The No-cry Sleep Solution (21 page)

Authors: Elizabeth Pantley

1⁄2 hour

*I chose to round my times to the quarter hour. If you wish, you can use exact times, such as 1

hour 27 minutes. The overall difference is minimal, so you can choose whichever way is most comfortable for you.

The No-Cry Sleep Solution

At the bottom of your night-waking log you’ll find a place to write down a summary of the information in your log. This summary will help you quickly see how your new efforts are affecting your baby’s sleep as you try out the ideas presented in this book.

This is what my summary looked like:

Asleep time: 9:40 p.m.

Awake time: 7:48 a.m.

Total number of awakenings: 8

Longest sleep span: 11⁄2 hours

Total hours of sleep: 81⁄4 hours

When you have filled out your three logs, answer the sleep questions that follow the logs. If this is not your own book, you can photocopy the log pages or simply write the information on blank sheets of paper.

When you have completed this groundwork, move on to Chapter 4.

Wonderful ideas, and blissful sleep, lie just ahead. I promise!

Create Your Sleep Logs

Nap Log

Baby’s Name: ________________________________________

Age: _______________________________________________

Date: _______________________________________________

Time baby

How baby

Where baby Where baby How

fell asleep

slept

long?

1. Review Table 2.1 on page 48:

How many naps should your baby be getting? ________________

How many naps is your baby getting now ? ___________________

How many hours should your baby be napping? _______________

How many hours is your baby napping now ? _________________

2. Do you have a formal nap routine? _________________________

3. Are your baby’s naptimes/lengths consistent every day? _________

The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Prebedtime Routine Log

Baby’s Name: ________________________________________

Age: _______________________________________________

Date: _______________________________________________

Key:

Activity: active, moderate, or calm

Noise: loud, moderate, or quiet

Light: bright, dim, or dark

Activity

Noise

Light

Time

What we did

level

1. Do you have a formal, consistent bedtime routine? ______________

2. Is the hour prior to bedtime mostly peaceful, quiet, and dimly lit? ___

3. Does your bedtime routine help both you and your baby relax and get sleepy? _______________________________________________

4. Any other observations about your current bedtime routine? ______

__________________________________________________

Create Your Sleep Logs

Night-Waking Log

Baby’s Name: ________________________________________

Age: _______________________________________________

Date: _______________________________________________

How long

How long Time

How

of a sleep

awake; baby baby

stretch

How baby

what we

fell back fell back since fell

Time

woke me up

did

to sleep to sleep asleep

Asleep time: __________________________________________

Awake time: ________________________________________

Total number of awakenings: _________________________________

Longest sleep span: ___________________________________

Total hours of sleep: ____________________________________

The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Sleep Questions

1. Review Table 2.1 on page 48:

How many hours of nighttime sleep should your baby be getting? ___

How many hours of nighttime sleep is your baby getting now ? _____

How many total hours of nighttime and naptime sleep should your baby be getting? ______________________________________

How many total hours of nighttime and naptime sleep is your baby getting now ? ________________________________________

How do the suggested hours of sleep compare to your baby’s actual hours of sleep?

Gets __________ hours too little sleep

Gets __________ hours too much sleep

2. Is your baby’s bedtime consistent (within 1⁄2 hour) every night? ______

3. Do you “help” your baby to go back to sleep every time, or nearly every time he or she awakens? ___________________________

How do you do this? ____________________________________

4. What have you learned about your baby’s sleep by doing this log?

__________________________________________________

Review and Choose

Sleep Solutions

Once you have done a safety check, learned about basic sleep facts, and completed your initial sleep logs, you are ready to proceed. You will create your baby’s customized sleep plan based on the ideas in this chapter. I would strongly suggest that you use all of the suggestions that you think make sense for you and your baby. Stick with them long enough for them to have an impact—at least two or three weeks. One or two nights isn’t enough to judge an idea’s value. This is
not
a quick-fix plan, but it
is
a plan that will work. It
is
a plan that will enable you to help your baby sleep better. You just need to choose your solutions, organize your plan, make a commitment, and stick with it.

The ideas in this section are separated into two parts. The first is especially for newborns, the second part is for babies who are more than four months old. The ideas are clearly described in both sections. In the older babies section, the ideas are coded for five different types of babies to make it easy for you to choose from them.

• Breastfed

• Bottlefed

• Crib sleeper

• Co-sleeper

• Pacifier user

Many of the ideas are good for everyone.