Baby Sleep: How Much Sleep Do Babies Need? Answers to Your Top 7 Baby Sleep Questions
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Your top seven baby sleep questions answered, so you can get more sleep starting tonight
There's nothing like being chronically sleep deprived to turn an exhausted parent into a sleep research junkie. You comb the Internet, desperately seeking answers to your biggest baby sleep questions. But sometimes those answers can be surprisingly elusive -- and the information you turn up can be contradictory or guilt-inducing. (Why does the subject of sleep have to push so many "guilt buttons" anyway?) To help sleep-deprived parents find the information they're seeking, I have created this guide to parents' top seven baby sleep questions.
How Much Sleep Do Babies Need?
How long should a baby sleep? Is my baby sleeping too little or too much?
Every baby's sleep needs are unique, but the following resources should give you some rough numbers to work with. What's even more important is to figure out how you can maximize your own opportunities for sleep (by tapping into sources of support from friends and family and, if necessary, paid help from doulas and other postpartum professionals) and taking the best possible care of yourself physically in order to help minimize the effects of sleep deprivation. (See this recent interview that I did with the DotMoms for more on this concept.)More Reading:
CanadianLiving.com: Top 12 Sleep Solutions for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers
WebMD.com: How Much Sleep Do You Need? (Sleep Stats)
Citivas.org: When and How Much Sleep Do Babies Need?
Talaris.org: Getting in Tune with Baby
What Can I Do to Promote Healthy Sleep Habits While My Child is Still Young?
How will my baby learn the difference between night and day? Can a baby or toddler be sleep deprived?
Setting the stage for healthy sleep habits in young children is important. What the various sleep experts have a difficult time agreeing upon is exactly when formal or informal sleep training should begin. As a result of all this conflicting information from the different sleep experts, parents feel a lot of guilt, anxiety, and worry around the subject of sleep. I think we need to find some sensible middle ground here.More Reading
CanadianLiving.com: Top 12 Sleep Solutions for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.
NYTimes.com: More TV, Less Sleep, a Children's Study Finds
MedicalNewsToday.com: Obesity in Children and Adults: Sleep Deprivation Doubles Risk
Does Temperament Affect My Baby's Nighttime and Nap Time Sleep?
What can I do to soothe my baby if he's fussy, colicky, or high-needs?
Does temperament affect sleep? You bet it does. Just ask any parent who has one of those babies who wakes up screaming if anyone a city block away happens to slam a car door or set off a car alarm in the middle of the night. (Time to order another white noise machine. Maybe this one will meet with junior's approval.)More Reading
AnnDouglas@Amazon.com: Temperament and Sleep: What Every Sleep-Deprived Parent Needs to Know
AskDrSears.com: Why High-Needs Children Sleep Differently
Is Temperament a Risk Factor for Sleep
Algoma Health: Children's Temperament and Sleep
Zero to Three.org: Temperament
When Will My Baby Start Sleeping Through the Night?
When will my baby stop waking to feed in the night? When will my baby learn to self-soothe?
While there's no sleep crystal ball that will predict the night when you and baby will finally get a full night's sleep (a full night, in the Land of Baby Sleep, being a mind-blowing 5 hours, you understand), sleep scientists are able to make some rough predictions of when that time will arrive for most babies most of the time. While you can start to lay the groundwork for healthy sleep during the early months of your baby's life, most babies aren't developmentally ready to start sleeping through the night on a regular basis until after four to five months of age -- and a significant number of babies (25% to 30%) will still be waking up in the night at least some of the time at age nine months. Summer poses its own sleep challenges for people of all ages, including babies and toddlers.More Reading
BBC Parenting - Your Kids - Sleep - Sleeping Patterns
University of Illinois Extension: When Will Baby Sleep All Night
Yahoo! Parenting: The Truth About Sleeping Through the Night
Getting the Facts on Sleep (Yours and Baby's) Can Help You to Be a Better Rested New Mom
My Eight Month Old Was Sleeping Though the Night, But Now She's Not. Is This Normal?
What could cause a baby who was sleeping through the night to start waking in the night again?
This can feel like a huge step backwards and/or sheer torture, when you're back in the Land of the Reasonably Well Rested, but it's actually fairly common for babies this this age to start waking up in the night again sometime around age eight to twelve months. Sometimes babies this age are trying so hard to master a new skill that they end up waking in the night to practice that new skill, too -- like pulling themselves to a standing position. (Of course, they frequently get "stuck" standing up, which can lead to frequent middle-of-the-night calls for help from you.) Babies this age can also start waking in the night because of separation anxiety (they find it upsetting to be separated from you -- even in the middle of the night). They can also experience nightmares or nightmares or experience a physical source of distress such as an ear infection. Remember: every baby is unique, so your baby's pattern will be unique, too.More Reading
Todaysparent.com: A Real Eye-Opener
Berkeley Parents: Waking at Night: Babies 0-12 Months
KidsHealth.org: Sleep and Your 8- to 12-Month Old
Babyvibe: Sleeptime Solution Q & A
How Many Naps Should My One-Year-Old Be Having?
When do babies go from three naps to two naps and from two naps to one naps? When do toddlers no longer neep a nap?
THE AGE AT WHICH NAPS TYPICALLY DISAPPEARThe shift from 3 naps to 2 naps per day: between six to eight months
The shift from 2 naps to 1 nap: between age 12 months and 18 months
The shift from 1 nap to no naps per day around age 3.
Source: Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler by Ann Douglas (based on Data from the National Sleep Foundation
More Reading
Sleep Solutions: My Newborn Won't Nap
Berkeley Parents: Trouble with Baby's Naps (0 - 12 months)
National Sleep Foundation: Sleep, Infants, and Parents
Mamazine: Confessions of a Nap Nazi
Sleep Solutions: Baby Won't Nap
Babyvibe: Napping Dilemma Q & A
More baby sleep articles and baby nap articles
Yahoo! collection of pregnancy, parenting, baby, and toddler articles written by Ann Douglas -- sleep, feeding, discipline, potty training, and more
Is There a Link Between Sleep Deprivation and Postpartum Depression?
What do new moms need to know about sleep deprivation and postpartum depression? What strategies can they use to feel physically and emotionally well, even while they are missing out on sleep?
There's growing evidence of a link between sleep deprivation and postpartum depression. Sleep deprivation also makes the postpartum period tougher for all new parents, which is why it's so important to have some strategies in mind for maximizing your opportunities for sleep (a point I really stress in "Chapter 2: The Sleep Deprivation Survival Guide" in my book Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler).More Reading
Birth: Relationships Among Infant Sleep Patterns, Maternal Fatigue, and Development of Depressive Symptamology (See also related studies)
A Healthy Me: New Parenthood and Sleep Deprivation
BBC UK: Cry Babies "learn to sleep better"
NEW ! Try the Sleep Test for Tired Parents.
Bedtime Reading for Tired Parents
A practical and helpful sleep guide written by Ann Douglas, author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books
Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach for Each Age and Stage (Mother of All Solutions)
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 12/02/2009) 
The Mother of All Baby Books: The Ultimate Guide to Your Baby's First Year (U.S. edition)
Amazon Price: $10.87 (as of 12/02/2009)
Mealtime Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach for Each Age and Stage (Mother of All Solutions)
Amazon Price: $12.71 (as of 12/02/2009)
The Mother of All Pregnancy Books: The Ultimate Guide to Conception, Birth, and Everything In Between (U.S. Edition)
Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 12/02/2009)
The Mother of All Pregnancy Organizers
Amazon Price: $11.24 (as of 12/02/2009)
Desperately Seeking Sleep -- and More Sleep Answers?
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Want to help another parent find this page?
Think this lens might be helpful to another sleep-deprived mom or dad? Why not post this link to del.icio.us so that it will be waiting for them at 3 am (or whenever they get that sudden urge to research baby sleep questions NOW).... Squidoo parenting
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How Can I Make This Guide More Helpful to Sleep-Deprived Parents?
I'd love to hear your comments....
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- sexyramatu sexyramatu Nov 10, 2009 @ 4:46 am
- I currently going thru this i have 2yr boy and 1yrdaughter old for the past few month !hopefully tonight the will sleep
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- JodiTraxler JodiTraxler Oct 13, 2009 @ 3:05 am
- Wonderful information! 5*s, lensrolled and featured on Feeding Your Baby -- Taking The Bottle Away
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- birth_announcement birth_announcement Aug 11, 2009 @ 6:12 am
- thanks! this was helpful!!! so useful!!! im a new mom and this reraly helped me
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- chris57 chris57 Jun 17, 2009 @ 3:09 am
- Wow, how I wish I was into Squidoo in my early days as a new mom. I could have used this a lot. :-) I just featured your lens on my new lens: Newborn Baby Essentials I hope when you get the chance you can check it out, too and give me tips. I'd sure love my lens to be as excellent as yours. :) Cheers!
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- clemency clemency Jun 11, 2009 @ 11:30 am
- Great lens. All babies are different and what works for one sometimes doesn't work for another. When you are in the middle of it sleep deprivation is awful, but eventually they do grow up!
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