7 p.m. to 7 a.m. - realistic ?

sunglow

New Member
Hi mummies

I have been reading books on sleeping issues with babies and toddlers and always come across views that say their babies sleep from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m..

Apparently my baby girl - now 13 months did not and now does not sleep that early, and aso she does not sleep for 12 hours, normally only 9-11 hours.

My question is

1) Any mummy, Singaporean mummy, can actually put baby to sleep at 7 p.m.? If so, how?

2)Do your babies sleep for 12hours at night? If so, how do I promote more hours of sleep for my girl?

Thanks.
 


sunglow:hi my girl is 16 months now and has been sleeping thru from 7pm till 7am since 6 weeks old.

according to most books they would say that if child had enough food for the day....they would sleep thru.

ie:at 6 weeks i;m already adding 1 teaspoon of rice cereals in her last milk feed
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right now....just hv to keep them occupied in the day.....try not to let them sleep after 8am.....

my girl;s daily routine now

7am:wakes up + 250ml milk

9am:breakfast (cereals + yogurt or oatmeal + fruits)

11am:nap till 1 or 1:30pm max

1:30pm:lunch

5:30/6pm:dinner

8pm(sometimes b4 depending on her can tell she cannot tahan till 8 so feed her earlier ):250ml milk

maybe u can try not to give too much tiem for naps in the day and brign her to the bed room at 7:30pm,feed her and try to do some stuffs like reading and calm her down fro the night sleep.....no more disturbance from tv/grandparents/daddy even though come back late from work.....

cos if i go out and back late.....will let my helper put her sleep at 8pm too.... hoep this will help

of cos u'l knw ur girl better and needs quite alot of discipline and co operation form others
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Hi Weishy

Thanks for your advice.

I read your girl's routine, you mean to say she can "tahan" not to sleep after her nap at 1 p.m. / 1:30 p.m. until 7/8 p.m.?

Also, how to keep her for 2-2.5 hours nap? Wow...my girl has not slept that long...max 1.5 hours, sometimes 30 mins...as for diet, I amquite certain I feed her enough...actually she does not wake up for milk...just that she does not seem to like to sleep...

Sigh! Looks like your girl is an angel baby (according to Tracy Hogg - The Baby Whisperer).

Thanks.

Regards
 
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My mom has a lot of experience taking care of children as well as newborn. willing to take care for day and night.
 
sunglow...

i think it also depends on mummy's schedule..for me, it is quite impossible cos i knock off at 6pm..by the time i reach home , it is abt 6.30 and i would like to spend some time with my gal before she goes to bed.
 
Stella

So what time does your girl sleep? And what time does she get up? Just wish to get some assurance that I am not the only mummy with daughter like that...

And Weishy....did you type wrongly? You mean to say you add rice cereal to milk at 6 WEEKS? or 6 MONTHS??
 
Sunglow,

My situation is similar to Weishy, my girl nap only in the afternoon around 1pm for 1.5 hrs. yes they can tahan cos they are older now and they will drop their morning nap automatically. It depends on the child. For mine i think she drops her morning nap when she is abt 15mths.
My girl sleeps from 7pm - 6.30am.
If you want yr bb to sleep at 7pm she has to wake up fr her nap latest by 2.30pm and is important bb does not nap too much in the day.
I followed the Gina Ford method since birth.
 
Hey weishy and BB,

I envy you both that your child can sleep so early and to sleep through too. My son will sleep twice daily in the morning and afternoon. And at night, he sleeps at 9plus by 10pm. But the thing is my son can never seem to sleep throughout. Even though he does not wake up for feeds, but he still cries at times and wakes up for no apparent reason. Thus, i have developed very dark eye circles and am too tired cos personally as i am 6 months preggers now, i wake up myself 2-3 times a night for toilet visits. Then plus my son will wake up at least once each night. I am so so tired everyday at work.
 
Hi, my boy is 9.5 months old. He sleeps at 730pm, latest 745pm, and wakes up about 6am to 630am. He takes 2 naps averaging 1.5 hrs each time. once in the morning, once in the early afternoon. He still wakes up at night though, for milk. not sure if it's because I'm still breast feeding him.. breast milk not filling enough. He eats alot.. is a big sized bb (97th percentile weight and height), takes about 300ml porridge for lunch and dinner each. And 100ml of yoghurt/tofu for breakfast. I thought he will stop waking up at night for food if I feed him alot during the day, but apprrently not..
 
Sunglow, I thinku need to have a routine, and quiet time before ur bb can sleep early. My son's routine starts at 630pm. It's a quiet bathe, followed up story telling and songs, then bedtime milk, before sleep at about 730pm. I reach home about 615pm.. then gobble down my dinner before putting him to bed. He wakes up early though, at 6am+, so I get to play with him until I have to leave home for work at about 815am. So every day, I only spend about 3 hours with him....
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But I think it's ok cos after he zzz, I get private time with my hb. At least, we can do our stuff without needing to worry about the baby.

As for sleeping 12 hours, I think most bbs sleep about 10 to 11 hours at night. if your bb is sleeping less than 10 hours at night, you may want to control his amount of day time nap. allow him to take naps, but shorten the duration of the nap.
 
hi

my younger boy(18mth) sleeps from 7.30pm-8pm to 6.30am and he takes 1 afternoon nap from 12.30-2.30pm. i tried to follow GF contented baby, modfied a bit, and it worked.

he used to be able to sleep from 7.30pm to 7am but now very clingy and demands company.

my older boy(3+ yrs old) will sleep from 8.30pm to 6.50am, with a afternoon nap 12.30-2.30pm. once they knock out, we can do our things.

i can't imagine chasing them around the house until 8.30-9pm then begin their bedtime.... .... think i will go crazy first.
 
Hi there

Share my story: It's difficult to promote sleeping 7pm to 7am in Singapore because most people do not practise that. However, we perservered for our daughter, and she's 20 mths now, and pretty much we're still on the 7pm to 7am routine.

The mommies here are right: Basically, to start the day early: 7am or some, even 6:30am (including WEEKENDS and PUBLIC HOLIDAYS!!). Then, give them routine activities and feeding and try to feed as much during the day. When they are ready, they will sleep through - Otherwise, they might wake up in between, but it's okay.

When our baby was 13 months, I think she take 2 naps a day - 9am and 2pm. Nowadays, just once after lunch.

It is not a magic wand! You just need to have a routine, and stick to it until the routine is established, even if it means waking up at 7am on Sunday(!!) and even if it means no late nights out for you (cos you need to settle them into the routine, first).
 
Urm... disclaimer. It is possible but every child is an individual, and they might be happier with longer naps in the day, and shorter night sleep. So long as they are growing, thriving, and not cranky due to lack of sleep, it's ok. Routines are generally good for both adults (parents, caretaker, etc) as well as kids as everyone knows what and who is supposed to do. e.g. sleep, play, eat...

But then again, if they are obviously happy and thriving... who's complaining?
 
I also hope my son can just nap once a day, but he has been trained to sleep twice a day since young, and my mil believes it is good to let the child have enough sleep in the day too or he will be very grouchy. But i tried before when we go out during weekends and he did not sleep twice, maybe only once, and he sleeps through in the night. I have no problems in the mornings though, my son normally wakes up either at 6plus or by 7plus.
 
Both my kids sleep from 8pm till 6 plus or 7am 365 days (yes, even on weekends and public holidays).

My son, 28 months old, takes 2-3 hours nap from 1pm to 3 plus in the afternoon.

My daughter, 14 months old, takes 2 naps, 30 min in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, with her brother. I intend to drop her naps to 1 when she's around 20 to 22 months.

They have been trained on this routine since they were 2 months old. However, my daughter still wakes up for milk feeds (2 times) at night.

I follow The Baby Whispherer by Tracy Hogg.
I like this method cos I have my personal time after my children sleep at night. But it also means I sleep early by 11pm as they wake up very early, some days can be 6am.

My quality time (reading, playing, strolling etc) with them is early morning (1 hr) and evening (6pm to 8pm).

The way to go is to keep them very busy in the day so much so that they fall into sleep within 10 min during their naps and sleep at night.
 
Hey mummies

Thanks for sharing...

Still some questions though:

(1) Cautus_79...I do have bedtime routine for my girl....bath...story...milk...cuddles..anyway, like to know...I have to show books to my girl during story-telling...will that actually arouse them instead of the initial intention of putting them to sleep? Your baby is 9.5 mths, what kind of books do you share with him?

(2) Ginger...finally I found someone who is a "follower" of TRacy Hogg...like to know if I put my girl down and then she will stand up, and we would wrestle like that for 15 mins..any good plan to make her stay in bed?

Thanks.
 
My daughter will also stand up or crawl around if she does not want to nap in the afternoon. I will carry her in my arms and sing songs to her. Cuddle and kiss her and continue to sing till she's dazed...then i tell her i will put her down in bed and she will sleep after that....she needs to be wound down a bit before she takes her naps.

The other method I use is to let her play with her toys while lying in bed...it works too.
Sleeping at night is usually milk and pat pat which is easier.

I do the same for my son as well. If this does not work, I will raise my voice telling him it's sleeping time and he has to sleep. I also use the cane to threaten him to sleep.

Both my children are spirited babies. I actually force my children to sleep until it becomes a routine to them. I have no choice cos it's not easy to handle 2 kids of 14 months age gap with no maid.
 
sunglow,
frogprincess is right, if your girl is growing well , nothing to complain what.. as much as i wanted to apply tracy hogg principle, i was never too strict abt it.. i read the book but didn't really stress abt certain things that she mentioned but not happening to my girl..

for me, i'll just let things be natural.. my girl is coming to 17 months.. she sleep as early as 8pm or as late as 11+pm and will wake up at around 8am and at most by 9am. so, i dun think she has 12 hours of sleep one shot.. i'm not worried because she looks happy, she's growing, she's learning things and most important she looks normal to me..

if she takes 1 nap in the day and if the nap is 10-12pm, then she will knock out by 8pm. if she takes her nap between 2-4pm, she will knock out by 10pm. if she takes her nap btw 3-5pm, siao liao, she will sleep by 11pm+..usually we will not let her take the 3-5pm nap but sometimes it just happen.. she will wake up latest by 9am irregarless what time she sleep but the very next day, her nap time will be earlier and usually she does not need another nap and if so, she will sleep early that day. so it's a cycle..

relax, ok? every child is different. if you managed to train your bb to sleep 7pm to 7am, good for you, if not dun stress.. as long as baby is growing well then it's all right!

when it's time for bed, i will switch of the light and tell her it's sleeping time. sometimes she will cry and make noise and want to play but i just let her be.. she will flip her and there on the bed and sometimes take 45 mins to dose off..last time it was easier as i breastfeed her to sleep but without my breast, she is taking a long time to sleep if she's not that tired. no choice lah...i have too wean her of my breast mah..
 
E&I's mom, you shared that your 14mth old daughter wakes up 2 times at night for milk. That's a problem I face for my boy. He is 9.5months now. He sleeps at 730pm, fidgets for milk at about 10pm, 1am and 3am. I feed him only 120ml each time (EBM), cos when he is very sleepy, he doesn't burp. He likes sleeping on his tummy too. Doesn't burp + sleep on tummy = regurge milk when asleep if he drinks more than 140ml.

How much does your girl drink per feed at night? Do you have any solutions to encourage my boy to sleep through the night? any tips you may have tried? I've been feeding my boy alot during the day... 100ml toufu/yoghurt with an egg yolk on alternate days for breakfast, followed by 150ml BM. 330ml of fish/meat porridge with veg, followed by 200ml BM for lunch. 330ml of similar porridge for dinner, followed by 240ml BM just before bedtime. I thought feeding alot during the day would help cut down night feeds. It worked for 2 weeks or so.. I thought he was dropping off night feeds, but it resumed soon after...
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E&I's mom, I just read your recent post. You mentioned that both your kids are spirited. My boy is also a spirited baby. He was so difficult to handed when he was younger. You are amazing to be able to deal with TWO spirited children without help! I also carry my boy and rock him when it is time for him to sleep when he refuses. Sing and talk calmly to him. Patting him alone does not work all the time.. he tends to flip and turn when he doesn't want to sleep, so have to rock until dazed, then put down and pat to sleep.

May I know if you did this routine with your boy when he was younger too? If so, until when did you stop? and just rely on patting?
 
I think the hardest bit is to help our child transit from 2 naps to 1 nap a day. It's getting tricky putting my boy down for 2 naps cos he seems to be able to stay awake for 3.5 to 4 hours without getting overly tired. If I put him on 1 nap per day, he can't last through the day without being grouchy..
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Hi Sunglow,

I believe bedtime routine is whatever the parent wants it to be, but usually it is wind down time. nothing too exciting. It's not that you MUST show books to your girl during bedtime. Just that as a baby and child, my parents read to me during bedtime.
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I wanted to continue the habit with my boy.

I don't think books make him excited cos he plays with books (cloth and board books) during the day, and my maid and dad read to him also during the day.

During bedtime routine, my hb and I read familiar stories to him. it's always the same few stories that we read. no interactive cloth or board books. just boring paper books. Examples of a bedtime story is "The Fox and the Stork" by Aesop.

During the day, we read the following to him:
-Yum Yum Baby (board book)
- Playtime Baby (Interactive (with built in rattle/crinkler) board book)
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Interactive cloth/toy book, with cloth pages, on a star toy that plays music when squeezed)
- Wacky Hen (3D cover and back felt book, with board book pages)
- My Happy Baby (interactive cloth book with mirror on the back, and rattle/crinkler/squeaker along the sides)
- Baby Touch & Feel (can't recall the full title of this book but it is a board book. it is not interactive though).
- 10 little ladybugs (3dimensional dissapearing ladybugs with each turn of the page)
- The old woman who swollowed a fly (3 dimensional animals/insects with each turn of the page)
- 2 interactive cloth books (by a UK brand.. cannot recall the name.. sorry) called Home Sweet Home, and something with nature. The books can be opened to 360degrees, and placed on the floor. Combination of cloth pop up books, with squeeker/crinkler/cloth flaps/crinkler.
- Pee-a-Boo! (board book featuring tweety bird, taz, bugs bunny, etc).
- there are some other books, I cannot recall the titles.. I'm at office now.. just typing as I can remember...

I have 1 book per day for him (in addition to 2 or 3 staples), so he gets a good variety over a week.
 
Hi Cactus_79

I gathered your son is 9.5 months, so how do you make him sit/sleep still to allow you to read/finish the bedtime story book, especially when the book is so "boring" like you put it..paper books? My girl will definitely turn and crawl away...and applause to you and your family...letting him get exposed to so many varieties of books...

And Ginger mummy...you mentioned to keep them very busy in the day so that they can sleep well at night....so how to keep them busy huh?
My girl is going to 14 months, crawling and cruising with hands on walls or chairs...she already has been doing that most of the time..other time would be to sit down with her to play with some balls and read some books....then it is the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner....apparently she seems to have endless energy, so please enlighten how else can I keep my girl busy to knock her out by bedtime...

Thanks.
 
Wow Cactus, seems like my kids are like yours. My 14 mths old daughter was a difficult baby before 12 months. She walked at 11 months and now almost running.

My gal's milk feeds - 6 oz before bed, 7 oz at midnite and 5 oz in the middle of the night. My gal also sleeps on tummy and needs no burping and no patting...she will pass me the bottle and go back to sleep on her own.

I think it's tough on you to wake up a few times for your boy who drinks 120ml. Maybe you want to thicken the milk so that it can fill his stomach more?

I tried feeding my gal a lot during the day but I gather that she's just greedy. She eats a lot without controlling herself. She's 10.8kg now.
 
Cactus, your son eats a lot and kudos to you on your breastfeeding. My gal stopped BM when she was 12 months. I think maybe our children love milk so much that they wake up in the night thinking of milk?

With my son, from birth till now, I have to sleep beside him and pat him til he sleeps, just like my daughter. So i sleep in the middle of them, my hands are busy patting both buttocks till they sleep. I think this is bonding time as well.

Bad days I will have to carry and sing till they are dazed before putting them down to bed.

I am trying not to pat my son now but there is some resistance.
 
Sunglow,

Our daily routine (Mondays to Fridays)
- 30 min bus journey to my parents' place
- 2 hrs playgroup for my son and strolling in the park for my daughter (this involves walking and some running) or playground before she naps for 30 min
- nap time for both kids (2 to 3 hrs)
- play time after nap - both play, fight, push, run in the house - never see them sitting down for more than 5 min
- dinner time
- Stories' time for 30 min for both (makes them v exciteable and tired esp for my gal since she is v restless)
- 8pm - taxi ride before they sleep at home

Weekends are basically the same except for mornings and evenings - playground after breakfast/dinner, going to the parks, bringing them out.

The idea is make them sweat!!! Otherwise, i will sweat!!!
 
Cactus

I tried reading to my kids just before bed time but they became more excited.

So I changed it to one hour before sleep.

I like the routine of reading just before bed but my kids are not interested.

It's good that your son enjoys reading.
 
sunglow:no ar it 6 weeks
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no typo error
she naps at 11am till about 1 or 1:30...of cos sometimes 1 hour only....just hv to kepp her busy la.

BB:Ya same here i also follow GF method...of cos as closely as possible la
 
sunglow..

my daughter is 26mths now..i will get her to change and wash up by 9pm and will wake up ard 7am. When she is younger, her sleep time is from 8 plus pm till 6am. So the total hrs of sleep at night did not differ much.

my gal is a difficult bb..i did try routines but it did not get down for her. things got better when she is older..of cos even now, there are times that she will wake up in the middle of the night..
 
Hi Sunglow, yes, my boy is 9.5months now. I don't make him "finish" the book. I stop whenever he gets distracted. I don't always start from the first page every time either - I will start from the first page, but if he picks up the book and opens it already, I will start from THAT page. I believe it's no point "forcing" a child to start from first page, or to have the child sit still to complete the story. I don't think a child has concept of start and end, so I don't "force" or "make him sit still" but I encourage him to "sit still" by saying that he is a clever boy and lots of hugs and kisses if he finishes the book with me. It only happens 50% of the time though!

Contrary to what we think, our kids are okay with even paper books, except that we need to watch over them when they fiddle with the books, cos the tendency is to "eat" those books. I think a variety of "play/interative" books must be balanced by "boring paper books" (boring in the sense that they are regular books, but still "interesting" in the sense that words are few and the pages are very colourful). Kids must know that books are just toys.
 
E&I's mum, I can't thicken the milk.. cos still on breastmilk. But when my supply runs low, probably in a month's time, I will give formula at night... Hopefully it improves matters.

Lately though, my boy is waking up frequently due to teething. He keeps on waking up between midnight and 3am.. wonder if that's the time teeth grow the fastest??

My boy is big too. He is 9.5months old. At 10.9kg now... 73.5cm. Apparently 75% percentile for height, 97% percentile for 73.5cm. My hb is big built though..., 1.82m, and 90kg! Takes after the daddy.

My boy is greedy too... suspect like your girl. For the things he likes, he eats without stopping. I'm not giving him much carbs.. his breakfast is only toufu or yoghurt, with egg yolk every alternate day. BTW, do you know how often and how much egg yolk we can give to bb's under 1 year old? For lunch and dinner, I give him about 300ml porridge.. of which 50% is brown rice, 30% is veg, and 20% is fish or meat. Then followed up pear puree. I've never given him cereal or a meal with more than 50% carbs... but he's still big sized.

We started reading to my boy since birth... actually, maybe even before birth. I love reading, and would read about 2 books each day. I would read in the evenings, between dinner and bedtime, and between work/office. After my boy was born, we would continue to read to him (even though his visual only became clear after the 1st month or so)... and we introduce playbooks to him after he could hold things (about 3 months). initially, it was tricky, cos we had to be careful not to overstimulate him (makes it hard for him to sleep) and he would get tired after 20 minutes or so, and would need to nap again. so it was a careful balance. I think that set the habit for reading. He doesn't always sit through one story, but I notice he picks up play/interactive books, as well as boring paper books to "read" even though there may be toys around him. I think that's good enough for me.
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Hi gals,

Can share with me the methods by Tracy Hogg - The Baby Whisperer and Gina Ford?

My baby (6mths old) sleeps from 11pm to 7am and wakes up at around 4am for milk. Kindly share with me how & when to start training to sleep early & throughout the night?

Thanks much in advance.
 
Polo, you can borrow Baby Whisperer and Gina Ford books from libraries.

You can start teaching your bb to sleep early already. Once bbs have the ability to distinguish night from day, you can teach them to sleep early. The trick is to keep them very very busy during the day, feed them alot during the day, limit the amount of naps/and total napping hours during the day, and don't let your bb sleep too much near his/her bedtime. As to how many hours of nap/how many naps per day,what time shoudl the bb wake up from the last nap before bedtime, it all varies from bb to bb. When my boy was 6 months, he was taking between 3 to 4 naps per day, total nap hours about 4hrs (he would sleep about 11 hours at night). He would wake up by 430pm before sleeping again at about 7pm to 730pm. Now my boy is about 9.5 months. He takes 2 naps per day, total nap hours about 2.5hrs, and he wakes up about 330pm before sleeping again at 730pm for the night.

As for sleep throughout the night, I don't have any positive experiences to share with you. I suspect if your bb is totally breast fed, your bb may still wake up during the nights. That's my experience and also what other mothers have shared with me. A mother shared with me that her 1.5yr old daughter still wakes up at night for milk.. she gives EBM. Maybe not so filling. Some mothers just pat/rock back to sleep, or give water instead of milk, to encourage their bb to sleep throughout the night. I've not tried any of these methods yet.
 
Hi Cactus

I am not sure how much egg yolk to give but I gave my daughter one per week before 12 months. After 12 months, both my kids take one egg per week.

Yr boy is big and so is your hubby. As long as he is healthy, I think there is nothing to worry.

My kids are on organic brown rice on weekdays, plus veg and fish/meat/egg. Breakfast is cereal. Tea/snack is biscuits. I am trying to cut down carbs for my daughter.

Polo,

Tracy Hogg's methodology is EASY which is Eating, Activity, Sleeping and You.

I started on this routine since my kids were 2 months old.

You can start now but since your gal is 6 months already, time taken to train will be longer. You can't expect results too soon. By saying this, you need to try it out and fine tune a little.

All said, I am very happy with this routine cos I can do my housework, facial, watch TV, surf net etc after my kids sleep.

I can't share with you sleeping thru the nite cos my son just started to sleep thru the nite at 27 months and my daughter still wakes up 2 times at nite. Both are breastfed babies and they simply love milk too much.
 
E&I's mom, do you think cutting down on carbs makes our bbs hungry more easily? I don't feel comfortable giving too much carbs (ie. porridge). I prefer to give more protein and vegs.. but my boy eats alot compared with other bbs his age.. wonder if it's cos he takes less carbs.

Polo, I started with EASY when my boy was 3 months. It was very easy indeed for 1 month or so, then I couldn't follow it already, cos my boy's sleep cycle could not fit easily with his feeding cycle to form the EASY cycle.

In the end, I would just have A-E-S/Y. This cycle is criticised in Baby Whisperer for several reasons, one of which is that it is not easy to tell why the bb is crying - is he hungry? is he tired? But if you follow E-A-S-Y, you will know if he cries after "A", it cannot be hunger.. it has to be "S" since he had already eaten.

What worked for me is I understood my baby well enough to distinguish whether he was fussing/crying due to hunger or lack of sleep.. that's why I was able to use AES/Y.

Another reason that I used AES/Y is because my boy is very active and eats alot. If I feed him first, then play with him, then try to put him to sleep, he may be hungry when he is put down for his nap because he had expanded his energies during activity time. He may therefore only sleep much less than he is expected to because he wakes up from hunger.

Baby Whisperer is a very good book which gave me insights to the different categories of bbs, and how to deal with different types of bbs. (ie. Touchy bb should nap in a dim/dark area for instance. This is contrary to what some pple believe - that bbs should nap in bright and noisy surroundings during the day to help them distinguish between day and night. Night sleep should be very dark and quiet.). ALthough I didn't apply EASY eventually, I found the book very insightful and I adopted its reasonings and some principles with regards my boy.
 
Hi,

happy to see that there are Tracy Hogg followers here. I also used baby whisperer for my #1 at 12 months to train him to sleep thru the night. The PUPD method worked, when previously the CIO method didn't becos I did not have the heart to follow thru.

I am now trying to use baby whisperer on my 4 week old baby, with limited success:
- I can't seem to do a 2.5-3 hr cycle, baby wants to feed every 1.5hr to 2 hr for the last 7 days or so..not sure if its prolonged growth spurt or he's a snacker? i think my milk supply is ok.

- i can't keep him awake after BF..i've problems even getting him to suckle for at least 20-30 min. so he goes into the cot asleep while i swaddle him. sometimes he wakes up 1 hr later, and i am not sure if its becoz he goes down into the cot asleep??

- i can't seem to fit in the dream feed. how should this be done - do you wake baby, or do u wait for him to wake. as mentioned, i have a sleepy baby so waking him for dreamfeed is tough..

hope to get some suggestions and insights on this mtd, and the problems i am facing.

thanks.
 
Thanks cactus & E&L for sharing..
Sounds v profound.

Will borrow the book from library to read about it. BTW, how many hours sleep (including naps) does a 6months old child need?
 
Cactus,

I think young babies need carbs, calcium, protein, veg to grow well. I need to cut down snacks like biscuits/bread for my gal or else she will grow up to be a fatty.

I also struggled with EASY and AESY initially. I find it find to follow the book that I needed to consult my colleague who also has the same book and we delivered our babies around the same time.

My children sleep in dim/dark area for naps since birth. They are ok with noise but the area must be dark.

Marble,

I think yr baby is too young to do 2.5/3 hr cycle esp if you are bfing. I remember I bfed my daughter 10 to 12 times a day until 6 to 8 weeks when my milk supply was established.

To keep my daughter awake from bf, I held her by the neck on one hand and did a up down direction, her eyes would open and she would wake up.

As for dream feed, I popped the milk bottle into my kids' mouths while they were asleep. They drank while I held onto the bottle and went into sleep again after they finished the milk.

I stopped dream feeding when they were old enough to ask for milk in the middle of the nights - which is my main problem with my daughter now - 2 feeds a night.
 
Polo

I think the book specifies the number of hours for a 6 months old baby but it really depends on individual and routine.

My children's sleep time is about 10 hrs at night and nap for about 2-3 hours in the day.

If my daughter wakes up 1 hr later in the afternoon, I will pat pat her and she will go back to sleep.

I just want the total nap time to be 2.5 hrs for her in the day.

FYI, my daughter sleeps less than my son, maybe just 30 min to 1 hr of difference. If you ask me why, I have no idea.
 
Hi Marble, I think ur bb is too young for a 3 hour cycle. My boy at 4 weeks was drinking at 1.5 to 2 hours during the day, and 2.5hours at night. I also dream feed at night, but only with a bottle. I don't latch on. As for growth spurts, there is one about 6 weeks.
 
Polo, my boy at 6 months slept total 4 hours during the day, about 3 or 4 naps. Night time was about 11 hours. Totaling 14 to 15 hours.
 
E&I's Mom, I gave up after struggling for a week with EASY/AESY. I just couldn't fit my boy into the cycle.. cos he would feed every 4 hours, but he would need to sleep after every 2.5 hours. And his nap would be only 30 minutes or so. I could not feed him prematurely because he would not be hungry...
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Initially, my boy was unable to sleep unless in a dim place.. but now, he's able to (we learnt the trick is to rock him in a boring place; nothing to see type of place).. although we still keep the room dim. He is able to sleep outside also, but needs to be hand carried to placed down on a mattress. Cannot sleep in stroller cos he flips around alot. Once there is no space for him to flip, he will wake up...
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So whenevber we go out and he has to zzz, we hand carry. Aching arms loh... cos almost 11kg now.

My boy is okay with background noise, but sudden loud sounds will wake him up.. so during naps, we play music to him.. to cut off sudden sounds like telephone ringing tone, door slamming, thunder, etc.
 
Thanks ladies,
hmm... good idea for playing music to cut off sudden sounds. Learn something useful. Thanks cactus.

If my boy toss & turn while sleeping usually around 5am everyday (after 5-6hours of sleep as he usually sleeps at 11pm) and if i pat pat him he will sleep for a while then toss & turn again, is that meaning he is hungry? If i feed him, he can sleep back & longer with lesser movements.

Question is : Should i feed him or training him to sleep throughout without feeding at 5am?
 
Polo, I suspect your boy is either hungry OR he has had enough sleep and is about to wake up. Your patting may cause him to start a new sleep cycle which stops and which awakes him at about 7am.

Since you can let your boy continue sleeping by patting him at 5am, I feel you should train him to sleep throughout without feeding at 5am. If you feed him at 5am, does he eat/drink less for breakfast? I find that if I feed my boy after 3am, he takes noticeably less breakfast than if I don't. These days, I dream feed him at 10pm, 1am and 3am. About 120ml each time. Last night though, I fed him at 930pm (120ml), 1130pm (55ml - suspect he was moving due to wet diaper.. maid didn't put on diaper properly for him after bathe, and I had to give him a new one), and 250am (105ml). It was a relatively easy night.. phew.

BTW, when is his last feed? And is it milk or semi solids? Does he have a huge appetitie? These are questions you need to ask to help determine whether he is waking up around 5am for milk or if he has just slept enough.

When my boy was about 2 months old, he would sleep at 9pm, but move around alot at about 4am.. then as he grew older, we pushed forward his sleep time to 7pm (that was at 3 months) and lengthened his sleep to 6am. We would make sure he had alot of milk at bedtime, and would dream feed him throughout the night (although no milk after 3am), and would pat him in the event he starts to move around alot from 5am onwards. We only stop patting at about 6am and let him awaken by himself.
 
E&I's mom and Cactus,

thanks for the reassurance. I thot it was a problem (not being able to do 3 hr cycle at 4 weeks)...it did not occur to me he wasn't ready since the book says it can be done at this age! I feel more encourage to persevere with the method now!

E&I's mom,
did u try to PUPD mtd to train your daughter? it works for my #1 at 12 months
 
Marble, my bb was breastfed... think the milk wasn't as filling as formula. I don't know if formula fed bbs can last 3 hours though... at 4 weeks... I suspect not.. but no personal experience.
 


Marble

Yes, I used PUPD to train my daughter. If it does not work on certain days, I will cuddle and sing to her but sitting down. When she's dazed, I will put her down and pat her to sleep.

But I did not use it on my son. He wanted to be carried around before 12 months before putting him down. After 12 months, he became independent and just needs patting.

It's amazing to learn that PUPD works for yr #1 at 12 months. I guess The Baby Whispherer really works.

Jiayou on your baby's EASY routine!
 

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