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 4 month old little boy. Since birth he has been quite a wakeful baby. Daytime sleeps are rarely longer than 40 minutes and I usually have to either rock him, stroke his head or cuddle him to sleep in the day. He was sleeping for 3 hours between feeds at night time and going straight to sleep after his feed. But now he is waking anything between an hour and a half to 3 hours. When I put him back to bed he sleeps for maybe 15 to 20 minutes then wakes up again. Last night I resettled him 4 times in an hour before he finally stayed asleep! The record is getting up to him 13 times in one night! I am totally exhausted and would love for him to sleep for longer. ANY advice!!!

Natalie's Response

Hi,

Catnapping is very common in young babies and I have lots of easy suggestions for you.

Consider the following:

• Catnappers are usually light sensitive, so I would encourage a dark room, stroller and capsule for all sleeps.
  
  
• Have some background music on in the bedroom to cover household noises.
  
  
• Ensure firm wrapping and tight tucking in to reduce self-stimulation.
  
  
• Have no entertainment in the cot to encourage waking when your baby gets to the 40 minutes mark. This includes inside the cot and in the room.
  
  
• Encourage an efficient uptime of great feeding and playing to help your baby earn more than a 40 minute sleep. A 4 month old baby is usually happy with an uptime of 1.5-2 hours of uptime until 4.5 months, 4.5-6 month olds are usually happy to be awake for 2-2.5 hours.
  
  
• If your baby knows how to self-settle to sleep they will be able to self-settle back to sleep. From your email your baby does not know how to self-settle and is relying on your help. For a gentle self-settling strategy see www.sleepandsettle.com.au
  
  
• 3-6 month olds go through a stage called 'the age of distraction'. This is where the baby is so interested in their environment and such a sticky beak that they don't feed properly. Because baby has a quota of milk they need every 24 hours, what they miss out on in the daytime they make up for in the night.
  
  
• As you can see the solution is a process and could take around 3-7 days to create change. Take one sleep at a time and keep in mind it takes 3 days to change a habit.

Hope this helps,

Natalie

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.