Two Sleep Questions!

Second -- when it comes to breaking habits and creating new routines, be prepared for 2 weeks as your worst case scenario. It usually happens in a couple of days, but don't give up after only a couple of nights, it may take longer but you will get there.

First, I have always been one to just jump right in to the new time.

Every child is different with their sleeping patterns and how soundly they sleep. My son was a horrible sleeper as an infant. At 7 months, he was still waking every couple of hours. We eventually decided to let him cry it out. I had to have my husband's support on this since it was so hard on me. I actually had to go outside so I couldn't hear it, because the urge to rescue was too great. The first night was horrible. We first attempted to do the modified cry it out where you go in to soothe without picking them up etc. This just made him more angry and he sreamed louder, so we stopped doing this and just let him cry. That first night he cried for over an hour, but the second night he only cried for about 10 minutes and the third night less than 5 minutes. By the fourth night he didn't cry at all, just cozied up in his bed and fell asleep. It was magnificent. I was still expecting him to wake up every couple of hours, thinking we would have to do this all night long, but he suprised us and slept all the way through for the first time ever. After this he consistently slept through on a regular basis unless he was ill or teething. Also, I had to learn not to rush in his room at the first whimper, when I did that I was actually waking him up. I always gave him a couple of minutes to settle back down before going in, and about 95% of the time, he settled on his own without any help from me. Since then he has been a great sleeper. He's almost 5 and sleeps about 11-12 hours every night without fail. My daughter on the other hand has been the complete opposite. As an infant, she was a great sleeper. She is now 2 and we have been having all kinds of sleep issues. She thought she was ready to give up her nap, but she actually still needed it, then was not even making it through the night. We tried the Healthy Sleep Habits approach and made her bedtime super early, but it didn't work for her, she started waking consistently at 4am ready for the day. It was horrible. I still forced her to take quiet time each day when she should have been napping, but couldn't get her to nap at all for over 3 weeks. She just started napping again (about every other day) and other than the night terrors that she has been having in the middle of the night, is sleeping pretty well again. There is a huge range of normal and every kid has their own sleep requirements. Even when my daughter wasn't napping and only getting about 10 hours at night, she was still well behaved and not melting down. My son on the other hand would melt down if he missed even a half hour of his sleep, so like I said, each kid has their own requirements. Good luck with whatever approach you decide on.

Hi J.,
I HATE the time change! For the last 3 yrs I have kept the same time schedule with my daughter, the same as we adults do. The first week or so is difficult but they adjust just as we do. Just keep the same sleep cues and routines. As the Healthy Sleep Habits, I have used his methods with my daughter since she was born. I'm not sure if you are letting him cry it out every hour or going in. If you are letting him cry it out, be consistent every time. It can take 1-2 weeks to "break" his habit as long as you are getting him to bed at the correct biological times, not letting him become overtired. Protect his sleep needs and make sure he is in a place he can sleep when he needs to. If he is often missing naps or going to bed too late you will have a MUCH harder time getting him to sleep through the night as he will be too overtired to sleep deeply. I am a firm believer in putting a baby's needs first as they depend on you to give them what they need. I have sacrificed things like taking my daughter out late at night because I know her need for healthy sleep is more important at this point.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi J.,

I don't have much helpful advice about adjusting naptime for daylight savings, since our 17-month-old daughter has a very wide variation in her naptimes (depends on the day). But maybe adjusting naptime 10-15 min per day might work? I was thinking of doing that with bedtime for my daughter, but she actually ended up adjusting in one day on her own. As far as Healthy Sleep Habits, I must admit I haven't actually read that book, but we did do a "cry-it-out" of sorts with our daughter, and it ended up working really well for us, she sleeps great now. We started it around 11 or 12 months, I think. For the first couple of nights she cried for 30 min to an hour, but after a few days she fell asleep without crying. It was SOOOOO hard to hear her cry, but I just had to let her learn to fall asleep on her own. And it definitely worked. Now she only cries at bedtime on rare occasion, like when she is teething. If she wakes up during the night (which is rare), I let her cry for a couple minutes, then she falls right back asleep. I have made the mistake of going into her room before when this happens, and when I do that she is literally up for hours, wanting to play, etc. She ended up an overtired, cranky baby the next day. For us, it just does not work to go into her room if she cries (unless there is something wrong, of course - I always have the monitor on, and I peek through the door to make sure she is okay). Otherwise she is a very happy, well-adjusted girl. I know there is a lot of controversy over this method, and I truly believe it depends on the child whether it is appropriate/effective or not. For us, it definitely worked, and everyone in the house is getting more sleep and is well-rested, especially my daughter. So whatever you decide to try, I hope you end up finding a solution that is right for you and your son!

M.