The No-cry Sleep Solution (21 page)
Read The No-cry Sleep Solution Online
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.
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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
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Nap Log
Baby’s Name: ________________________________________
Age: _______________________________________________
Date: _______________________________________________
Time baby
How baby
Where baby Where baby How
fell asleep
fell asleep
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? _________
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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
level
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
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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: ____________________________________
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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?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
4
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.
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