Sherrymarks24

Mom2anAngel2

I am finally catching up on posts and noticed in the STTN post that you said you pedi had strict guidelines for sleep. Would you mind sharing? I could definitely use some advise. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on, but nothing has worked so far. TIA!!!

MarinsMom

Hey no problem! He told us these rules from day 1 when he came to see LO in the hospital and he wanted us to start enforcing them right away:

1) always put her down with eyes open, so she learns to put herself to sleep from the beginning. We've done this when we can...its hard with grandparents who just wanted to hold her and rock her to sleep since day 1 but we were pretty good about it most of the time and she can definitely put herself to sleep now.

2) no more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep between 7am and 7 pm (after 7pm she can obviously sleep as long as she wants!) This was so that she learns the difference between day and night as soon as possible. So if she had been sleeping for two hours we would always wake her up, even if she goes back to sleep right away...but just so that she opens her eyes for a minute, sees its daytime etc. then she can go back to sleep if she wants.

3) no naps within 2 hours of bedtime.

4) nighttime routine. whatever you want, as long as its consistent every day, low lights and voices in preparation for bedtime

LO is 14 weeks and i think she just happens to be a good sleeper in general, BUT we did follow these rules and shes been sleeping 12 hours, 7-7, since she was 8 weeks. We do swaddle still (she's not rolling) and a loud white noise machine. I dont think she necessarily needs it to fall asleep, but if she wakes at night, i think she hears it and it lets her know its still bedtime so she goes back to sleep. 

 

GOOD LUCK!! 

Mom2anAngel2

Thanks! We have been following all of those, except the first. We are trying to be better about it now. DS sleeps well at night. Our main issue is naps, or lack there of. He is a catnapper, not sleeping more that 30 minutes at a time during the day. We struggle to get anything done in that time.

zzbb

Thanks I was looking for these tips too!: