I received an e-mail today from a mother whose baby is not napping for long enough and is consequently caught in a cycle of overtiredness and poor sleep quality. This is quite a common problem so I thought I’d share my reply:

***********************************************************

Thanks for your e-mail. I will certainly do my best to help. First of all let me say that short napping is quite a common problem and that it often accompanies developmental milestones. Your baby will undoubtedbly grow out of this phase but I know from first hand experience what you are going through. Read the rest of this entry

If your toddlers bedtime is 9pm or 10pm then you may be wondering if you need to do anything about it. Even if you do decide to make some changes, you may be looking for some advice on how to do it without World War 3 breaking out.

First let me point out that a well rested toddler will be alert and will be receptive to, and interactive with, his or her environment. In this state your child is much more likely to be calm, attentive, pleasant and socially at ease. On the flip side, children with sleep problems will be less alert, less attentive and will have much
poorer concentration. Read the rest of this entry

I was busy surfing the net this morning and I came accross a blog post reviewing some Teddies that have been specifically designed to help babies sleep.

There’s Lavender Lab which is a plush golden pooch, twilight turtle and a sheep. The ultra-soft Sheep fastens to the outside of the crib and emits the sounds of a mother’s heartbeat as well as glam-natural spring showers, whale songs and the ocean’s surf. I had a quick look at the website and they seem to be all the rage. They claim that Gwyneth Paltrow, Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie all use them and they certainly have some expert pediatricians on their advisory board.

For those of you looking for a way to soothe your baby without relying on a pacifier or other unreliable sleep props, check out this unbiased review:

Rockinmama Review

I am certain that every parent has been through times when their baby won’t sleep. Perhaps you are a new parent and are wondering whether your babies sleep habits are normal? Let me start by giving you some average figures so you can determine if you really have a problem.

As a rough guide, a full-term infant (not premature) will sleep on average, for about 14-16 hours per day. At first, your newborn baby will have quite a chaotic sleep cycle and each sleep period can last between 30 minutes and 3 hours, with a complete sleep cycle about every 50-60 minutes.

This means that your newborn is invariably in light sleep and can wake up many times a night. Don’t worry though, this stage does not last forever and after about 6 weeks a more predictable pattern will start to establish itself. By age three to four months, your baby will start to sleep for shorter durations during the day and for longer durations at night. At this point about 75% of babies will be sleeping 14-15 hours in a 24 hour period with a 6-8 hour chunk at night.

If you feel your baby won’t sleep to the point where something is wrong, you may wish to consider some of the following points: Read the rest of this entry

If you’ve recently had a baby, you won’t need me to tell you how exhausting the first few months can be. This is an incredibly difficult and tiring time and tends to get worse until about 12 weeks have passed. At 12 weeks, your baby will start to establish his or her own circadian rhythms. In practical terms, this means that your baby will start to consolidate more of his or her sleep at night and will start to sleep for longer stretches at a time.

I can remember vividly how these first few months can feel. You can’t ever seem to shake off your tiredness and every time you start drifting off, your baby starts crying and requires your attention. You are probably wondering if you will ever get a decent night’s sleep and when (if ever) your baby will “sleep through the night”. Read the rest of this entry