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Mon 9 Nov LIVE sleep webchat with Dr Neil Stanley

Join sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley for a LIVE sleep webchat on Monday 9th November between 12-1pm to get all your baby and toddler sleep queries answered.

[Modified by: webeditor on 03 November 2009 10:21:15 ]
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  • Hi
    my little boy is just over 3 months old and sleeps 7-7 at night with a dream feed at 11pm however in the day he only naps for about 45minutes. I put him down in his cot about 1.5 hours after he has been awake, he settles quite quickly on his own but wakes up after 45 minutes and cant get back to sleep, After being awake for about half an hour he gets tired and grizzly again but stuggles to settle so i feel that he does need a longer nap time. Have you any ideas on what i can do to help him? I make sure that the room is dark and dont rush in when he first wakes. I try to leave him but he just wont settle.
    Thanks
  • Hi
    My little boy is 9 1/2 months now and I still have terrible trouble trying to get him to nap in the day. I can see he is really tired but he just screams when i put him in his cot. Iv tried pick up, put down for a while and that just didnt work. also controlled crying kinda turns into unconrolled screaming!!

    Iv tried puting him down once i see the second yawn - Iv waited until he is really tired - i always get the same result!

    i dont know what to do?? what am i doing wrong?? I try to keep things the same so try things out for a good few weeks before changing.

    nighttime he is fine. will sleep from 6.30/7ish until 5.30/6.30. Is he getting enough sleep at night?? Could this be it??

    Any advice would be very much appreciated!!;\)

    Thank you image
  • Hi
    My little boy is 9 1/2 months now and I still have terrible trouble trying to get him to nap in the day. I can see he is really tired but he just screams when i put him in his cot. Iv tried pick up, put down for a while and that just didnt work. also controlled crying kinda turns into unconrolled screaming!!

    Iv tried puting him down once i see the second yawn - Iv waited until he is really tired - i always get the same result!

    i dont know what to do?? what am i doing wrong?? I try to keep things the same so try things out for a good few weeks before changing.

    nighttime he is fine. will sleep from 6.30/7ish until 5.30/6.30. Is he getting enough sleep at night?? Could this be it??

    Any advice would be very much appreciated!!;\)

    Thank you image
  • My son is 20 weeks old today.

    He is napping fine in the day and goes to bed at 6:30pm. He settles himself to sleep at night and wakes for a feed between 1am - 4am although if he wakes at 4am he has a feed but will then refuse to go back to sleep. He is just wide awake and wants to chat. If he wakes at 1am for a feed he will be wide awake at 4am wanting to chat but is not hungry.

    At the moment I just ignore him until he starts to cry then I try to shh him back to sleep but he gets very upset, all he wants to do is get up and he would be all smiles.

    I keep the room dark, I don't talk to him or give him eye contact.

    Should I be upsetting him and trying to get him back to sleep? Is there anything I should be doing that I am not?

    Thank you.



  • Hello,

    I am ready to try and answer your question,

    Neil
  • Hi JoWatkins,

    Although all babies are of course different if a child is getting enough sleep during the night it might be difficult for them to nap during the day leading to frustration on both sides! If he just does not want to sleep during the day it is probable that he is getting all the sleep he needs during the night.

    Regards

    Neil
  • Hi I was wondering how important you think daytime naps are? My daughter is 22 months, and although she seems to need a nap, won't sleep in her cot in the day. She either naps on the sofa or nods off in the car. Either way is not ideal, and she generally gets woken up and is then grumpy!

    Thanks!

    Edited just to add that she sleeps fine at night, but only about 7.30pm-7am, so I'm not sure this is enough sleep?

    [Modified by: xx Mims xx on November 09, 2009 12:13 PM]

  • Hi Stardust23

    The trouble with children is that they do not know what time it is and if they are awake they will want to interact with you however inconvenient that may be in -adult' time. You do not report problems during the day so it would seem to be that he is getting the sleep he needs it maybe that you could try getting him up for 30 minutes or so an see if he then wants/needs to go back to sleep
    Regards

    Neil
  • Hi Dr. Stanley im after some advice regarding my 33month old Son who has never ever slept through he goes to bed fine around 7ish every night usually asleep within about 10minutes of our usual routine. He is very active and intelligent for his age and dosnt stop all day. He just never seems to have a restful and settled night tosing and turning for most of it, hes never in the same position for very long and thrashes himself around all night he sometimes also has crying outbusts for no reason he never seems to go into a deep sleep, he usually ends upside down on the very end of his bed every night which seems to be getting worse and by being so unsettled all night he is just so tired throughout the day (so are we)!. We also have 5.5 month old twins which he has taken brilliantly too but having him screaming through the night sometimes disturbes them then we also have to settle them to. Your advice is greatly appreciated as we have tried everything

    Many thanks, Kath
  • Hi Marnie and Emma
    It does take a while to get over the clocks changing and this can upset the routine, it may be that as the mornings get darker later this will be the cue for her to sleep a bit later in the morning, you could also try modifying your nap routine to give less sleep during the day in the hope for later rising in the morning.
    Regards

    Neil
  • Hi there
    Not a major problem for my toddler (29 months)but he seems to be able to go without a nap during the day most days - sometimes he falls asleep for an hour around 4pm, an at nursery he will go down for a nap without a problem - but at home he wont go down so we dont force him to... is this ok? he seems to be at an in between stage. He sleeps 8-8 at night, and we're hoping to bring that forward again to 7.30pm for bedtime...

    My little girl is 7 1/2 months old and her sleeping is a nightmare - she wakes up around 5am and will have a feed then go back to sleep till 7am. She then refuses to go down for a nap until 11am, and will sleep for anything between 45 mins to 2 hours... even if she only sleeps for 45 mins though she will not go down for an afternoon nap without a fight, and when we do get her to finally go down its usually 4pm and its taken an hour to get her to go to sleep - she also sleeps really badly at night as well, going to bed at 6.30pm and still waking once but being awake anything up to 2 hours. We're following the CC techniques but it doesnt really seem to be having any effect on this one period of waking... do i need to give in an feed her again?

    Thanks in advance,and hopefully you can make some sense from what i've written :lol:

    Stephe

    [Modified by: MummyStephe on November 09, 2009 12:16 PM]

  • like marnb I have an early waker that has been made even worse by clocks going back.

    He is 13 months and goes to sleep at 7.30 every night. He naps randomly during the day depending on whetehr he is at childminder or home with me. In general though he sleeps no more than 25.hrs in a day often less.

    Recently we have gone through a phase of night waking as well as early waking. He wakes crying but by the time we get there he is standing up and continued crying.
    I don't think it is teething as he is up and about and ready to play at ay point through the night.

    For both early and night waking we usually just go to him after a few mins of crying, pick up, cuddle to reassure then put down. Within a few minutes he cries again. This can go on for hours.

    Are we doing the right thing. We've been following this pattern for months so i would have expected to see some improvement. Any hints and tips ? Suz.

    [Modified by: SuzMcH on November 09, 2009 12:17 PM]

  • Hi

    My 6 month old girls are great at sleeping through the night but are bad at napping during the day. They like (and need) their daytime sleep but only sleep for 30 mins at a time.
    Problem 1
    They sometimes settle OK (they nap in their cots when we are at home) but other times, they need to be cuddled to sleep. This is not too bad with one child but I have two!!! I catch them when they start yawning and rubbing their eyes, have tried "sshh pat" and we use dummies (which they dont cry for if they fall out).

    Problem 2
    Once asleep, they only sleep for 30 mins, then wake up and need another nap an hour later.
    I've tried "disturbing" them after around 20 mins to restart the sleep cycle but they're very hard to wake. This is making weaning difficult as they are always tired at lunchtime so I have to put them down for another nap before they'll entertain their food

    Do you have any advice?

    Many thanks
    Amy

    [Modified by: trying4babyM on November 09, 2009 12:22 PM]

  • Hi xx Mims xx
    Children will sleep where they feel safe and secure and if they are tired, naps can be important, if child is tired during the day they can be cranky, but the most important thing is to get a good nights sleep and then the child can have naps if they are needed. If you get woken up when you are sleeping you will be grumpy and the same with a child, so either let her sleep till she awakens naturally of see if she can do without the nap
    Regards

    Neil
  • Hi,
    I have a 9 week old daughter who sleeps for 5 hours at night which is brilliant, my problem is that she will not go to sleep anytime between 5pm and 2am, sometimes she is still wide awake at 5am!
    We give her a bath in the day now as it excites her and wakes her up and have a good night-time routine going (last feed in a darkened room etc) but she still wont sleep until the small hours.
    Is there anything else I can do or is it just one of those things that will settle in a few months?

    Thanks
  • Hi trying4babyM
    Children will always sleep better when they fell safe and secure and who better to give then that felling that their mother, which is why your girls want their cuddles before napping perhaps experiment with some other form of comforting, blanket, toy etc.

    When children sleep they have a lot of deep sleep which is vital for their development, when they are in deep sleep they are very difficult to wake and as you may know when you wake up from a nap you sometimes feel worse than when you started, this is because you have woken up during that deep sleep, so it would be better to allow them to wake naturally rather than waking them. If you try and re-start their sleep cycle you will in fact only put them back in the same position 20 minutes later

    regards

    Neil
  • Hi

    My daughter is 2 months old and will not sleep at night. When we put her in her cot she will lay awake for awhile and after about a half hour start crying. This can go on all night. She has no problem sleeping during the day and I'm trying to keep her awake during the day but it's not working.. when she wants to sleep there is no keeping her awake.
    Some people are telling me to just change my sleeping schedule and let her sleep during the day and be awake at night, but others are telling me not to let her get into that routine, even at this young age.
    Should I keep trying to get her to sleep at night? Any ideas that might help?

    Thanks
    Monique
  • Hi,

    I was just wondering what average age i should looking at tryint to get my 5 week old in to a night routine? What age should he be sleeping through or sleeping for longer?
    I am currently breastfeeding on demand but roughly every 3 hours. Of a night I am still letting him settle downsairs with us but was planning to start putting him upstairs after bath and feed next week. some nights he will go 5 hours without wakingother 3. Am i trying to oush a routine on to him to soon?

    thanks
  • Hi newmummy09
    You may want to try and see if he will nap spontaneously if he is not put in is cot, it might be that a case that he associates the cot with napping (which is normally a good thing) which he struggles against but perhaps would not have a problem with sleeping (napping) somewhere else, this could illustrate whether he needs more napping time and then you could work on strategies to encourage him to nap in the cots
    regards

    Neil
  • Hi Lulu 82
    Young babies have little if any conception of time they have not yet developed the concept of day and night which is frustrating for adults who have, strong day/night cues may help, lots of daylight and activity during the day and dark during the night. It will still take time for the nervous system to naturally develop its own internal clocks but you can assist this and thus hopefully start moving towards sleep in the night.

    regards

    Neil
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