Sleep begets sleep

Dr. Marc Weissbluth, sleep expert, says parents play a key role in helping their babies develop healthy sleep patterns. He says there's a "direct connection between how parents behave and how their child sleeps." Parents must "nurture the need to sleep and can help their child learn to self-soothe." Moms and dads can give the gift of sleep to their child by matching her sleep schedule with her natural sleep rhythms. When they have those 2 in sync, the child can sleep very well. The trick is to get your child to sleep before the hormones that give them a second wind are released. If they are overtired, it is more difficult to get them to sleep. He therefore suggests shorter (3-4 hour) awake intervals between naps. Dr. Weissbluth suggests a mid morning nap time around 9 or 9:30 am, with another nap around noon, and depending on the child, a third nap several hours later. Bedtime can be as early as 6:30 pm. He encourages parents to stick to a schedule most of the time for success. Holidays and other special occasions are the rare exceptions, one or two days a month. Parents who have used his technique report amazing results, which allow parents to sleep while their baby is sleeping and keep stress and crankiness to a minimum.