Comments on: Sleep Begats Sleep – Why A Messed Up Nap Upsets Nightime Sleep

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:49:43 +0000

This is great, Christy. I really need to work on sleep stuff with my second baby. We have started to put him to bed earlier, but he is still waking up about 3 times a night to eat. I need to figure out if it is genuine hunger or if it is just comforting to him. I don’t know.. I will look at the book.

By: Christy

Christy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:29:03 +0000

Definitely giving them a lovey of some sort (even if it’s a pillow) is a great idea. And Amy, I highly recommend Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. We struggled a lot with our son’s sleeping, so I found this book and used the techniques right off when we had our daughter… it was a life (and sanity) saver!!! Kim West also does personal sleep training lessons and consultations. They are pricy, but she’s had a lot of success… for starters, I’d suggest the book. It even breaks it down into age groups and strategies for each age.

By: Sharon M

Sharon M — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:03:20 +0000

Fortunately, we haven’t TOO many problems in this area when it comes to napping, but I’ve found that a lot of these techniques also work well when you’re trying to adjust to major time changes (flying W Coast to E Coast, or trans-Atlantic). My kids are both cuddlers, and we’ve found that if one of us lays down with them, we can get them to go to sleep a bit earlier than if they were laying down by themselves.

Also, my kids are attached to their down feather pillows (a gift from my MIL). They will sleep (almost) anywhere as long as their pillows are with them, so if I know that I’ll be out during my two year old’s nap time, I make sure to bring her pillow along so she can have a chance to rest.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:44:36 +0000

Thank you for this. We’ve had a problem for a few weeks now and are looking for some answers and ideas…

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:06:29 +0000

I took part in an online sleep clinic as M was having some rough nights after an emergency trip out east when my Father-in-Law passed suddenly. It came out that his patterns had been interrupted by the trip, the time change, and then being sick.

Moral of this story- we started putting him to bed earlier, getting him up later, and giving him two naps a day. I had not realized at that stage in his life (about 8 months) how much sleep he needed each 24hours. Especially in those months when he was transitioning from “baby” to “little person” and waking more. The more in-tune I was to his sleep cues, the better. And the clinic made me realize that he wanted more sleep each day.