"I have read other sleep books, my favorite was Healthy Sleep Habits by Weissbluth (maybe you've heard of it, ha) and with my first son, now a toddler, it didn't work. Only time worked (10 months or so) to get him to start napping. Now I have another son almost 6 months (next week) and he doesn't nap either! I think it may be genetic? Anyway, I came across your book, bought it online and read it the same night.

All of the other sleep books state as a baby gets older, their awake window increases. Example, for a 6 month old it is 2.5 hrs. However, since my baby only takes 20 to 30 minute naps, and only two of these a day, I tried your method. I can get him asleep or close to it every 90 minutes for the most part. However, he still only sleeps 20 to 30 minutes. I have at times left him alone to see if he will fall asleep again and he won't (up to an hour per "other" books). Then before the next 90 minutes he is sometimes fussy way before this time, sometimes right after the very short nap. I also put him down awake sometimes for naps as he can put himself to sleep when he wants to. However it takes over an hour if he does it. If I rock him until his eyes just close, I put him down and he wakes up immediately. So I am within the 90 minutes but he gets more awake in the crib! And he was drowsy! So this is where I am confused. I have to rock my guy until he is totally asleep for him not to wake up when I put him down, but either way, he is up in 20-30 min.

Any suggestions?

*He also wakes for the day at 5-5:30 a.m. and not to eat. His room is dark also. I have tried putting him down to bed for the night as early as 5:30 pm. however it usually takes him 60 to 90 minutes to put himself to sleep. Usually not much crying, if there is I pick him up and put him down. He is usually goofing around in there!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. If you are ever in the Phoenix area and want to do a sleep study on my little guy, that would be great :) Maybe he is the worst sleeper you will ever encounter."

- Susan, Phoenix

I'm hearing more stories like these since I wrote the book. It's hard for me to know for certain, of course, but what I suspect is that there has been a fair amount of sleep loss that the baby now is having a hard time overcoming.

It leads to an oversensitivity to stimulation and possibly to some challenges in regulating his own body temperature, among other things. These factors conspire to wake him up in the shallow stages of sleep!

I can give the advice I often give, but I recently gave it on this website, and it appeared not to be successful for that mom and baby.

So for what it's worth, here it is.

I notice you mention that a six month old is able to stay awake for 2.5 hours. In my book, I describe this as a 3-hour clock, not a 2.5 hour one. This may sound like hair-splitting details, but to me it's not. It could be that these thirty minutes make the difference between initiating a nap in phase with your son's natural sleep tendencies, or out of phase with them.

The first thing I would do is see whether using a 3-hr timing makes a difference. If you stick with it over a few days you should start to see longer naps. At his age he should be napping for longer durations.

I also don't think your boy is the worst sleeper I will ever encounter ---- I've definitely heard worse!