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The Podcast is BACK! EP 24

listener mailbag

This episode of the Precious Little Sleep podcast brought to you by the Precious Little Sleep Audiobook. Regular listeners might have noticed there haven’t been any new episodes for a while and the reason is because I’ve been busy recording my own audiobook. Not on my own of course, because my home recording setup involves string and duct tape which is why I the enlisted professional help of Egan Media. Recording your own podcast is to professional audiobook production as seltzer water is to wine.

You sit here and talk slooowly and trying to enunciate like an adult.
If you’re lucky you find a great guy like Joe who uses all that fancy tech to make your audiobook sound fantastic. Don’t ask me what any of that *waves hand* does. But it works!

Needless to say I didn’t have time for both audiobook and podcast recording so the podcast when on a *ahem* brief hiatus. But now happily the Precious Little Sleep audiobook is finished so I can once more focus on podcasts. This one was particularly fun because I recorded it as a FB live event on the PLS Fb Page answering some great listener questions. As this was a successful experiment, follow me on FB if you want to participate in future FB live events!

Listener Questions

Vocalizing Throughout the Night

4.5months old baby, falls asleep independently (awake, in own bed, no pacifier) like a dream but has many night wakings. Cries for a few minutes (up to 15ish) and falls back asleep. Repeat several times a night. What can I do to help? The day starts at around 7/8, nap for 30 to 45 min, rinse and repeat. Stays up for closer to 3 hours before bedtime at 7/8. We change diaper, say good nights around the house, sing a song while being held, white noise, and put down awake.

4.5 Month Old Wants to Party at 2 am

How to settle, wide awake 4 month old who after feeding at 2 am seems to think his parents should remember their student days and join him bright eyed and bushy tailed at a time even the owl has gone to sleep at. Then he after 2 hours when he finally sleeps he wakes every hour just to see if we still want to party. We do not feed him to sleep before bed . Have a routine that is followed like to military precision and put him down semi awake. He naps three times a day. He is down at 630 and up at 7am

Which SWAP to Use for a Paci Loving 4 Month Old

4 month old, since birth I’ve been nursing to sleep at bedtime and for naps. We stopped swaddling as he started rolling over a week ago. He would not take a pacifier. 4 naps a day, no consistent length usually 30-40 min. We try for a consistent bedtime of 8 pm, but sometimes it shifts up to 9 pm if there is a 5th nap. He sleeps in the crib after I put him down fully asleep. He really depends on sucking and goes from sleepy to screaming in a second if put down awake no matter how much soothing.

My question is which SWAP would you recommend to try first? Is 4-months too early for SLIP?

8 Month Old Eating Every 3 Hours – HELP!

8 month old wakes every 3 hours to nurse. Is he really hungry? Or just looking for comfort and to nurse back to sleep. How can i get longer stretches? 7pm bed. Routine is consistent (pjs, lotion/massage, nurse in dim lit room. Sleep sack on. Snuggle and song. Used to lay down drowsy and he would cry for a few mins and then asleep. But lately he falls asleep in my arms (not intentional) and i lay down and he rolls over and stays asleep.

He has ALWAYS since day 1 ate every 2-3 hours. Big boy high metabolism. And i know he meeded it before and now im not ao sure. But no idea how to take these feedings away without him screaming. Sometimes when he wakes up I try to just cuddle him to see if he is just looking for comfort but he screams amd pushes me and as soon as i nurse him he is instantly calm. But does eat. Both sides. 15 mins.

Toddler Questions – how much sleep is enough? Does bedtime matter? etc.

How do you know if a toddler is getting enough sleep? I know there are age guidelines and she is 3.5 so the guideline is 10-12 hours in 24 hours but how do you know if she needs 10 or 12?

Related, if I nearly always wake up my toddler (and she sleeps through an alarm), is that an indication she is sleep deprived? Do some children just naturally need to be woken up?

Does it matter what time a toddler goes to bed if you think that he/she is overall getting enough sleep? Eg if toddler goes to bed between 10p-12am but likely gets enough sleep at night + nap, is there something magical about going to bed earlier?

Does early sleep and early wake induce more overall sleep? I understand that being more aligned with sunrise/set could be beneficial.

Big Kid Bedtime Battles!

#1 – 3 year old limit testing at bedtime…..asking you to come back in the room, asking you to lie on the floor, taking a while to fall asleep.

#2 – Almost 2 year old climbing out of crib, fighting bedtime (going into crib), waking up at 4am and not wanting to stay in crib.bedtime is books and singing and cuddling. He keeps wanting to hang with Daddy, play with toys, leave the room. He wakes up around 6am, in the past week, naps from 1-2:30 (used to be 12-2), bedtime used to be 7:30 routine starts in crib by 7:50. I have resorted to sleeping on a mattress next to his crib until he falls asleep. It’s the only way he’ll lie down and stop crying.

This episode is brought to you by the Precious Little Sleep Audiobook, now available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. Don’t have time to read a baby sleep book? Great, now you don’t need to!