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Babies over 12 months upwards should be able to sleep for 11/12 hours overnight with a typical 1.5/2 hour sleep during the day (Assuming that your baby does not have any illnesses or medical reasons as to why they cannot.) All toddlers sleep requirements are different and they give up their day nap at varying ages, normally around 3.5 years, but this can vary either way. If your baby is still unable to sleep for an 11/12 hour period of time over night the most common reason is because they have made a negative association with sleep or their bed and/or rely on an aid (dummy, bottle, breast, cuddle, rocking) to allow them to fall back to sleep.
Sleep problems are very common in young children; I can provide support, advice and hands on help to achieve a calmer more peaceful night’s sleep for your baby as well as everyone else within your family. Children can vary from having had fantastic sleep routines as babies and now appear to have gone ‘backwards’ to those who have just never slept through. My attention will be focussed on discussing with you what you expect to get out of the service and the ideal routine you would like your child in. We will try to understand the underlying problems your child has with sleep and discuss ways to reduce them. For your older child this may involve them being actively involved with reward charts or choosing bedtime stories.
Typical sleep problems include:
- Inability to go to bed at bedtime and stay in their room, possibly resulting in tantrums
- Your child protesting he won’t go to bed without a bottle
- Weaning off a dummy
- Refusal to stay in their own bed
- Dependency on you to return to them numerous times throughout the night to re-settle them
- Waking up at 5am and expecting to start the day
- Weaning off breast/bottle feeding during the early hours
- Transferring to a ‘big bed’, staying in it and in their room
- Insecurities your child may be have, for example ‘monsters’ under their bed or they have just started in a new day-care setting or experienced a recent bereavement.
For a baby/toddler where no previous routine is established it will take roughly 4/5 nights before you see the benefits of a new routine, due to your child having to adapt to the new routine and getting used to what is now expected of them. The more of a routine your child already has in place the less time it will take to eliminate sleep problems. I will spend some time with you beforehand discussing your child and where she is at. The amount of nights you need to book will depend entirely on how much of a new routine is to be established and how confident you are at implementing the routine yourself. It is essential to have the support of other members of your family, e.g. partner, teenage siblings, nannies/au pairs, grandparents, when first establishing a new routine to ensure consistency to your child and to avoid confusion.
I am not responsible for domestic cleaning, laundry or caring for older siblings whilst Night nannying. It is expected that some form of sleeping accommodation shall be provided, a spare bed, blow up mattress or sofa. I may require the use of a baby monitor if your child’s room is far away from where I am sleeping. I am happy to share a room with your child, however if we are trying to establish a routine teaching your child to fall asleep and stay asleep in their own room this arrangement would not be suitable.
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