by Polly Moore, Ph.D.
Emmett has been a nighttime sleep champ since just a couple weeks old, and sleeping 12 hours/night since just before 3 months old. His napping story has been very different. There were times when his nap would only be 45 minutes and there would be times when his nap would be 3 hours! I was getting frustrated with the lack of rhythm and predictability of his naps. For a time, his naps would last for 45 minutes and he would wake up crying, pretty hard. I knew this meant that he did not sleep long enough, but he wasn't falling back asleep either. I knew I needed to do something different to get his nap-sleep rhythms regular. I tried keeping him awake for longer periods, shorter periods, waiting for sleepy signs...uff da.
This book is based on the biological rhythm called the basic rest and activity cycle (BRAC) that lasts about 90 minutes. So in between naps, the awake time should be about 90 minutes. Once knowing this, we began trying to follow it. It was interesting to observe Emmett, that when it was about 75 minutes, he started showing signs of being tired. By 90 minutes, and with just a little soothing, he would fall asleep in his crib in less than a minute. He also napped for longer periods of time!
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| Deep slumber during a nap |
The plan is pretty simple (page 38):
N: Note the time of your baby’s last waking.
A: Add 90 minutes.
P: Play, feed, and pursue other activities with your baby.
S: Soothe your baby to sleep.
It’s so simple. I’m somewhat of a nerd, so being able to track Emmett’s behavior and sleep patterns is kind of fun for me! The book also has a lot of information on why sleep is important for the brain and sleep research.
I recommend this book for all mothers/fathers/caregivers. It puts into perspective how and why babies sleep so much in the first year. The book is geared toward babies 2 weeks to 1 year old. I wish I had found this book earlier, it has been so helpful.
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