Sleep Consult #4

5-6 months

Refuses to nap in her crib unless she falls asleep while nursing.

Disagreement between parents?

Her bedtime, 11PM, is too late so she develops a second wind. This means that she is in a state of higher neurological arousal and this directly causes her to have difficulty self-soothing at night. She typically falls asleep around this time while being nursed. This means that when she crashes from exhaustion at 10-11PM, she does not do or is unable to do any self-soothing. Also, she still tends to wake up once (sometimes twice) in the middle of the night and cries a bit because she is over-tired.

She awakens around 6 AM sleep deprived (Upon waking in the morning, she typically whines or fusses) because her night sleep duration is too short and she remains in this high state of neurological arousal. After about an hour, you bring her back to bed with you and sleep until late in the morning. During the day, she refuses to nap in her crib unless she falls asleep while I am nursing her. This means that she may have up to 10 hours of wakefulness during the day. I realize this is not healthy.

I do know that it is difficult to get her on a regular nap schedule during the day. Because her bedtime is too late she wakes up in the morning too tired to nap well. Because she falls asleep at the breast, she has not learned self-soothing skills that are needed to nap well.

Mother: Her sleep issues have impacted my relationship with my husband since we have spent minimal alone time together. Father: I also think it will be better for my relationship with my wife if our daughter goes to bed early so that (1) we get to spend more time with each other at night, and (2) we go to bed at the same time at night, especially the weekends.

What would you suggest?

Marc