Irregular Sleep Habits - By Shabina Welde

Dear mothers,

My heart goes out to those of you, losing your precious, well earned sleeping hours just because baby decides to play! This is a problem of scheduling and as such, you can solve it, although the process must be a gradually phased on

NIGHT/DAY CONFUSION

Some children do go through night/day confusion, where they are alert at night and sleepy through the day. Your child will not be able to wake up by 7 am with you because she’s had only three or four hours of sleep. A child at this age requires at least ten hours of sleep at night. She makes up her deficit by sleeping through most of the morning.

PHASED WAKING/SLEEPING PATTERNS

I suggest you let her sleep an hour less every week. The routine could go as follows:-

Week 1

Wake her everyday at 9 am, make sure she gets an afternoon nap around 3 pm (even if it’s half an hour). If she resists the nap, make sure she gets an hour of restful activity, doing puzzles, drawing, playing with clay, looking through picture books with you, watching traffic go by, whatever. Just as long as she rests that active metabolism of hers! Make sure she has a fixed play time for an hour every evening where she gets a chance to run, jump, throw, climb and push. Try to put her to bed an hour earlier every night.

eg. Make sure she’s in bed by 2 am (if 3 am is her “regular” time!)

Again I can’t stress enough the importance of a nightly bedtime routine – a warm bath maybe, followed by 2-3 stories, a prayer, then lights out and a lullaby or some soothing music. Whatever you do, make sure you do the very same thing, in the very same sequence every single night of your life. Children thrive on routine.

Week 2 – waking time 8 am, nap time 3 pm, bedtime 1 am
Week 3 – waking time 7 am, nap time 3 pm, bedtime 12 midnight
Week 4 – waking time 7 am, nap time 3 pm, bedtime 11 pm
Week 5 – waking time 7 am, nap time 3 pm, bedtime 10 pm
Week 6 – waking time 7 am, nap time 3 pm, bedtime 9 pm

This, i think is what you’d like to achieve. at this stage, if she skips her afternoon nap, you shouldn’t worry. By three years, children sometimes decide enough is enough. As long as she’s getting her ten nightly hours of blissful sleep, I’d be happy, if I were you!

All the best, if this works, do write in and tell us, so we can share your experience with other moms here!

Shabina

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