new sleep book

I read this interview with the author and thought the book sounded very interesting. She is a neuroscientist and director of a sleep research program. The basic premise is that babies need to go down for a nap every 90 minutes. The more sleep they get, the less overtired they are and therefore they go down easier for naps/bedtime (similar to the HSHHC theory).

This makes a lot of sense to me because when my boys turned about 4 months, we started putting them down for nap after 1 hour of wakefulness. They would sleep 1 hour, and be awake for 1 hour - all day. And they have always been really good sleepers!

Michelle

 

They did an interview with this author on my news yesterday morning. The newscaster, who just had a baby, said that she tried it with her DD and it worked quite well.

 

I'm curious...what age would this "90 min. rule" be geared towards? I can see how this is helpful for 4 month olds, but not so much for older babies.

(I didn't actually go and read the interview, so maybe the answer is there?)

 

Okay, I went back and read the interview and it does seem like it's geared more towards younger babies. However, I DO think it really works, because that's how I did it when my girls were young. The 90 minutes just gradually increased over time...and now they usually take two very predictable naps. With my first DD, I worked in Child Care with her and naps were harder due to so much activity going on. It took her a long time to get to be a somewhat good sleeper. With the twins, sleeping has gone much better (except when they're sick or teething)...and I think part of the reason has been their consistent naps.

 

Interesting! We were doing naps every 90 min for a long, long time - that just naturally seemed to be our comfortable window of wake time. Thanks for sharing the link!

 

We are having GREAT success with the 90 minute interval of wakefulness! Unfortunately, it's taken us a few weeks of trial and error to find that "magic" number . Glad to know there's another expert out there supporting the way I'm doing things !

 

Something similar worked for us when all of mine were small -- it actually took them quite awhile to work up to 90 minutes of wake time. I've always been militant about naps, and I think it paid off! :good: