Everything You Need To Know About Your Baby's Sleep
- Why Babies Don't Sleep
The common reasons why babies struggle to sleep through the night.
- What Sleep Should you Expect with a Baby?
We're often asked how much sleep a baby should have, here's the answer
- What is the Baby Sleep System?
The Baby Sleep System is a unique programme to help you get your baby to sleep
- The Baby Sleep Answers Forum
The key reason for the success of the Baby Sleep System is the 24/7 support offered on our Forum
- How the Baby Sleep System Helped My Baby
A brief story of how the Baby Sleep System helped Elisabeth Hill and her son Peter.
Why Babies Don't Sleep
There is very little easily accessible scientific evidence that explains why
some babies seem to sleep well and others are poor sleepers from day
one. My experience with my own children, in-depth discussions with
Health Visitors, the work with my clients and my extensive research has
led me to divide the causes of poor sleep into 6 categories.
Traumatic Birth Experience
Babies who experience a long labour and/or were dragged into the
world via forceps or a ventouse are usually unsettled for the first few
days following the delivery. They tend to cry more and sleep less than
babies born without drama. Mothers who experience a difficult
delivery are usually tired, traumatised and sometimes in severe pain
after the ordeal and if not appropriately counselled can find it harder to
cope in the following weeks.This combination can lead to longer term
sleep problems such as those outlined below.
Accidental Parenting
This term was originally coined by the late Tracy Hogg (The Baby
Whisperer). Babies come to rely on a “prop” to help them get to sleep. Do you routinely hold, rock, walk or bounce your baby to sleep? If the answer is yes to any of these, then you have introduced a prop. Chapter 8 of the Baby Sleep System will look at how you can break the habit/cycle.
Attachment Theory Issues
Attachment theory has become the dominant theory used today in the
study of baby and toddler behaviour. The theory is too complex to
look at in any great detail here, but it impacts on sleep when:
- Parents are inconsistent in the way that they respond to their
baby and so he becomes preoccupied with (usually) the
mother’s availability.
- Baby does not feel secure when away from their main carer.
- Parents have not helped the baby to learn how to regulate
stressful situations and cope with changes.
The strategies outlined in Chapter 7 of the Baby Sleep System all have elements intended to address attachment issues for the baby and his parents.
Development Milestones
Many of my clients seek help when their baby starts to wake in the
night when previously they had been good sleepers. There can be a
number of reasons why this occurs, but it often happens when a baby
learns a new skill e.g. rolling over, sitting, crawling, standing and
walking. Good sleep patterns need to be re-established before night
waking becomes the norm.
Family Anxiety
A dramatic change in the family dynamic or established routine can
disrupt sleep patterns. For example, if the main carer feels very stressed,
this is transmitted to the child and she becomes unsettled. Mum returning
to work often coincides with the beginnings of night time waking. Family
breakdown can also affect the sleep patterns of older children.
Minor Illness
If a child has been ill, this can disrupt sleep patterns in the period
immediately following. This is usually short lived but can become
longer term if the response of the parents to the illness causes baby to
form an association i.e. they get used to being cuddled to sleep. The Baby Sleep System will give practical advice on how you as a parent can help your baby to establish, or re-establish, healthy sleep patterns whilst maintaining a trusting and loving bond.
What Sleep Should you Expect with a Baby?
How much sleep do babies need? The table below gives some average sleep times.
| Age |
Nighttime Sleep |
Daytime Sleep |
No. of Naps |
Total Sleep |
| Newborn to 3 months |
10 hours |
6 hours |
4 - 5 |
16 Hours* |
| 3 - 6 months |
10 hours |
4 - 5 hours |
3 - 4 |
15 Hours |
| 6 - 18 months |
11 hours |
2¾ hours |
1 - 2 |
13¾ Hours |
*Note: Very small babies will only sleep for 2-4 hours at a time.
Remember these times are averages. Some children will sleep more, some will sleep less.
What is the Baby Sleep System?
The Baby Sleep System is a proven and effective resource which helps parents to settle their baby into a healthier sleep pattern often within a week. It is a combination of a 100 page book, written in a clear and helpful way and online support provided by a dedicated website.
The book:
- Explains why some children do not sleep well
- Describes effective methods to help your baby sleep better including no cry solutions
- Uses case studies from parents who have used the system successfully to show how different approaches work
Learn more about The Baby Sleep System
The Baby Sleep Answers Forum
Offers individual advice and support to purchasers of the Baby Sleep System. Members can post a question via their own online thread and a member of the Dream Team, parents who have successfully used the Baby Sleep System respond usually within 24 hours. There is also a facility to purchase a private consultation with a dedicated mentor who will work out a plan and intensively support parents over a 3+ day period.
You won't be able to post any questions on the forum until you have purchased The Baby Sleep System. However, it's free to browse so why not have a look at what's happening on the forum.
How the Baby Sleep System Helped My Baby
Elisabeth Hill started The Baby Sleep System when her son, Peter, was 4½ months old
Peter was never keen to sleep from birth, this combined with bad colic and undiagnosed recurrent urine infections that led to an emergency operation when he was 12 weeks old led to accidental parenting that made his sleep refusal even worse. By 4.5 months of age he had never slept alone for more than half an hour, screamed the house down whenever he was laid down on his back and always ended up sleeping draped over my shoulder. He was a bad feeder – snacking rather than feeding through day and night. With an older daughter it seemed as if Peter had no routine of his own and as if she never had anytime with mummy without her baby brother either screaming or in tow.
By this time, I could barely walk because of hip and back problems from sleeping so badly, my arm was constantly stiff from juggling the baby while doing everything else and I hadn't had more than an hour of continuous sleep at any one time since the birth – added to very little sleep during the pregnancy things were a disaster. Somebody from the baby group I went to told me about www.babysleepanswers.co.uk around the time that I attempted using cc to get Peter in the cot. During a 2.5 hours screaming session using cc I ordered the book, having decided I needed help. The book and forum provided exactly what I had been seeking from elsewhere.
Wendy and members of the Dream Team provided immediate help, and after establishing a clear daytime routine and switching to pupdcd for nights and naps, life immediately improved for the better. He dropped his prop of being fed to sleep, and I created my own prop – the forum! A couple of weeks after starting the chosen system, we went to stay with my mother-in-law in Greece. At this time we were still using pupdcd a little for naps and night time, but the change of scene didn’t make us go backwards and within a week or so of getting home we were using it very occasionally. Peter was getting good daytime and night time sleep and was generally a very happy baby. With the help of the forum he dropped the night time and dream feed with very little trouble and he continues to sleep well a year later. I have returned to use the advice and support of the forum for a number of things, including night terrors in my older daughter and early waking because of over wet nappies for Peter. Always the advice and support is invaluable. We have occasional blips where Peter struggles to sleep or wakes during the night and with the knowledge that I now have from the Forum, I can deal with these appropriately and without creating further bad habits. Still now, every nap and night time I leave Peter’s room amazed at the change and eternally grateful for all the advice and support that I received from the Forum. I recommend the Forum to anybody I meet who has sleep problems with their baby and I have since become a member of the Dream Team to help other people in similar situations.
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