Exhausted: A Waking Nightmare

Exhausted: A Waking Nightmare

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

filed under: family

A sleep expert to the stars gives one tired mom some hands-on tools for getting her baby to bed.

For over a year, momlogic's Jenny struggled with finding ways to get her son to go to sleep -- and stay asleep. Like many moms returning to work after being home with a new baby, Jenny felt guilty about letting her 13-month-old cry at night -- she would rock him, feed him, bring him into bed with them, even get up and play with him -- anything to make sure he didn't cry. But she knew this was only making his habits worse. Desperate for help, she and her husband contacted sleep expert Jill Spivack, who has helped celebs like Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Marcia Cross, and Amy Brenneman get sleep back into their lives.

Yesterday we saw Jill address some of the Sleep Stealers in Jenny's household. Today, in Part 2, Jill helps Jenny and Tom develop a specific schedule and gives them detailed advice on how to get the baby to sleep and stay asleep. The question is, will it work?

Want to know how much sleep your child needs? Click for Jill's Four Step Guide and Sleep Needs and Schedules for children of all ages.

1 comment so far | Post a comment now >>

I have a 10 month old and have found that a night-time schedule is a must! Bottle/dinner, playtime, bath, massage, book, then to bed. Some parents tell me that a bath every night is not good, but my baby knows that when he gets his bath, he’s going to bed shortly and I think it’s very important to be consistent! We’ve had this schedule since he was 4 months old, and have always put him down awake, but drowsy, so he knows how to put himself to sleep. We have a noise machine to keep from waking him with loud or inconsistent noises. We have had much success, with the exception of being sick or teething. He is not a fantastic sleeper either, so if we hadn’t started this I’m afraid I wouldn’t be getting any sleep at all! I was a skeptic of letting him cry it out in the beginning, but now we are so happy we stuck it out. Having a happy, healthy baby is worth it!

- Sara

Posted 01/13/09 02:09 PM