Baby Sleep Help - Natalie's Response

Mum Zone's resident Sleep Expert Natalie of Sleep and Settle is available to answer some of your questions about settling your baby and more.

Topics include: Sleeping and settling, moving from bassinette to cot, cot to bed, breastfeeding/formula, solids, floorplay for babies and play for toddlers/children, wrapping/sleeping bags/dressing baby, behaviour/tantrums, what's normal? bedroom environments, music, lights, entertainment, mattresses, mattress protectors, sheets, unsettled babies and the 0-12 week afternoon arsenic hours, reflux/colic, teething, worms, toilet training, night terrors/nightmares, the older child issues 5-10 years and single parenting/separation/divorce.

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Reader's Question

I have a 9 month old and he is not sleeping! He will sleep for about 40 minutes per nap and at night time he will only sleep for about 3 hours total a night. I am due to have another baby in December and I would really like this solved before the next baby comes. Please help me. I am trying whatever I can!

Natalie's Response

Hi,

I appreciate that you are tired, there could be a few issues here. My answer is general without further baby history.

Consider the following:

• A baby's sleep problem is never just about sleep. The first place to start is the daily routine. Up by 7-7.30am, first sleep around 9-10am, second sleep around 1-2pm and bedtime at 7pm.
  
  
• Make sure your baby is tucked in tightly, wears a sleeping bag for all sleeps, has a dark room and background noise that covers the phone.
  
  
• At 9 months baby may enjoy three bottles in 24 hours or a minimum of three breastfeeds during the day. No night feeds are needed if baby is eating solids well. Solids are the priority and the meals should contain fresh, protein and processed (only if necessary). Water should be the only other drink offered and boiled until 18 months, no juice.
  
  
• Active floor play in the day before both sleeps. No TV, jolly jumpers or walkers.
  
  
• Your baby needs to know how to self-settle to sleep in order to understand how to self-settle back to sleep after 40 mins in the day and overnight. Your baby could be sleeping 7pm-7am. If you would appreciate a product that offers you a simple 5 step system and choices in your strategies for 0-5 years see www.sleepandsettle.com.au
  
  
• Your baby is likely to be teething around now. Signs often include rosey cheeks, a runny nose, acidic tasting dribble, a nappy rash, very runny and smelly poos and baby is biting hard on things, not just tasting them. Nurofen works well for teething but must be given with food and Hyland's teething homeopathic tablets that dissolve instantly under the tongue. A sheepskin is nice under the fitted sheet. Remember that baby may be easily distracted away from their pain during the day but it is the only thing they are concentrating on when in bed by themselves.
  
  
• The runny nose brought on by the teething can very easily turn into an earache in children. Panadol is great for earaches.

Hope this helps,
Natalie

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The opinions expressed on these pages are of a general nature and are by no means a substitute for professional advice. Therefore neither Mum Zone or Natalie Ebrill of Sleep and Settle are liable for any actions pertaining to the use of the supplied information.