Hi Fay,

Thanks so much for answering all of those questions – it’s given me a much clearer picture of what’s going on.

What’s driving most of this

At the moment she is falling asleep with your help – bouncing and shushing for naps, feeding for bedtime. When she stirs at the end of a sleep cycle and the bouncing has stopped, or she is in the…

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Hi Echeta,

Firstly, a huge congratulations on the safe arrival of your daughter Elizabeth!

It’s great to hear she’s gaining weight and doing well at her check-ups.

I know it might not feel like much of a win at 12am, but that consistent midnight to 4am stretch is actually a really good sign. It shows her circadian rhythm is starting to influence…

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Hi Emma,

My wife and I welcomed our daughter Elizabeth 6.5 weeks ago and she has been a bundle of joy. However, sleep has progressively become more and more of a concern. She is currently averaging about 5 hours of daytime sleep, and only 6 hours combined at night. She shows signs of fatigue but either struggles to go to sleep, or when put to…

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Hi Fay,

Thank you for such a detailed message – it really helps me get a clear picture of what’s going on. And I just want to say, what you’re describing sounds exhausting, especially when your whole day has to be planned around her naps.

If you could email the .csv file through to emma@brightestbeginning.com, (my team will pass it on to me)…

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Hi Fay,

I personally haven’t used the Zed crib rocker. From what I read it sounds like it’s a small device that sits on the mattress and sends car-like vibrations through the mattress surface.

Although I haven’t used one, I have answered your questions below.

Will it help link sleep cycles?

Not really, and here’s why. Linking sleep cycles is…

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Hi Emma,

We are struggling through the 4-month sleep regression and are running out of ways to settle our little one. She is 16 weeks and has not been doing very well with napping since about 12 weeks. Up until 15 weeks she was still sleeping well through the night (only waking up once or twice with a 6-8 hour long stretch), but now she is…

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Has anyone tried a Zed crib rocker? Could this help link sleep cycles? Would a baby then need it on all the time?

Hi Leone,

It’s so good to hear you’re all feeling better, and that he’s settling well at bedtime again!

About the language burst

If you’ve noticed he finds it harder to fall asleep when he’s going through a burst in his language skills, the two could definitely be linked. The good news is it usually settles down within a week or two. So just keep…

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Hey Emma

Thanks for the response… We’re all on the mend thankfully.

This was very informative.

To answer your questions:

1. He’s tired and his eyes are closing and as soon as they close he starts jerking his body and wakes himself up… It’s like he won’t allow his eyes to close for more than 5 seconds. When he gets like this we don’t allow him…

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Hi Leone,

I’m so sorry for the late reply, somehow I missed your message!

I’m also sorry to hear you’ve all been unwell. Hopefully everyone is on the mend now. Has his sleep started to settle back down?

If it hasn’t, it’s worth working out what’s driving it, because a regression can be caused by a few different things:

A sudden change – like a…

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Hey Emma…

Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond… Everyone has been sick on my end.

1. He wakes up at around 7… There are inconsistencies because my husband is a police officer who works shifts. We try very hard not to wake them when we move them around on the early shift but sometimes we just can’t help it.
2. He dropped to 1 nap at around…

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Hi Charlotte,

Thank you so much for answering all my questions!

From everything you’ve described, it does sound like he has a feed-to-sleep association, and that’s what’s causing the increased wakes overnight. There are a few things I’d love for you to try.

1. Shift his wake-up time (or his bedtime)

At the moment he’s going down around 6:45-7:00pm…

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Hi Emma,

Please see my replies below:

Naps: You mentioned that the first and second naps are around 1.5 hours – 2 hours in duration. To get that length of time asleep, are you laying him down in his crib for his naps and then he’s sleeping that whole stretch on his own? Or are you doing contact naps, where you’re carrying him for the whole…

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Hi Charlotte,

Thanks so much for such a detailed message – it really helps to have all this context!

First off, I want to reassure you that his daytime routine sounds great! His wake windows, nap lengths, and the overall structure of his day are all really age-appropriate. There are a few small tweaks we can make, but you’ve laid such a…

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Update:

Baby seem to be waking every hour from sleeping and from midnight onwards, every 2 hours.

Hi Emma

Thank you for your program, I would like to seek help to achieve baby sleeping through the night eventually.

Ever since 3.5 months, my baby started to wake more frequently, from just 2/3 times (1/2am, 3am, 5am) to 4/5 times (11am, 1am, 3am,5am) which is likely due to 4 month regression and feed-sleep association. Before that, perhaps I…

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Hi Leone,

The sleep regression may be due to several factors. To help me figure out why the sleep regression is happening, can you please answer the questions below? Sorry in advance, as I know you would be very busy with 2 under 2 years!

1. When did your little one drop to 1 nap per day?
2. What time does he wake up in the morning? And is this…

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Hey Emma

I have an 18 month old going on 19 months soon.

He has been going through sleep regression for over a month now.

I know it may be heightened by the fact that he now also has a 2month old sibling.

We have been sticking to his bedtime routine and his day nap which usually occurs at around 12 in the day but nothing seems to be working.

Do…

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Sounds great Catherin! Let me know how it goes!

Thank you so much, Emma. I will do that. I will track her wake up time for a week and I will let you know. Best, Catherin

Hi Catherin,

Sorry to hear she’s been unwell lately – it’s great that she’s starting to feel better!

In regards to the early waking, here’s what I’d suggest:

When she wakes early, try to delay the start of her day if you can. So keep her in her room with the lights off, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. This helps reinforce that it’s still…

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Hi Naomi,

Firstly, congratulations on the arrival of your little one! I really hope you’re enjoying motherhood.

It’s great to hear he’s growing well and that his weight and height are tracking nicely. And well done on picking up his lactose intolerance and addressing it so quickly – that’s fantastic!

Waking after one sleep cycle

At three months,…

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Hi Emma, thank you for answering my message so fast. I have not been able to apply your recommendations because my daughter got sick, immediately after that she began waking up multiple times during the night again. This lasted for about a week, it was hard. I believe that she was going through a sleep regression that seems to have ended now…

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Hi Emma

Thanks for the amazing course and Youtube content! I am a first time mum and have a couple of questions for you.

My baby boy just turned 3 months old and was born at 38 weeks. We are doing combination feeding (probably ~30% breastmilk and 70% formula due to low milk supply). His weight growth is tracking well.

1. Wake, feed, play,…

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Hi Benjamin,

It sounds like the stroller might be a great option for when you’re out and about, given that he’s already 9 kilos.

To get to the point where naps outside are a bit easier, it would be helpful to help him learn how to fall asleep on his own. I have outlined how you can work on this skill at home below.

For naps, what you’d want to…

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Hi Emma,

Thanks for your rapid reply. it’s true about them becoming more alert. He’s only 5 months old, but seems to be a bit beyond that compared to others we know. He is quite a large baby and has outgrown his bassinet, so we’ve had to take that option off the table, sadly. But the carrier works occasionally, so that could be an option to…

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Hi Benjamin,

It’s great that you’ve got a great sleeping environment to help for your little one at home.

Unfortunately, getting them to sleep in busy environments can be really challenging and that’s the case for all babies, regardless of how good their sleep setup is at home. There’s just so much going on around them that it’s hard for them…

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No worries at all Leone. Let me know how you go and we can adjust/tweak as needed.

Hi there,

So, we have a great sleep environment setup at home in our room for our now 5 month old. It’s a crib next to our bed as the bassinet no longer fits him (he never slept in it anyway). The room has a type of blind that cuts out all light, so it’s dark and relatively quiet (the dogs where we live are a but loud sometimes). During the day…

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Hey Emma.

Thanks so much.. I am going to try implementing the above tips. Helps to have a cut off for the pyramid… Now I know if it doesn’t work in 20 minutes just put him to sleep.

Thanks again… Let’s hope this works

Hi Leone,

It’s great to hear that he’s putting on weight!

It’s great that you’ve already got a consistent wake-up time for your little one. What you’re describing – where he sleeps a lot of the day – is pretty typical for a four-week-old. What you should notice is that he starts to have longer and longer periods of wakefulness after a feed…

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Hey Emma

I totally get the questions and appreciate you taking time to help.

• So I wake him between 7 and 7.30 unless he wakes up earlier on his own.
• He naps all day currently.. With the odd wake periods during feed time. He hasn’t really been up for play time much. I find that he nods of to sleep while I’m feeding him. He does sometimes get up…

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Hi Leone,

It sounds like sleep overnight is really challenging at the moment. Not sleeping between 1:30am – 5am isn’t something we would typically be expecting, and it must be exhausting for you.

Given that it’s a new behaviour, I just have a few questions to help me identify the possible cause and the right approach to take. I’m so sorry for…

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Hi Pav,

I think we need to work out how much total sleep Roh needs in 24 hours and then use that information to help identify the best schedule for him. Are you able to send me through a weeks worth of sleep information – so the time he wakes each morning, the time he starts his nap, the time he wakes from the nap, the time he falls asleep…

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Thanks Emma

This does really help. It’s really hard to read his sleep cues right now but I am trying to understand him.

Yes, everything is quite busy and new so we are adjusting.

I am experiencing him stay up for most of the night… Like between 1.30am and 5am. I am actually sleeping with him in my arms at this point so that I can get some…

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Hi Leone,

Firstly, congrats on the arrival of your little one! Sounds like your house would be really busy with a one-year-old and a one-month-old.

About the long wake periods

Yes, it’s possible for your one-month-old to have a longer wake window, particularly in the afternoon and evening. What you’re describing – staying awake for 2+ hours,…

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HI Catherin,

It’s great to hear that your little one’s sleep has started to become more consistent!

Given that she’s 18 months, here’s what I’d recommend:

Start by setting a consistent wake-up time

For the next few days, regardless of what time she goes to bed, wake her up at 7:30am.

What this does is help set her circadian rhythm so that her…

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