Would you like to have me answer your sleep question in my next video? If so, scroll down and submit your question in the comment section below. I will pick several questions a month to answer and post them here on the blog!
If you would rather read than watch my above video then here is the transcript of this week’s video:
Hi, Kim West The Sleep Lady. Today I’m going to answer Beth’s question. She wrote in and said:
“My 14 month old son is sleeping well through the night and decently at naps most of the time. Thank you for your help in the book. He still never wakes up without crying out. Is there a way to help him wake happy without having him cry to come and get me?”
That’s a good question, Beth. It is true that some kids’ temperaments are such that they go through phases where they cry a few minutes to go to sleep and they cry when they wake up or they’re slow to wake up. But I think it’s too soon to determine if this is part of your son’s temperament. Especially because you said that you’ve just recently (with the help of my book) gotten him sleeping through the night and taking “decent naps most of the time”. I think that’s where the magic is…”decent and most of the time”. Most of the time means to me that he naps well some of the time or not all of the time. Combine that with “decent” and he may not be getting enough day sleep yet to feel fully rested and to wake up happy or at least well rested and happier.
Once he’s consistently sleeping through the night for at least three weeks and sleeping for approximately 11 hours at his age and taking naps totaling around three hours a day, more times than not you should start to see a change in how he wakes up.
I think you’ll also see a change when he becomes more verbal because at his age he understands more than he can say.
Keep working on those naps!
Sweet dreams,
Kim
The Sleep Lady
Video filmed by In Focus Studios
If you have noticed a change in the way your child wakes up when they are well rested verses not please share your support with Beth. Please feel free to click the “reply” link under this article and leave them a comment. Supporting each other makes parenting so much easier!
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Beth I can sympathize with you. Sounds like we have the same child. I pray that you and I both can figure out how to help our babies.
Kim, my question for you is one I’ve been working on since my twins were born. My girls just turned one year and they have to sleep in seperate rooms because one “moans” all night long in her sleep and the other wakes up at 4am-4:30am EVERY DAY! My husband and I are at our wits end. She doesn’t want to go back to sleep and will cry the entire time. We’ve tried not getting her out of her crib until 6am but she wakes the entire house up. We live in a small house and you can hear a mouse squeak (not that we have mice, just saying). My marriage is suffering because we are still so sleep deprived a year later. Gracie is napping well (90 mins-120 mins at first nap and 90 min-120 mins at second nap). Some times she will take one long 3-4 hour nap during the day, just depends on how she’s feeling that day. I believe she’s getting enough sleep during the day. They both go down between 7am-8pm daily. I was worried that she wasn’t getting enough to eat during the day but I don’t believe that to be the case.
Can you help us with Gracie’s waking up before we lose it?
Thank you.
Beth I can sympathize with you. Sounds like we have the same child. I pray that you and I both can figure out how to help our babies.
Kim, my question for you is one I’ve been working on since my twins were born. My girls just turned one year and they have to sleep in seperate rooms because one “moans” all night long in her sleep and the other wakes up at 4am-4:30am EVERY DAY! My husband and I are at our wits end. She doesn’t want to go back to sleep and will cry the entire time. We’ve tried not getting her out of her crib until 6am but she wakes the entire house up. We live in a small house and you can hear a mouse squeak (not that we have mice, just saying). My marriage is suffering because we are still so sleep deprived a year later. Gracie is napping well (90 mins-120 mins at first nap and 90 min-120 mins at second nap). Some times she will take one long 3-4 hour nap during the day, just depends on how she’s feeling that day. I believe she’s getting enough sleep during the day. They both go down between 7am-8pm daily. I was worried that she wasn’t getting enough to eat during the day but I don’t believe that to be the case.
Can you help us with Gracie’s waking up before we lose it?
Thank you.