Dr. Robert Needlman
Specialist in pediatric behavior and development.
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 Ask Dr. Needlman
Family Members Argue over Baby's Sleep Habit | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Needlman,
I babysit for my two-month-old grandson. My daughter-in-law has trouble with him sleeping at night; he wakes every two hours. During the day, when I am there, he likes to sleep. She wants me to try to keep him awake. I try, but it's difficult for me to do that. He cries real tears and just wants to go back to sleep. He never sleeps longer than two hours, even during the daytime. I do all kinds of things with him, and I feel if he wants to sleep, he should, as long as it isn't all day. My daughter-in-law gets mad at me when he sleeps. What can I do about this problem? — Frustrated Grandma in Middletown, NY | | | ANSWER |
June 12, 2001 | | | Dear Frustrated Grandma,
Most two-month-olds sleep 15 to 16 hours out of 24. So, of course, they do a fair amount of their sleeping during daylight hours. While it's reasonable to try to wake an infant after an hour or two of napping to see if they are ready to eat and play, it really isn't possible to prevent them entirely from sleeping during the day. Most infants don't sleep in four- to five-hour blocks at night until about four months. For those that sleep through earlier, that's great! But it isn't reasonable to expect that every baby will have day and night sorted out by two months.
The best way to help a baby learn to sleep at night (and not in the day) is to be entertaining and interesting when you interact with the baby during the day, and boring when you interact at night. Keep the lights low. Speak in a dull, tired voice (that is, the normal voice for most sleep-deprived new parents!). Take care of business--diapers, a feeding perhaps--but don't play. Soon babies get the message and adjust their sleeping schedule to be awake for the fun stuff.
As a grandparent who is bravely taking on partial child-care responsibilities, you know how hard it is to work out an understanding with the parents. The grandparenting articles on our site might offer some suggestions and support for you as you tackle this tough task.— by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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