This advice actually saved us a lot of headaches when our daughter was younger. In fact, following just this piece of advice got her sleeping two hours each morning and afternoon, plus twelve full hours every night at just five months old. Now almost four, she has no trouble saying that she's tired and needs a nap. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, there are three very common mistakes parents make:
1. They assume more naps will make it harder for the child to fall asleep at night. This is flat out, 100% UNTRUE. In fact, most bedtime fights occur because the child is overtired. Even when they do manage to fall asleep, they can't get that deep restful sleep they need. Think about it: when you're overtired, how often do you crash hard, only to find yourself wide awake at 2 a.m.? It's no different for the little ones.
2. They assume that babies need to be fed every two hours, regardless of any other schedules. This is also generally untrue. Granted, for very new babies this is a precaution that should be taken into consideration, and breastfeeding moms will need some relief as well. But our family doctor made a very good point: if a baby is sound asleep, it means they're not being woken up by nagging hunger...so stop waking them up to feed them! With my own daughter, once she learned that she wasn't going to be fed every couple of hours she opted to just stay asleep and eat a bigger breakfast.
Remember, this was when she was just five months old. It took only three days to train her this way, and to this day she sleeps well right through the night.
3. They assume a later bedtime will create a later wake-up time. This is also completely untrue. Children are creatures of nature and instinct, and they will tend to wake up at the same time every morning. Yet surprisingly, parents extend their kids' bedtimes as late as possible to try and get them to sleep in a little later. What this does is it actually forces the kid to become overtired, resulting in more and more bedtime arguments and restless sleep. The kid gets up throughout the night, and they still wake up early. It becomes a cycle. The way out of this is to go for an earlier bedtime, and be consistent with it. That consistency will pay off.
Oh, and admit to yourself that 6 a.m. actually isn't a terrible time to get up. You can go to sleep before midnight too, you know.
A new baby needs a lot of sleep and when they’re not sleeping, they can be hungry or need a diaper change. It’s a little hard to know in the beginning what’s making your baby cry or if they're tired. But as you both begin to settle into your routines, you’ll begin to notice the cues that your baby needs to nap. You want to make sure they get in good naps during the day and at appropriate times so that you won’t have as much trouble getting them to sleep at night.
Even a very small baby will rub their eyes when they get tired. They'll yawn; perhaps get fussy. As children get a little older, their activity levels may pick up as they get tired and try to avoid sleep.
Try to keep to regular nap times during the day. If you’re baby is napping 3 times a day, then a mid-morning, early afternoon and late-afternoon nap is appropriate for a baby with a 7:30 or 8 PM bedtime.
Often babies get tired towards dinner time, and then parents are faced with a dilemma. Do you let the baby sleep and risk not getting to sleep at bedtime? Or you do you try to keep them awake through dinner and perhaps put them to bed a little bit earlier?
Most parents will opt for trying to keep the baby awake a little longer in favour of keeping to a regular bedtime. But if it's been a busy day for the little one, let them have a very short nap and then wake them up gently for dinner or a feeding and some light play before putting them to bed for the night.
Remember to make rituals for naps as well as bed time so your baby gets used to sleeping at regular times.
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