https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Apr 2026 21:27:06 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-experts-schedule-ferber-vs-healthy-sleep-habits#post-2273255 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:26:06 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 2273255@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So my LO is about the same age as yours, also puts herself to sleep and has the same amount of wake ups at night. She's usually up for 1 hour before she's ready for her first nap, for which she sleeps 45 min to and hour. Then is up for about 2 hours the rest of the day. She often goes down for her second or 3rd nap around noon but when she wakes around 1 it's obvious that she could use a bigger nap. So I usually extend this nap with either nursing and/or gentle rocking and I can often get about hour out of her. She definitely seems to need to have at least one nap extended. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-experts-schedule-ferber-vs-healthy-sleep-habits#post-2273249 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:18:13 +0000 PawPrints 2273249@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would definitely move bedtime earlier and do what you can to extend naps to two sleep cycles instead of one. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-experts-schedule-ferber-vs-healthy-sleep-habits#post-2273211 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 20:14:01 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2273211@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It sounds like what you need to work on is extending naps. My lo went through a phase of 45 min wake-ups, but we ignored unless he was screaming and eventually he took longer naps. Btw, 4.5 months was the absolute worst time for sleep for us. It was a do anything to make it work time. My lo is a great skewer and I firmly believe in sleep begets sleep and I never ever wake him up. At that age I was doing a dream feed before I went to bed... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-experts-schedule-ferber-vs-healthy-sleep-habits#post-2273092 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 18:02:00 +0000 gingerbebe 2273092@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I always lean towards giving baby more sleep and then cutting back if the baby signals that he or she needs less. </p> <p>At 4.5 months my son was sleeping 15-16 hours a day with about 1.5-2 hours of waketime between naps, which were also about that long. He dropped that 4th nap around this time but it was a short disco nap anyway - no more than 30-40 minutes. So I think having 4 naps a day is fine!</p> <p>We always planned for 12 hour days and 11-12 hour nights, so our goal was always to start the day at 730am and put him to bed at 730pm. I wonder if your naps would be better if you bumped up the bedtime and just had fewer naps. So, for instance, if your LO had a catnap in the late afternoon and then went to bed for the night at 630-7pm instead of going to bed at 830pm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-experts-schedule-ferber-vs-healthy-sleep-habits#post-2273083 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 17:45:52 +0000 mrswin 2273083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 4.5 month old DD has never been a great day time sleeper but nights are alright (usually 1-2 wake ups). She knows how to put herself to sleep, is no longer swaddled and sleeps in a crib at both night and nap time with the occasional carrier or car seat nap.</p> <p>I have read both Ferber and Healthy Sleep Habits but I am confused and could use some help/suggestions. </p> <p>Ferber recommends a total of 13 hours of sleep per day with no more than 9-10 hours over night (!) while Weissbluth recommends 14.5 hours of sleep total with about 11 hours over night. </p> <p>I cannot seem to figure out how to make this work as DD seems tired after 1.5 hrs but only naps for 45 minutes at a time. I have been trying to start with a consistent wake up time of 6:30am and a bedtime of between 8 and 8:30pm. In order to keep to DD's wake time we often end up with 4 or 5 naps while both books recommend only 3 naps per day. I tried reducing her overnight sleep a la Ferber but I didnt see any change in her naps. </p> <p>Have you had success with either method? How did you work on getting your LO on the schedule? Any advise would be much appreciated, I feel like she will be a happier baby if she is getting decent day time sleep. </p>