Naps - Alameda,CA

1st I recommend getting the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby by Dr. Weissbluth. All my mommy friends love it and told me about it. he's a little long winded, but he's darn right! real research about babies' natural patterns by age.

Here's what I think Dr. Weissbluth would say:
- if the babe is under 6 weeks old (according to due date), do whatever it takes to settle the baby to sleep
- at a certain age, you'll have to let the baby work it out (cry a bit). learning to fall asleep in his crib for naps is an essential life skill that babies have to learn. delaying this won't help your baby. the first step is getting him to sleep in his crib after you rock him to sleep.

personally, I found that my baby transferred from falling asleep in my arms to bed more smoothly when I set her down and slid my hands/arms down from her head past her shoulders--she got jiggled less and stayed asleep.

good luck!

How old is the baby? If young, have you tried swaddling him / her?

Try a portable table-top swing. Put him to sleep in his swing in his room for a few days, then put the swing (swinging) in his crib for a few days, then stop the swing in the crib and just leave him in the not-swinging swing in the crib for a few days, then try just the crib without the swing.

T.

See www.sleepsense.net for great advice and information regarding sleep issues and babies/children. Best information I ever got, and you can even get your questions answered by email! Great services by an infant/child sleep specialist Dana Obleman. You can also subscribe to her weekly video blog where she answers common questions from parents.

With your baby only being 3 months old, you don't really want him to take a 3-hour nap during the day. You want his longest sleep time to be during the night-time hours, especially when you would like to have YOUR longest sleep time. 3 months is also way too young for any kind of sleep training or conditioning because they have no ulterior motives when they cry.

I hate to say it, but it's one of those things that parents aren't prepared for but should be. At 3 months, my son didn't go to bed for his longest sleep until 4am, and he NEVER took 3-hour naps!! He was just a baby who seemed to not need a lot of sleep. Thank goodness that has changed!!! (he's almost 3 now)

I know a lot of moms will cringe when I say this, but my son slept SO MUCH BETTER on his belly!!! At 3 months, your baby has the ability to turn his head if he can't breathe, so I really don't think suffocation is too much of a worry (provided there are no blankets, stuffed animals, etc that can block his nose and/or mouth). Pacifiers also were a God-send to us, as he slept better when he had something to suck on. I hope some of this will help!!