Join our Tinyhood sleep consultant, Arielle Driscoll, for a live Q&A. Arielle will be here to answer all of your questions about naps, night wakings, and more!
Hi there! We recently changed our 17 month from a nanny to day care and now our otherwise great sleeper is pretty inconsistent. Any tips on making this transition to day care naps (3 days/week) any easier on her? She especially seems to be extra amped up at bedtime - taking 30+ minutes to fall asleep. Thanks!
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Arielle D.
Hi Meredith! |
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Meredith About 3 weeks ago she started day care, has been napping there for 1 full week now. She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and 1-2 hour naps. If she gets 11 hours at night, her daytime naps seem to be shorter. We aim for a 6:45-7pm bedtime, Earlier if she wakes up from her nap on the earlier side. She's up by 3 the latest at day care |
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Arielle D.
Ok, at what time does she nap? |
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Meredith 12:45 she goes down at day care. She has slept until 3 twice now at day care, but sometimes its as early as 2. If she naps at home, I put her down for 1 and she sleeps until 3 |
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Arielle D.
Ok, at 17 months, I like to see toddlers going to bed sometime between 4 and 4.5 hours after waking from their nap rather than a set time. If the nap is shorter it would be closer to 4 hours. Additionally, it's important to know that daycare transitions can take a few weeks and that around her age there is a huge language burst that can disrupt sleep. I think it's kind of the perfect storm for her. |
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Meredith I had a feeling we were taking another mental leap around this time. When we put her down for bed shes happy, but literally goes through her entire vocabulary before falling asleep - sometimes it takes 40 minutes to tire herself out! I will use the 4 hour tip as a rule of thumb for now. Thanks so much! |
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Arielle D.
You're welcome! |
I’m sure it’s too soon for a sleep schedule, but what amount of sleep should be expected for this age?
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Arielle D.
Hi Julia, |
What is the best way to start having a baby learn to self soothe? I'm trying to have my son, 7weeks, on an eat/awake/sleep cycle. But he just wants to breastfeed himself to sleep. I'm not sure when it is appropriate to start letting him cry some, and it is also really hard for me to let him cry! He does use a paci but doesn't always keep a hold on it.
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Julee Also what is a typical sleeping amount for a 7week old? |
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Arielle D.
Hi Julee, |
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Julee Thank you! I never have the heart to let him cry, but my pediatrician had said to start letting him fall asleep on his own. I had no idea what that actually meant. So I'm going to just keep on loving and snuggling him to sleep! 😊 |
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Arielle D.
Oh my gosh - NO! Not yet. He's still a newborn! |
Hello! What is the ideal nap and bedtime schedule for a 4.5 month old? Thank you!
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Arielle D.
Hi Laura, |
What are the ideal nap times and sleep times as babies get older?how does it change? 4, 5, 6 months and so on?
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Arielle D.
Hi Francesca, |
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Francesca Thank you very much!!! |
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Arielle D.
You're welcome! |
Hi Arielle-
Our sleep is a big mess! I tried to transition my then 7+ mo from 4 to 3 naps three weeks ago (late, I know) and was hoping it would extend her daytime naps that were at and are still at 30min max. LO is now 8mo and I'm trying to follow a wake time schedule of 2.25/2.75/2.75/2.5 but naps are not extending despite the nap reduction change and crib hour/crib 75 attempts. LO cries loudly when waking from naps. She also tends to wake after the first sleep cycle when put to bed. She wakes 1-3 x at night and I'm still breastfeeding exclusively, including at night. LO falls asleep for naps and bedtime independently in her crib.
Any thoughts??
Hi! We are going to start sleep training our 6 month old this weekend. Do you have any good resources (books/websites) we should checkout before doing So? It seems he has a breastfeeding/sleep association as he's been waking a few times at night and won't go back down until fed. Thanks!
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Arielle D.
Hi Laura, |
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Laura Thanks! That's exactly why I haven't read much about sleep training but figured I'd ask since we're going to attempt to tackle it in a few days. If I subscribe to tinyhood we can work together more directly? Or is your fee separate? |
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Arielle D.
I have limited availability on Tinyhood but will get back to your questions within 24-hours. If you need more immediate assistance, I can send you my email to learn more about working together more closely. |
I have a newborn (3 weeks old tomorrow) that can actually sleep four to five hours through the night if I let him. But during the day he can get kind of insufferable after a feed. Since my milk supply went down, I had to be consistent with the 2-3 hour gap between feedings and I feel like he does not nap as much As he used to because by the time I get him down, it is time for his next feeding. Is there a way to remedy this? Or should I just keep the schedule as is and once my milk supply comes back a bit more let him sleep more? Also, how much sleep is normal for a newborn this age ? Sorry for the bombardment! It's just strange that he could sleep through the night if I didn't wake him up to feed.
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Arielle D.
Hi Angelica, |
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Angelica So even if his feed is taking a little longer than 45 minutes I should take him off my breast and put him down? |
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Arielle D.
No, if he's still nursing, go ahead and let him finish. |
Hi Arielle-
I accidentally deleted my previous post about night feeds and you commented asking his schedule. He generally naps from 9am-10:30am and 2-4pm. We shoot for a 6:30-7pm bedtime and he is up for the day at 7am. (Lately waking at 10pm, 1am and 4am :/)
His nap schedule may not be ideal for his age but it seems to be the best we can do after almost 4 mos of cat naps...
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Arielle D.
I'm sorry - remind me - how old is he? |
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Laura 6 months |
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Arielle D.
What do you do when he wakes at 10/1/4? And how does he fall asleep for the night and for naps? Do you feed him to sleep? |
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Laura Hi Ariel, Thanks for your response. I had the mindset that under 6 months of age,
He is good at putting himself to sleep without nursing for naps and even
Now that he's 6 months, I want to try and get him to sleep longer stretches
As I said in the post, we went through a nice stretch where he was sleeping
He's 6 months and this is his rough schedule (we have a nanny home with him
bedtime: 6:30-7:30pm
I appreciate any insight and/or advice. The past couple of weeks have been
Thank you so much!! Laura |
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Arielle D.
Hi Laura, |
Our 8.5 month old previously good sleeper has started waking up around 4-5am, last night he woke up crying really loudly. Finally fell asleep when we brought him over to our bed. He usually sleeps in his crib in our room. He usually sleeps by 8:30pm and wakes up by 6:30am.
I'm not sure what's causing him to wake up early in the mornings..?
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Arielle D.
Hi - can you tell me what his daytime schedule looks like? When does he nap and for how long? |
Hi Arielle,
Thanks so much for your help. Our 18 mo was sleeping until between 7:00-7:30am almost consistently until about two weeks ago. She is now waking up at 5:50/6:00am, even though she is going to bed at the same time (7:30pm). She wakes up upset and crying, but will not go back to sleep.
She is also fussing more at bedtime. She actually *just* fell asleep (at ~8:05pm) after a solid 30+ minutes of fussing and crying when we put her down. We check on her and give her pats every ~10 minutes when we put her down if she is crying (if she's quietly fussing we see if she can work it out on her own).
I don't know what has caused this decrease in sleep! She is napping between 1.5-2hours during the day (from 1pm-2.30/3pm), and that's the same as before. She wakes up crying, and that's how it has always been. It could be her 2 year molars, but I don't see them coming in and it's been two weeks now.
Is this just our new normal? Or should I be doing something to get that extra 1-1.5 hours of sleep back?
Thanks, Kat
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Arielle D.
It's actually language related! At 18 months, there is a huge language burst that can cause sleep disruption in the way you're describing. It can last a few weeks. The best thing to do is remain consistent! |
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Katie Good to know, thanks! We will hold steady and hope she regains those hours soon! |
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Arielle D.
Yes, I'm sure it will come back. :) |
My baby girl is 4 mo. She sleeps great. 8:30 pm after eating until 7:20 am when I wake her. She hasn’t wanted to take a bottle ( been trying since she was 6 weeks and she has gotten worse) and LC suggested we try a dream feed with a bottle. I’m reluctant to try that Bc she doesn’t have a need for a dreamfeed and I don’t want to mess that up.
Any thoughts on that? Thanks.
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Arielle D.
Yikes. Well, I certainly don't want to negate what the LC said. With regard to sleep, however, I do not believe in dreamfeeds. And here is why: http://seacoast.citymomsblog.com/sleep/four-reasons-dream-feed-isnt-dreamy/ |
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Francesca Ok thank you for this! Appreciate the explanation for the dream feed! |
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Arielle D.
No problem! :) |
Hi Arielle,
My 21month old has picked up this bad habit in the past week of refusing food at lunch/dinner and waiting until story time/naptime or even bed time to demand food and then flips out if i don't give it to her. I don't want to reinforce bad habits, but I also don't want her to go to bed hungry. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks!
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Arielle D.
Hi Maria, |
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Maria Yikes! I hope you are right. It's so hard to figure out if she's bluffing or not at this age because she still can't talk! |
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Arielle D.
It's totally normal at this age. They push boundaries and need you to hold them. That actually makes them feel more secure! |
Hi Arielle,
Thanks for your help! I have a question about naps. Right now my 4.5 month old's sleep schedule looks like this most days:
7/7:15am - wake
9:00am - 9:30am - nap
11:15-11:45am - nap
1:30 - 4:30/4:45pm - nap
7:00/7:30pm - bed
Then she usually wakes to eat once a night around 4-5am and goes right back down but recently I cut out a 10pm dream feed and it's been twice a night (around 1am and 4am). I'm assuming it's okay to let her sleep so long in the afternoon but I wanted to check with you. Would this potentially be affecting her night time sleep? She only takes catnaps in the morning so I feel bad waking her up from her afternoon nap if she really needs it but don't want it to come at the cost of night time sleep. I've been trying to follow the 1.5-2 hour wake time between naps.
Thanks!
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Arielle D.
I'm confused - are her first and second naps only 30 minutes long? And is the third nap 3 hours long? |
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Lauren Yes, that's right. Her two naps in the morning are only 30-40 minutes each but she'll sleep for a much longer stretch in the afternoon. Sometimes she'll wake up after 30-40 minutes into her afternoon nap but will put herself back to sleep. |
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Arielle D.
Hi Lauren, |