night. She falls asleep normally in my arms around 8pm, then I put her in her cot where she’ll sleep till around midnight. Then starts crying. I put my arms through the cot and calm her down (only takes 10 mins). But then she’ll wake at 2am, 4am, then 6am. I’ve resorted to sleeping in the spare bed with her after the second time, and now we’re both in a really bad habit. I need help as I’m going back to full time work next month! Whats the best way to get her to sleep through the night again?
Is it ok to let your 12mth old baby scream for long periods of time thru the night. Talking, stroking, music does not work. She just screams hysterically for 2 hours!! Nothing works so we end up leaving her scream it out til exhaustion. This is not crying its screaming!!!! What else can we do. We go in to check on her 10 minutely and she just screams even louder so we have to leave the room as nothing works. She doesnt appear unwell and is not teething.
Austin is now 4 months old. He is not sleeping through the night. He usually wakes once between 3-4 am, takes a bottle and immediately falls back asleep until 5:30-6:00am. I do not think he is waking just to see us. He uses no props to fall asleep. We simply lay him in the crib and he falls asleep for all naps and bedtime. He seems to want to go to sleep for the night between 5-6pm (closer to 5 on the 2 days he goes to daycare since he doesn’t nap well there). We have tried to extend this time but it doesn’t matter. Sometimes he would even wake on his own around 9pm, take a bottle, play for 45 minutes and then go back to sleep…yet he still wakes up in the middle of the night for a bottle. Is there anything we can due to encourage him to sleep through the night or can he possible still need the nutrition? He has been on cereal for 3 weeks now.
Hi Dana,
I have a problem. Rhys has always been a terrible sleeper, but I stuck to a routine and he now, at 17months old, falls asleep on his own without props and sleeps from 7pm to 5 or 5.30am for a breastfeed, then he’s put back to bed awake and he goes back to sleep until 7am or 7.30am. I would like him to sleep straight through to 7am.
Rhys is only breastfed once a day at 5 or 5.30, the rest of the feeds/drinks are milk and other fluids.
He naps from around midday for an hour and a half, falling asleep on his own without props.
Also – when he wakes, he cries until you come and get him. My eldest, now 3 1/2, always chatted happily until I came to get him and still does. Having said that, he’s always been a sensational sleeper.
How can I change our routine?
I have been using Sleep Sense for a while now with my 6 month old and everything is going well.He is awake 2 hours and sleeps 1 hr each nap until bed time at 7:30. My question is, over the holidays, what should I do about naptime? We will have a very busy couple of days for both Thanksgiving and Christmas(4 places each time) and I am not sure how/where he will be able to sleep other than his carseat unless I take a pack-n-play(he doesn`t sleep well in pack-n-play). Should he not sleep in a carseat?
I have a 3mo old son that wakes up every 1-2 hours. He goes down around 7-8pm. When he wakes up we feed & change him but notice that he’s been drinking less. Instead of eating then going back to sleep, he gets very upset at night until I rock him to sleep. What am I doing wrong?
my 25months year old daughter wakes up during the night for at least2-3hrstalking to self , playing and trying to put herself back to bed. she even say she want more sleep but struggles to fall asleep. she normally go to bed aroung 7.30 8.00pm and falls asleep by herself, sometimess after about 20mins depending on how tired she is. how do i get her to sleep throughout the night. she doesnt drink milk at night.
Like Alicia, my 9 month old son falls asleep by himself without any props, but almost always sleeps only 1/2 hour. I have tried both leaving him for 20 mins, or going straight in and trying to sooth him, but neither works. I have also experimented with keeping him awake longer to make sure he is tired enough for a longer sleep, but he then just has trouble settling for his sleep. I would love some advice about this.
My 4 1/2 month old daughter has slept through the night since she was 2 wks old. She would sleep from 8pm until 6am. As of a month ago she has been waking up once if not twice a night and not going back to sleep without eating. Is she truly hungry or has she developed a pattern of waking. we use a paci but that does not seem to soothe her… she falls right back to sleep after eating roughly 7 oz. help!!
My question is in regards to re-settling. My 10 month old can put him self to sleep 9 out of 10 times, however he still wakes 2 to 3 times at night. I try and let him calm himself to go back to sleep by giving him 5 mins but his cry only escalates and 20mins later he is hysterical. In the end we pick him up. How can I help him learn to re-settle by himself and how long is it okay to leave him to cry in his cot?
my 3 month old son will only go in his got when he is asleep i cant place him in awake as he will scream untill i go and pick him up, i have tried singing, patting him and hair rubbing nothing seems to work he cried the other night for 20 mins untilli went and held him please help
My one year old son Ewan has trouble settling in his cot during the day and night. He sleeps fine in his travel cot (which we had in his room for a while as it was the only way we were getting a full nights sleep!) However, he just doesn’t seem to like his big cot ………………. please help!!
My child is 4months and was only sleeping for a max of 40mins at a time which was not good for him or myself. I ended up leaving him to settle himself which ment crying for a little bit, after a couple of minutes of crying i would always go back to check on him and he would stop crying and be smiling at you ready to get up so nothing was really wrong with him he just didnt want to sleep, after 3 long days he eventually got the picture that in the morn he has a 3 hour sleep and the same in the afternoon. It has completly changed our lives and we are both better for it. When he would wake and have a dirty nappy i would change him without talking to him and put him straight back to bed, this worked a treat.
I just started the sleep sense program. It seems to be working during the night but my baby (3 months) will NOT sleep longer than 30 minutes during the day. How can I get her to sleep longer in the day? Any success? She cries more than she sleeps. It takes about 35 minutes of her crying to have a 30 minute nap. We have only been doing this for a few days, will this get better?
I have been havin trouble gettin my 3 1/2 yr old to take a nap, he treats it like the end of the world, and it gets worse whens it time to crash for the night. He starts screamin as if someone hits him, its really disturbing, he evens beats himself up by hitting the bed and kicking the wall, i have tried so many things, baths, sitting in the room, reading to him, talking calmly with him, waking him earlier in the morning to allow for a proper nap time, and nothing seems to work, its so frustrating and I am running out of options, and I feel so lost. What can I do?
I have an almost 2 year old who has recently begun tossing his beloved blankie out of the crib and then screams hysterically until I come in to retrieve. This happens during naptime and at all hours during the night. Is this a ploy to get my attention? How can we stop this behavior? I know my son will not go to sleep without blankie.
My baby girl is 6 months and is just like Christina baby . She sleeps for 30 minutes and more: She is very agitated! If I put her in her crib, the legs don’t stop moving , she turns on her tummy , turns in the crib, put her feet out of the crib etc….:-p
It is very difficult for her to relax.When she was little, swadlle would help, but now, she escapes. She had a very strong moro reflex when she was a newborn that would wake her up a lot too.
Elen
Hello Dana
It always seems like my son is catching a cold
and i can’t understand why!!!!! he is going on 10mths and has already been sick about 5x
twice in the last 3mths……
why is this happening am i doing something wrong? what can i do to try and prevent him from catching a bug?!!!
Thanks again
Nicole
Hi Dana
I was having a really hard time trying to give him water when he woke up during the night..about a week ago he had a really high fever i took him to the hospital they said he had a stomach flu… i still question there diagnosis… but ever since then he will only drink water during the night..and during the day which is great cause he seems to love it…but it’s still not helping in the process of sleeping the whole night… any advice?
Thank you
My son is 13 months old. He has been on a routine since he was 5months old. He has two good naps a day ranging between 1.5hrs to 2.5hrs per nap. He gets a bath at 8; bottle; brush teeth; story book; then to bed for 8:30. He is awake when leave the room and he puts himself to sleep in just a few minutes. I know he knows how to self soothe. My problem is he still wakes up 1 or 2 times a night. Theres been a few nights ive heard him wake up and will fall back asleep, but most nights I have to go into his room and find him sitting up in bed crying. I lay him back down and he falls back asleep, sometimes hes really upset and I have to give him a bottle to calm him down to go to sleep. Is it possible he has night terrors and what can I do to get him sleeping through the night all the time. Its been over a year since Ive had a good night sleep please help.
My son Preston who will be a year old this month will not go to sleep in his bed any longer. He was sick off and on for about 6 weeks on top of teething. Needless to say I started letting him stay in bed with me when he had a fever. Which turned into every night somehow. HE screams every time I try to put him in the crib for naps or at bedtime. I am a single mother so I do not get any relief or help to get him to bed at night. I need your expert advise. He was sleeping just fine in his crib before the sickness/teething started. HE was great!
Hi, I have a 2 month old daughter, Abigail. She sleeps all morning from 8 am to 11 am when I have to wake her up to nurse. Then she goes back to sleep from 1 pm to 3-4 pm. Then she doesn’t go back to sleep until 11:30pm to 12 am. She sleeps until 5-7 am after we finally get her sleep. It varies. Are these good sleeping habits? If not please help. I tried your tips by making a schedule. Bath time at 7, then nursing. She doesn’t sleep during nursing. She does her work and only after that does she go to sleep. I know you don’t approve but we’ve tried a pacifier. That thing flies about a foot after we stick into her mouth. Is there such a thing as sleeping so deep that she probably doesn’t need the rest after 4-5 pm anymore? When she sleeps a tornado could go through the house and it wouldn’t bother her.
What happens if we’ve tried everything you mentioned in your post (i.e. my 8 month old falls asleep in her crib by herself with a blankie and nothing else) but for months and months only ever sleeps for 45 minutes at a time? I ignore her for at least 20 minutes whenever she wakes up unless she’s really upset but it never seems to work! 9 times out of 10, it turns out that she’s pooped and I’m not sure that there’s anything I can do about that!! Do you have any other suggestions for getting babies to take longer naps if they’re already falling asleep without props and just keep waking up at the 45 minute mark?
We have the same problem. We have been following the program for months and doing well in every area but naps. He falls asleep on his own but consistently wakes up after 45-50 minutes. Occasionally he will sleep longer but mostly the short naps. I know he needs more sleep but he won’t go back to sleep. Help!!!
Hi Alicia,
I’m having a similar problem with my 4 month old, which is totally exhausting as he needs at least 4 naps a day and it’s a nightmare trying to work it around his feeding schedule as well. I let him go to sleep on his own, but he wakes up after 45 minutes as regularly as clockwork. I let him cry for 10-15 minutes, then retrieve his sad and sweaty but fully awake body from the crib, only to find him ready to nap again an hour later. This means I need to feed him 6 or more times a day as well as at night. Nothing seems to be changing. What to do???
Toni
hi, i have 3 children under 5 and the youngest one is 16 month old she is waking up every 3 hours and at 5 am she is done,she share the room with her sister (2 years old) and I fedd her with breast milk but now just one time ,at nigth before she goes to sleep,i dont know what to do any more,they have a routine so every thing is always the same helpme please i’m going crazy thanks lilian
WHEN MY DAUGHTER WAS 2 1/2 MONTHS OLD WE DID THE “CRY IT OUT ROUTINE” FOR GETTING HER TO BED AT NIGHT. IT WORKED WONDERS AND SHE IS NOW 18 MONTHS OLD AND IS A GREAT NIGHT TIME SLEEPER – IN BED BY 8:00 AND UP AROUND 7:00 AM. HOWEVER, SINCE WE WERE SO HAPPY TO HAVE HER SLEEP AT NIGHT, WE NEVER WERE STRICT WITH NAP TIME. SHE SLEEPS WHENEVER WHEREVER BUT ALWAYS REQUIRES SOMEONE TO HOLD HER OR PAT HER. IS IT TOO LATE TO GET HER ON A NAP SCHEDULE.
hi I have few Questions I have 7 month old twins. Zoey sleeps fairly Well at night we do feed both at night and they fall asleep I know its a bad habit,but I have tried feeding them earlier so they can fall asleep on their own. But they never eat until its bed time. She will wake up and fall back to sleep but With Aiden he was waking up 7 to 8 x a night he takes good long naps but at night he isn’t crying He is screaming like he is in pain and his eyes are still shut even when pick him up he want open his eyes. I try to pat him or try the Shhhh. but he screams louder . unless I put a bottle in his mouth . So I am not sure if he is still hungry from crying or a dry mouth nightmares etc. I feel bad Cause with the time change has messed up their sleeping and feeding schedule he was going to sleep around 7 or 7:30 now its 5ish and I have tried to keep him up but he is so cranky… I am not sure whats going on me and my husband are both exhausted, We tried the cry it out for one night and he cried for about 40min. but he slept through the night till 5 gave him a bottle then went to sleep for a while longer. I couldnt continue cause he started coughing the next day I am not sure if they cry it out method is a good idea I feel bad but that night was the first night in a long time that I felt rested . I am just at lost I need help fast PLEASE….
My 9 and 1/2 month old has been sleeping great through the night – solid 12-13 hours – but we’re having difficulty getting her naptimes established. Ever since I can remember she’s always taken 30-45 minutes naps but just last week she started sleeping for an hour to an hour and a half. I thought “Wonderful! She’s starting to get the hang of things.”
But this week she’s back to taking short naps. There are no sleep props, we say our keyphrase “It’s sleepytime” and she goes down in her crib awake with curtains pulled. Is there something we’re missing?
Thank you,
Ashlynn
I need help fast!! I have a 4 year old (who now puts herself to bed) a 2 year old who I have to lay with for him to fall to sleep and TWINS that are 8 months old! I was really excited when my twins too a soother because I put it in and off to sleep they went and then I could put my 2 year old to bed. BUT I am up approximately every 25-40 minutes to put the soother back in or to go and lay with my son when he wakes up! Then around 2am I have had enough so the twins move into my bed (so I don’t have to get up anymore) and when my husband comes home from work he goes right to bed in my 2 year olds bed! I’m almost ready to buy a king size bed and be done with the cribs cause the twins just freak out when they are put down in it, but yet they are ok in our bed! My 2 year old and the twins both have bed time snuggly toys but they still need more! What do you suggest? How can I get my 2 year old to go to bed by himself and stay sleeping? And how do I get some kind of routine with the twins without crying it out if I get rid of their soothers? I need sleep soon it’s been 4 years without sleep and it’s getting worse!! Thanks for your help! Christine :o)
hey dana……. so saksham is now 14 mnths old…. and he’s sleeping with us….. and he’s waking up 3-4 times during night and get back to sleep only when i’ii feed my breastmilk……… and sometimes using pacifier also……. so me and my partner are disturbed for his irregular sleep during night…….. in the day time he usually takes two times a nap of 2- 2.5 hrs….
so we’re really feeling problem of him getting up night after a year ……
My 4 month old always wakes up from a walk in the pram (however long the walk) as soon as we get to the front door. It’s not because the pram is suddenly staitionry as this happens when queing in a shop or whatever. Is he pychic??
My daughter is 16 weeks old. I have been following the Sleepsense program since she was 8 weeks old. When she hit her 3 month growth spurt her sleep patterns dramatically changed (for the worse). While she used to take 1.5-2 hour naps and wake only once per night to nurse, she is now taking only 45 minute naps, and often wakes twice per night for a feeding. I put her down awake, and 9 times out of 10 she falls asleep with no fussing at all…so what am I doing wrong? Please help!
My 4 month old son has a pretty strict routine and does really well these days to self-soothe for naps and for bed at night. If he wakes through the night, say at 3am, I rarely have to go to him, but lately he has been waking back up at 5am or so and is a little fussier. The last two mornings, I have been feeding him when he wakes at 5am because I can hear his little tummy gurgling and I’m afraid he’s starving. He goes to sleep around 7:30pm after a bath and feed, so I’m just wondering if hunger is really what’s waking him up or not? Growth spurt? I’m afraid even if it a growth spurt and he needs to be fed at that time, that he will do exactly what you said: “he’ll start waking earlier and earlier” and before I know it I’ll be doing middle of the night feeds or worse! I guess my real question is this: how long should my 4 month old be expected to go without a feed if he’s having a growth spurt??
Thank you. Jodi
My 4 month old is fantastic at falling asleep on her own. She sleeps 10-12 hours at night and can settle herself back to sleep if she wakes during the night. Napping is a whole other story! She can fall asleep on her own and usually very quickly with little or no crying, but she is the cat-nap queen! She always naps in her crib but always wakes after 40 minutes (or less). I successfully sleep/nap trained her 2 older sisters using the sleep sense but it is just not working for my 4 month old. I wait 10 minutes from when she wakes up then let her cry for 25 minutes or so (using the leave and check method) and then go see her because it is time for another feed (she can only last 3 hours between feeds, especially since she no longer feeds overnight) She will take 4-5 cat naps throughout the day but can barely stay awake 90 minutes between naps because she is so exhausted. I feel that all I am teaching her is that mommy will come after you’ve cried for 25 minutes and you will get fed! HELP!!!
I’m having a pretty similar issue with my 5 month-old. She can get herself to sleep on her own and always sleeps in her crib for both naps and overnight, but always wakes from naps after 30 – 40 minutes. When she wakes she’s almost always crying and obviously still tired (rubbing her eyes). On the rare occasion that she sleep for an hour and a half, she wakes up happy and gurgling.
Even if I wait for 25 minutes after she wakes from a nap, she never goes back to sleep. She just gets grumpier and grumpier over the course of the day because she’s so tired.
how do I get my 13 month old boy to drink his milk in a sippy cup and no more in the bottles??
my suggestion would be to introducing it gradually…i.e. some water/jiuce after meals in it at first, then once hes used to tat, maybe a milk drink in it during the day, then gradually introduce it at night….good luck!
I have a unique situation, I share a room with my baby and I have a roomate who is my exhusband, he helps but he is not her dad, so i get a little help but it’s pretty much up to me to handle her. Jewel 15 mo old who wants to nurse all night, I put her in her crib at 7 p.m every nite she goes to sleep fine but she wakes up when I go to bed at about 9 or 10 p.m, and because i’m so tired I put her in the bed with me and the cycle begins again. Help!!!!! I would buy your program but am scared of it not working because of my odd living aragments and the fact that I have a lot of pain issues and not much money.
My 4-month-old goes to sleep at about 8:30pm and sleeps until about 5:30am. (Sometimes she sleeps until 7:30am, and then I don’t put her back to bed.) When she wakes up, I feed her and put her back to bed, where she will sleep until about 8:15am. She takes a one to two hour nap around 11:00am and a two to three hour nap around 3:30pm. Is she sleeping too much? One nurse told me that I shouldn’t let her sleep for longer than five hours at a time at night so I can feed her. But she is a big baby. She weighs 14 pounds, so I’m not worried about her eating enough. Do I have anything to be concerned about?
your very lucky!!!!
No Tina, your baby seems happy, trust your gut – if something was ‘not quite right’ you would know about it – Remember no 2 babies are ever the same.
My baby is 4 months and 14 lbs as well. She goes about 12 hrs from her last bottle at night to her 1st in the morning. She sleeps about 8-9 hrs all night. Although we don’t have a set time for her to sleep and she still doesnt fall asleep on her own, she is still consistant with the amount of sleep at night and bottles during the day. So i’d say your baby, just like mine, is fine.
I had the same question, Tina. My son is 4.5 months old and had just started sleeping from 8pm-5am.(about a week) He is 15lbs and drinks about 28-32 ozs during the day. I was wondering if that was too long to go with out feeding, but he seems to be doing well with it.
My 14-mth has been sleeping wonderfully (12 hours a night w/no interruptions) for several months now. Recently, he started walking and is teething (he only has five teeth). Shortly thereafter, he started waking once during the night at random times. When we go in and check on him, he lays back down immediately, but unless we rub his back till he falls asleep completely, he will keep waking up and crying when we leave the room, sometimes for almost two hours. I know we’ve created this sleep association and I need help breaking it (we rub/pat his back for naps and at bedtime). What are the steps? I need help, and FAST, b/c I’m having another baby in early 2010. I’m so exhausted and although my husband is a huge help, we both don’t know what steps to take to help him fall asleep on his own. Thanks for your help. Jen
My 6-month old baby has a structured routine and is taking good long naps in the day, however recently she wakes up in middle of the night around 3am (she is very punctual..there r pros and cons), if she rolls over, she would require our assistance to pat her back to sleep again, how can I break our custom by letting her sleep without patting her back? If we let her sleep by herself without patting, she would roll over on tummy and play and the more she plays, the more that she is active and doesn’t want to sleep.
I know you’ve been asked this before, but I need to ask again: my 1yr old is getting up in the morning well before the rooster crows. She has a bedtime routine that is flawless – goes to sleep on her own. She is, however, waking up way too early! Sometimes I can get her back down with a back rub or a diaper change, but usually, she’s up. How can I prolong her sleep? Naps are fine, one hour in the morning, closer to two hours in the afternoon. Please help!
My 8 month old seems to really fight going to sleep. I catch her on the first yawn yet she kicks and sqirms when I try to put her down or rock her. Also she doesn’t wake up at the same time everyday so I really have trouble getting her on any sort of a schedule. Please help!
my son is nearly 10 weeks old hes been having 8ouncesof milk every 3 hours he was 9.8 when he was born an now the health visitor is sayin hes all most obeast at 17lbs he still wakes up at nite about twice how can i stop that an how can i make his feeds last longer between each one
My 8 mpnths old baby has been having difficulty sleeping since he’s 6 months old…he wakes up 3 or 4 or even more sometimes, a night. I just had to wake in his room pat him or shhh at him and he would fall back asleep right away. But lately he has been waking up crying and yelling, I sshhh at him and pat him but there’s nothing i can do to make him stop. I don’t want to pick him up from his crib, so I let him cry it ou…but it can last for hours and hours…What can I do…
A very tired mom
right now Shauna is not well and as you know she’s still breastfeeding but she wakes up more than 4 times at night. And i remember you said to establish a good sleeping pattern you should not feed your baby at night. thank you.
My 21 month has started to wake at 6 every morning, his routine has not changed at all, so we cannot work out why he does this, please help. He sleeps 8.30pm as always and has a 2 hour nap around lunchtime as always, but seems to want to start the day an hour early now. He it that he is more aware of his surroundings and wants to play
Might be because he needs a little bit less sleep in a 24 hour period since he is almost 2 years old! Good-luck!
My child is 21 months and has never ever been a good sleeper. His dad and I both work full time and it got so tough after trying everything to keep him in his own room that we got into the habit of letting him sleep in our bed and now and for the past 6 months he won’t go to bed unless mum was with him so I end up going to bed with my child instead of his father. We are now having another child and we don’t know what we’re going to do about getting Eamon back into his own bed. He got into that much of a bad way at 10 and half months he jumped out of his cot and we had to change it to his cot/bed with a safety bar attached incase he would attempt the jump again and really hurt himself or worse. I love my child so much but I am constantly knackered he wakes even in our bed 4 or more times a night for a drink as well. any advice would be great. We are trying this past week to slowly but surely familiarise him with his own room again but the squeals and temper tantrums are unbelievable he gets so angry and upset I then end up crying.
sorry to hear that…I would say that parents need to draw a line in the sand…for a 21 month boy he certainly understands your order…just how you will enforce it. He cries to test your bottom line…I would suggest to do it gradually by not responding to his cry. Good luck!
It took nearly 5 days, but our little girl now sleeps for up to an hour or more when she naps in the day, and she sleeps from 7pm until 7am now. The key was only letting her sleep in her cot whether it was a nap or at night as your articles have suggested. She has an automated night light mobile thing that she can set off herself when she touches it (so we don’t need to be there) and the routine is always the same. She goes into her cot with the music and lights on when she is awake and just getting sleepy (rubbing her eyes) and then goes off to sleep on her own. Hooray! The advice really works.
my daughter wakes up at 6:30am or 7:00am how can i get her to sleep a lil longer in the mornings
Daniel who is 5 months old is starting to sleep on a schedule & learn how to fall alsleep by himself, but still wakes between 1-4 times a night for a bottle. He will cry until he gwets it, how do I wean him from this?
Brady has allergies. The ENT doctor put him on hydroxizine 1/2 teas. at night. He is sleeping better and through the night but still rouses and really moves around alot as if he’s not comfortable along with a slight wimper. sometime he still wants a bottle during rousing.
What in the world makes them move from one end of the bed to the other, so restless.
Dear Dana,
I put my daughter to bed with a bottle, she lays on a pillow to be elevated. After she is sleeping I take the pillow out. When she wakes in the night I have to do the same thing. How do I break her of this?
also how do i get them to talk better.and to stop bed wetting
how do i get my 2yr,and 4yr to sleep all nite?they share a room.also how do i get my 4yr to go to bed with out a cup and my 2 yr with out a bottle.how do i get him off the bottle period,ive tried giving him a cup and he wont take it at all.please help.im so sleep deprived so i know they have to be.
In response to the bottle and cup issue my first thought is make sure they are only drinking water. If not start deludding the contents, a little more each night until its just water. Sometimes children won’t like the taste of what they are drinking and decide on their own they don’t want it. If they are already drinking water start limiting their amount until they are drinking very little. For the bottle you could have your two yr old “donate” the bottle to a baby she/he knows or to the needy. Also make a huge deal out of them being big kids. It won’t be easy, but can do it! The bed wetting should improve with less fluid intake during the night. The talking can be improved with A) always talking to them with correct grammer and proper English (or other home language), NO MORE baby talk and B) insist that they also speak to you in the same manner. If they whine or baby talk let them know you can’t understand them and that they need to talk like big kids and that you can’t help them unless you can understand them. Good luck :)
My 7 month old has never taken long naps consistently. He might take a 1.25 or 1.5 hour nap once during the day but not every day. We have been rocking him to sleep as it was the only way to get him to sleep at all, expecially the first couple month because he had really bad reflux. We have tried letting him cry and going in to soothe him but it never worked. Recently I have been moving towards laying him in his crib and letting him put himself to sleep which he can do. Sometimes he’ll still cry for 30-45 mins (with me going in every 15 to soothe him) before sleeping and sometimes it’s only 10 minutes. However, it seems that when I let him put himself to sleep he sleeps a shorter amount of time than if I rock him and let him get half asleep and put him down. I have gone in and tried to rock him again or pat his back to go back to sleep but that has never worked. Should I just let him cry without going in there until he goes back to sleep? How long should I let him go? He consistently only sleeps 40 minutes at a time. When he sleeps that short amount he wakes up crying but if he happens to sleep 1.5 hours he wakes up happy. My daughter always took really good naps and still does at 3.5 years old so this is all new to me. Thank you.
yes i have the same problem!!!!!!i’m fade- up
I have this same problem, and sometimes I wonder if because he’s not sleeping very long he tends to get or think he’s hungry sooner and I don’t want to over feed him. If I try to lay him in his crib when he’s sleepy he just cries and screams. What do I do?
My child has just recently gotten the flu and an ear infection and since then he will not sleep threw the night hes been doing it for about a month now… waking up every hr, and it seems like right on the hr, what do u think?
My son wakes at 3am every night..he is now 6.5 months.. we feed him and he goes back to sleep. Is this a habit?..or does he really need to eat?..if its a habit will he grow out of it?..or will i need to have him “cry it out”?
Hi Caroline.
Lucas is 21weeks old now, and went through a patch of waking between 2-4am. He never used to take a bottle at night from the age of 11weeks, but i gave in one night and gave him a bottle. He went straight to sleep, but was very unsettled a little while later. He got into this habit, and was waking earlier and earlier, so i stopped giving him a bottle and the moment i heard him stir, i went to him and soothed him in his cot. A few weeks later, he’s now sleeping from 7pm-5ish am without waking for milk. I just need him to go a bit longer as 5am is NOT time to wake up and play!
I hope this helps as i do think this is more habitual waking rather than him needing milk. By 6.5months ur baby should be able to sleep through the night without a feed. In order for him to grow out of it, u’ll have to help him. Maybe set an alarm for 2:45am and sooth him just as he starts stiring -but dont get him out the cot or he’ll think he’s going to be fed and will get very angry and upset when this doesn’t happen!
I hope this helps you. Goodluck :)
thats helpful but My 18 month old can only nap for 20 mins – 30 mins at a time. There are some days when she doesn’t have a nap at all. She fights napping so much its upsetting me. Her little eyes are purple and she yawns. But she jsut won’t go to sleep. Please help.
We have been trying to get our son to soothe himself to sleep on his own, by going in every few minutes to try and calm him. However, he is very upset and cries the instant we stop trying to soothe him. He is only 10 weeks old. Is he too young to do this process? We give up because he will continue to cry and we are not sure how long a baby at this age should be crying, even with the 5 mins cry and soothe routine. Is there a better way to encourage him to self-soothe?
Robin I would wait until he is 13-14 weeks. I think at 10 weeks he is too young. I had to wait with my little boy and started the sleep train at 3 months and it’s working so far. good luck.