"....as to where to go next. My baby will be eight months old on Monday. I’ve tried different methods to get her to sleep since she was born, and although she sleeps ok at night (except for waking up at least once), I have been unsuccessful to get her to be a good napper during the day. I stumbled upon your book the other day and basically read it cover to cover in one day. It makes perfect sense to me and I’m eager to put it into practice, but don’t know how to start at this point.

Some days it seems she only wants to be up 90 minutes in the morning and other days a three hour wake period works for her. It just doesn’t make sense to me that she should be so inconsistent from day to day. Her morning nap is the only reliable nap I can get her to take. I’ve tried different times in the afternoon (prior to reading your book) and have been successful about 50% of the time to get her to take a good nap (one hour +). Her bedtime routine has been working well for the past several months with a bath at 6:45 and lights out between 7:00 and 7:30. The only problem is that she has yet to sleep through the night and continues to wake up between 5:30 and 6:00. To compound the situation, I have a three year old daughter who doesn’t understand, or care to understand, the meaning of being quiet while her sister is napping. I do believe the noise in the house is affecting the babies ability to sleep, but don’t see a way around it.

What has lead me to ask my question is the total disaster of last night. I was out and about more than normal yesterday, and while my baby did nap in the car and stroller quite a bit, by 6:00 pm last night she was almost falling asleep in the high chair. I decided to put her down earlier than normal to see if that would help her sleep better during the night. I started the bedtime routine 30 minutes early and had her asleep by 6:55. I thought it would be a great night of rest and sleep for my husband and I. Unfortunately, the baby woke up three times more than normal during the night and was up for good at 5:30! I don’t understand why that would happen and hope you could shed some light on the situation. I was able to put her back down at 7:00 am and she slept for an hour. I tried to put her back down at 9:30 because she was yawning and rubbing her eyes, but she’s still babbling in her crib. I’m going to try again at 11:00, but until then I remain utterly confused as to where to go from here.

My main question is how should I start the NAPS program for an eight month old baby? How do I get her to be a good sleeper at this point when I feel I’ve already taught her some bad sleeping habits? Should I focus on the daytime sleep first, or the night time sleep? Please help!"

- Robyne

From your post, I gather that your daughter is awake for either 90-minutes or 3-hours, and that this seems inconsistent to you.

It doesn't seem inconsistent at all to me. So I must apologize for having been unclear. Since 3-hours is two 90-minute periods put together, it makes perfect sense to me.

It also sounds like you are right on target and I commend you for your keen observations about her signs of sleepiness. That is half the battle right there.

Responding to the signs of sleepiness is the next part of the battle.

I say this because your description of what happens when you keep the baby awake much of the day (your described "total disaster of last night") is also classic (and described in my book). This is why in my book I emphasize the importance of protecting time for naps during the day. Good solid regular naps during the day are what will help your baby sleep through the night. Keeping the baby awake during the day does not lead to deeper sleep at night. In fact for most babies it does the opposite: the overtiredness leads to more awakenings at night.

I advise you to continue to follow her signs of sleepiness during the day and see if that helps with the nights.