"I actually started trying out NAPS unofficially before I got the book, just from reading the basics on your website & on line. So far my baby seems to be pretty good, He is 11 weeks old, he eats then plays & right around the 90 min, I swaddle him & lay him in his crib & he goes out on his own. Other times i will go for a walk or do my errands around the 90 minute mark because motion puts him to sleep, even when its not nap time, so I try to do that when it is nap time, although putting him in his crib swaddled seems to allow him to take the most productive naps!

I got the book & read most of it, i skipped round a bit, but my concerns that I haven't come cross an answer to is what takes precedence, feeding schedule or the nap schedule? My baby is in the 75th growth percentile. He usually eats 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, then 3am. Sometimes the 3am feeding is sooner, as early as 130am, then 430 then 730 (OR) 230am then 530 & so on which brings all the feedings up to an earlier time. Ideally I want to get rid of the middle of the night feeding, but I dont mind dealing with the 3am feeding then starting the day with 6am feeding every 3 hours.

I am going to try comforting him when he wakes in the middle of the night as per the book. My fear is that i will comfort him at 3am, he will go to sleep just for another hour & then wake up again?? Then what do you suggest? If I ultimately end up feeding him it will mess up the feeding times for the next day. & then do you suggest me working the naps to my advantage of getting him to the next feeding time that works for me or do you suggest letting his nap delegate the next feeding time? & Also, I wasn't sure what to do when he is on a good schd & his nap starts going into the next feeding?.... What I am aiming for is to get rid of the 3am feeding, but at the same time, I would like to stay consistent with his feeding times because I am going back to work next week. & if there has to be a midnight feeding, I'd rather keep it at 3am.

THANKS!"

- Nicole

Hi, Nicole,

With regard to which-trumps-which, sleeping or feeding, what works for a lot of moms is feeding really early in the alertness cycle. If you put off feeding until much later, and you come up against the end of that alertness cycle, you may find yourself trying to feed a baby who may be too sleepy to feed to satiety.

Having fed the baby also helps you be more confident about the signs of sleepiness actually being real sleepiness, and not just hunger, if that makes sense.

And regarding your question with regard to whether or not to feed during middle of the night wakings, you've noticed I do go on and on about this issue as well in the book. Without repeating the whole discussion, you are correct, soothing without feeding during those awakenings, rocking the baby back to sleep if needed, when possible, gets greater long-term benefits than does nursing back to sleep during those times.

Polly.