Changing the night time's sleep from 10 to 12 hours

[Mami]

There was no need for "SHN-kur" before our little sunshine was 3.5 months old, it has now been 2 weeks after starting the programme and she is learning to sleep the whole 10 hours. She still quite often wakes between 4-6 a.m. but falls asleep again by using the method.

At 6 a.m. (when her morning starts) she is wide awake, the question is: now that she is 4 months old I would like to change the sleeping hours to 12 hours / night but I guess it is not a good idea to change it yet, as she is just learning the 10 hours system? She is so wide awake at 6 a.m., how on earth would she be able to fall back asleep and still sleep 2 more hours....

Thank you for tips!

[annawahlgren]

Welcome to you

Give her another one week or two. We want her to sleep 10 hours reliably.

Then consider the night you would want to have - from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. perhaps? Or whatever; just decide.

Keep the room cool and pitch black.

Give her the jingle times 4 as soon as she wakes up too early, and then nothing; i. e. make other impersonal sounds in the house (to let her know that you are there, keeping the wolf away from her and from the house).

Pick her up on time as happy as can be She'll get the message soon enough

[Mami]

Thank you so much for the advice!

One question regarding the day-time, we follow standard model and she sleeps well the first day-time sleep in the morning but during the sleeping times after 12 o'clock she tends to wake up too early. She sleeps outdoors, sometimes I can make her fall asleep again but very often not.

Would it be a solution not to sleep her outdoors after 12 o'clock and if she wakes up, use a day-time jingle, just until she learns the schedule?

Thank you in advance! :)

[annawahlgren]

I don't quite follow you, I'm afraid. Do you mean that her sleeping indoors would make her sleep longer? I doubt it.

Aren't you using the day time jingle when she sleeps outdoors as well? Or are you walking, stopping and rocking her if and when she wakes up too early?

Did you check her need for sleep according to her age?

[Mami]

On the Finnish translation there is a sentence "when the baby sleeps outdoors there is no need for jingle", I misunderstood it as "you are not allowed to jingle" (and I was wondering why...)
And she sleeps outdoors all her day-time sleeps...
This changes the whole thing and makes it so much easier, what a relief!!

She should sleep appr. 15.5 hours in 24 hours (4 months old), I'm sure we will reach it now that I start the day-time jingle as well.

Thank you for your excellent book and these web pages, I really do not know what I'd done without them. You really cannot get a good practical advise from the public health care if your baby has sleeping problems, they just say "that's the way babies are, try to cope" and when I say "but it is the baby who is suffering from lack of sleep" they do not even understand what I'm saying. So happy that I found your book

[annawahlgren]

Thank you for such sweet words of appreciation

To sort it out in detail:

When the carriage functions as a bed, indoors or outdoors, of course you could (and should) use your daytime jungle - always while leaving it after having put the little one to bed, and also if and when needed for continued sleeping.

When you use the carriage as a combined sleeping spot and a transportation means however, and perhaps are sorrunded by people and/or find yourself in a public place, people might send for a psychiatrist if suddenly, you start jingling powerfully In all probabiblity, they will coax you into DOING something, i.e. picking the baby up. And you will find yourself arguing and/or defending yourself and explaining and and and... We don't need that, do we

Also, when there are other sounds around, and unfamiliar sounds, nota bene - the child won't listen very well to the jingle outdoors.

That's why I suggest the following series of action when you are in public:

1. Stop walking, when the child wakes up too early and starts crying.

2. "Vagna" at the spot - rock the carriage efficiently enough to make the child fall silent immediately.

3. Shake the handle a few times, step back and wait. Repeat 2. and 3. if need be.

4. Stay aside, leaving the child alone (although of course discreetly supervised) and let sleep for five minutes.

5. Then resume walking.

[Mami]

Regarding jingle, please advise:

When I put her to bed and jingle when going out and outside her door, if she does not reply and I put the jingle + the confirmation together does it mean 4 + 4 or just x 4 with the lowering tone in the end?
Same thing if she wakes up too early and sounds happy, when I put reminder and confirmation together is it only x 4 with the lowering tone?
If she has been reminded + the confirmation in the same jingle and then she answers / keeps on answering for a few minutes, do I have to reply? If I confirm again it just makes the conversation longer and can irritate her.

If she wakes up only 5 or 10 minutes before the marginal 15 minutes, do I have to jingle? She sounds quite happy if I do not, If I do, she does not sound so happy anymore

[Lua]

Hello

The jingle is always *4, including the confirmation or reminding or whatever

If she wakes up happy, you don´t have to do a thing! You can "throw" her a jingle as a reminder but then: nothing.

Hugs/ Lua.