Each month, I strive to answer the questions that you email and post on my Facebook Wall, and a few of these make it into my “Ask The Sleep Lady” video series. I began this series as a way to connect with my fans and readers, and I love answering your questions.
I thought it would be fun to see which videos got the most views over the past year, so here we go!
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How Do I Deal With Hair Twirling At Bedtime?
“My son Owen will be 2 in a little over a month and he has never really fallen asleep on his own or slept by himself. The only way he goes to sleep is by playing with someone’s hair, and he wakes up almost every time he’s laid down alone.
“He doesn’t nap for more than 30 minutes, and he wakes up just as much as he did when we first had him. Sometimes we have good nights but most nights we’re up and down. He talks a lot in his sleep and he’s even sleep walked.
“We’ve recently tried getting him to sleep on his own but he will just cry and cry without giving up. Other times he’ll make it a game and have us chase him when he climbs out of bed. I tried to teach him mommy and daddy’s bed and Owen’s bed. I don’t know what to do. My hair can’t take any more pulling and my husband and I can’t take any more screaming. Please help.”
Watch the video here.
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Why Is My 6 Month Old Still Waking At Night?
“My 6-month-old wakes every single night after only an hour or two of sleep and of course, I nurse him back to sleep. I put him to bed awake every bedtime and he still wakes, why? And what should I do about the other two to three night awakenings after that? I’m totally fine feeding him once a night but three to four times, I’m not.”
Watch the video here.
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Could My Baby’s Naps Be Too Long?
“My 11-month-old takes really long naps sometimes. The normal is wake up at 8:30 a.m. Nap 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nap 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bed at 8:30 p.m. Lately, she has naps from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. which makes for a really late bedtime and late morning wake up. Then we’re way off schedule. Sometimes she won’t go down until 10:00 p.m. Should I wake her from one of her naps when she does this?”
Watch the video here.
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Why Isn’t My Toddler Sleeping Through The Night?
“My child is 1 year old and still does not sleep through the night. I’ve tried different routines and nothing changes his bedtime which, is around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. He doesn’t have too much trouble falling asleep, but he’ll wake up around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., and then every 2 hours afterwards. He doesn’t fully wake up, he just starts whimpering. I’ll give him a bottle if he goes too long and he’ll take it and fall asleep. Other times, I wait it out and he’ll stop and go to sleep. He does have a milk allergy and he drinks special formula and was diagnosed with reflux.”
Watch the video here.
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Why Can’t My Toddler Self Soothe?
“My son is almost 14 months old. I never sleep trained him. His bedtime is 7:00 p.m. and he is currently napping twice a day for a total of 1.5 – 2 hours. He sleeps in the morning until about 8:00 a.m.
At 12 months, I started eliminating night nursing and we offered him milk throughout the day. I nurse him before his bedtime and one more time before I go to bed. He usually wakes around 10 or 11:00 p.m. and then again around 7:00 a.m. because that helps him to get back to sleep for another hour. He sometimes sleeps from that second feeding until the morning feed but, more often than not, he wakes up two times and needs nothing other than the pacifier or just my husband taking him in and putting him back.
He is getting his molars so we know he’s experiencing some pain. Nonetheless, we are really ready for our family to have a good night of sleep. What is a good time to train your toddler to self-soothe? He can do it during the day. All we do is just put him in his crib and he falls asleep. But something about night often times has him not able to get back to sleep.”
Watch the video here.
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4 Key Steps To Sleep Coaching
“My seven-month-old goes down fine at about 7 o’clock and has been sleeping through until about 11 p.m. or 1 a.m. Then I give him a bottle and put him back down. If I’m lucky he goes down for an hour before waking up. From that time on, he doesn’t really settle and I’m up and down putting his dummy (aka pacifier or soother) in and trying to settle him. I get so tired by this point that I end up putting him in our bed. I know your advice will probably be don’t put him in our bed, but is there anything else you can suggest, please?”
Watch the video here.
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5 Things You Can Do To Stop Your Newborn From Waking
Newborns have different sleep patterns than older babies, but I think that sometimes we forget just how long it actually takes “normal” baby sleep patterns to develop. In fact, babies are considered “newborn” for the first 6 months of life, as their little bodies continue to mature.
Watch the video here.
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Is My Toddler Experiencing A Sleep Regression Or Night Terrors?
“My baby is 16 months old and has been sleeping through the night almost since we brought her home from the hospital.”
“She takes one nap a day at around noon that usually lasts for a couple of hours. Usually from 12 to 2pm. We usually put her to bed around 9:00pm and she falls asleep right away without a problem.
“A couple of weeks ago, she started waking every night at around 2:30 or 3:00am and nothing seems to sooth her. We changed her diapers, we sing to her, we tried to feed her. We even let her cry for a while regardless of the complaints from the neighborhood and nothing seems to work. The only solution has been to bring her to bed with us and even then she’ll wake up crying. I’ve noticed that when this happens, she comes very close to me and hugs me very tight which made me think she might be suffering from night terrors.
“I’ve done everything to relax her as much as possible. I don’t let her watch any TV, just in case that’s the problem and I’ve tried giving her chamomile tea with her milk to relax her. I’ve even switched from regular milk to soy milk to reduce the gases she gets from lactose. I put Orajel in her gums just in case her teeth were bothering her. But still nothing works. I’ve read a lot about sleep regressions and apparently, it’s very common.”
Watch the video here.
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None Of My Children Sleep!
“I have a six-month-old and a 27-month-old. My 27-month-old starts out every night in his crib but wakes up at some point in the wee hours and comes in to our bed and finishes out the night and the morning there. We started this when I was pregnant with number two and was too tired to deal. Last night, I woke up to find him in our bed. He just started climbing out of his crib.
“My six-month-old has been in a co-sleeper and has slept all night 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. until recently. She also used to suck her thumb to help her go to sleep and now, she just cries. We thought about getting another crib versus transitioning my son to a bed and putting my daughter in the crib. They will share a room so she has been napping in his room. Please help. Where do I start?”
Watch the video here.
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Understanding Drowsy But Awake
“My son will go to sleep wide awake at night on his own, but will still wake up two times during the night and he is 10 months old. Why can’t he put himself back to sleep in the middle of the night? What do I do?”
Watch the video here.
