Questions for Other Moms Following "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"

My daughter never did well with two naps during the day so I started one nap in the afternoon. About 12:30. She would sleep for about three hours! It was great! I started noticing too that she was sleeping later in the mornings. Now she is three and still has a wonderful sleep habit. She goes to bed at 7:30 (falls to sleep around 8 or 8:15) and gets up between 7:30 and 8:00. She is in pre-school now so she doesn't get her afternoon nap anymore, but on the weekends she still goes in her room at 12:30 for "Quiet Time". Sometimes she sleeps ... sometimes she doesn't. But we have made it a routine and she looks forward to her quiet time now.

Good Morning V. S:
In answer to your question, let me assure you that your son's napping will become shorter or change throughout due to he is growing. The teething has much to do with it, but he is growing is the main thing you need to remember. What will eventually happen is he will do most of his resting during the evening. Micro-managing is not the way to go (in my opinion). My advice is to let his body decide when he is tired. You will see a pattern that works for him(sorry, as much as we want them to get on a schedule to suffice us forget it)I don't know what the book entales, but I do know that with my three children(now teens 18,16,15)trying to put them down on a schedule never worked(micro-managing) due to each were in a different growing stage.What I'm saying is, when one would get tired the other would be full of energy and fight me trying to lay them down.Most of the time you will find that when a child does miss a nap, he will be fussy. I feel that most of his problem is the teething stage and it will cause some havoc for you and him(especially him) Take a look at some Human Deveopment books and you will find the solution that works best for you and him. I hope I helped. Good Luck and May God Bless you and keep you and yours.
C. G

NOrmal is different for every child. My daughter, now 3, went throught the same phase. The doc said it was due to teething. She never did sleep 12 hours a night. She has always been an 8 hour sleeper. sometimes if I am lucky she will sleep 10 hours. Her naps have never been "regular". But she is still healthy and happy. So... I wouldn't fear. and be careful following "books" too much. They are great to on the spot advice, but they too are just opinions and suggestions.

As I always recommend, ask your pediatrician for the best advice. Good luck!

I always liked the book "No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. She has little charts in there showing how much your child should be sleeping, broken up into night time an naps. I believe what happens over time is that they sleep for longer at night, and their naps get shorter, and then eventually consolidate into one nap (but not until past a year, maybe closer to 18 months).

Expecting a nine month old to sleep 12 hours straight with no food is a little extreme, I always heard that "through the night" means five hours straight. I would think that if you were forcing your child to go that long without eating you would start to see failure to thrive and growth problems.

Hi V.,
HSHHC was a bible for me. I used it along with the techniques of the Baby Whisper book and am very happy with the results. (A happy toddler that takes naps and goes to bed easily!)
So at 9 month your son should be taking 2 naps and sleeping 10-12 hours a night without eating, yes. My son was actually sleeping straight through the night for 11 hours by 16 weeks (he didn't need the 10pm dream feed). They will get what they need during the day just like we do.
Keep in mind though that HSHHC deals with averages and every child is different depending on their activities, mood, health, and temperament.
So if your son is only napping 45min-hour I would have to ask--does he wake up happy or screaming? If hes happy, he's probably had enough sleep. If he's screaming or grumpy, he probably woke after his first sleep cycle (naps are usually 2, 45 min cycles) and can't get back to sleep--and teething could definitely be the reason why. I would try to time it so he gets a dose of Baby Motrin (works better and longer than Tylenol) before naps and bedtime and see if that helps. If he was sleeping longer before, than you can assume that this is just a phase and they do go through them. As he becomes more active and teething subsides, he probably nap longer again, until he's ready to drop a nap, then one will become longer and the other will be shorter or non-existent (you don't have to worry about that until around 15 months)
Going through phases of shorter and longer naps is normal though. My toddler is down to one nap a day that can last anywhere from 1.5-3+ hours. And he sleeps about 11 hours a night--but that is sometimes 10.5 and sometimes 12...And this has always been true, like I said if they wake up happy and aren't too cranky in that later afternoon/early evening hours, then they are doing just fine with the sleep/naps.

So don't fret too much about it from the day to day and look more at the bigger picture. You've got the routine down now, so if you find he's acting tired and not napping well, then there is probably something else there causing the problem--teeth, ear infection, etc. But at that age it's trial and error, try the Motrin and if that helps, you can be expecting him to be cutting some teeth soon! (BTW my son was cutting teeth non-stop from 6-14 months and that was probably one his his shortest nap periods...once he was done though--napping and sleep were CAKE!)

YES!!! Getting teeth can absolutly make a difference in his sleep habits. But if he isn't waking up fussy, it's likely that his sleep needs are just changing. In other words, if his teeth are effecting his sleep, he will be fussy.

There isn't really any set time that is best for naps because every familiy's schedule is different. Usually, a abay of that age will take a mornign nap (about an hour or two after waking), for about an hour. Then about 3 hours after waking form that nap, he/she will take another naps that usually lasts 2 or3 hours. Some babies need less sleep and they will either cut out the morning nap, or take a shorter afternoon nap. But expect it to change again. As he grows, his sleep needs will change and then you'll have to figure it ut all over again!
What Fun!!

"Through the night" rarely means 12 hours at this age, although it does happen to some lucky moms. If he is sleeping 6 or 7 hours, consider this "through the night". These are the babies (the 6 or 7 hours ones) that usually nap longer during the day

Once you've determined if he is getting enough sleep in a 24 hour period,(as evident in his amount of happy vs fussy times), then you can work to change his nap time amounts. For example, if he takes a hour nap in the AM, then plays cheerfully for the next 3 hours then tales a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, then I would assume he is getting enough sleep. If you want him to take one big long nap instead of the two seperate naps, cut out the morning nap. But in this case you'll have to move the afternoon nap up a little earlier.

In addition, a lot of babies this age are also taking another quick little (30 min) nap in the early evening. Some mom's don't give that nap, instead they just move bedtime up about an hour. The evening nap usually works best in families that stay up late.

Anyway, hope all this helps. Sorry I rambled!
~C.