Are you struggling with baby sleep problems in your home? Is your baby waking often at night, even though you know she is capable of sleeping straight through? Is your little guy taking short mini-naps, instead of long and restful ones (or perhaps refusing naps altogether)?
There are lots of ways to solve these issues, but here’s a first step you may not have considered yet: try keeping a baby sleep log.
Why You Should Bother With Keeping a Baby Sleep Log
Here’s a fact that may be helpful to remember, as you work to understand your baby’s sleeping patterns: the amount of sleep a baby gets in 24 hours will stay relatively constant. However, babies can shift sleep between daytime and nighttime. For example, if your 9 month old baby sleeps 14 total hours, and she takes 3 naps each day that are about an hour each, then you can expect that she will probably sleep about 11 hours at night. But if her naps are extra-long, then her nighttime sleep amount will likely decrease. This won’t always work perfectly, of course, but it should generally remain true.
Keeping a baby sleep log will not only help you keep track of how much overall sleep your baby is getting (which is useful information to have, to help determine if your baby is sleep-deprived); it will also help you see how that sleep is divided up between naps and night, and will help you spot any inconsistencies or problems.
Logging your baby’s sleep will also help you see if there are patterns to your baby’s sleep issues. For example, your sleep log will reveal which naps are consistently shorter, and what times (on average) your baby wakes at night.
Finally, if you keep a log of your baby’s sleep, you can take the average amount of sleep in 24 hours and use that as a guide when adjusting schedules and setting your expectations on wake-times.
How to Log Your Baby’s Sleep
Logging your baby’s sleep is easy and straightforward. You simply need to keep track of wake times, nap times, nap lengths, and bedtime. You’ll need to do this for 1-2 weeks before you will be able to see patterns in your baby’s sleep, and before you will have enough information about your baby’s sleep to start working on sleep solutions.
Your log can be as high tech or as low tech as you would like. A notebook and a pencil are all you need to keep a basic log; you can also create a simple spreadsheet (using a program like Excel) on your computer, and keep a digital file of your log.
Of course, we do live in the age of the smartphone, and you know what that means: there’s an app for that! BabyConnect is one of the most popular baby log apps on the market (available for both Android phones and the iPhone). BabyConnect will help you log your baby’s sleep, yes, but it will help you track much more than that. And it is a great tool to use if your baby has multiple caregivers – it allows caregivers to enter information into the app, and to exchange messages about baby.
Get Professional Baby Sleep Help That Works – Guaranteed!
Even if you keep a careful and detailed log about your baby’s sleep, you may find that you need additional sleep help – and that’s perfectly okay! Some parents can solve sleep problems on their own, but other families struggle with sleep problems that are so challenging, they need outside, professional help. And we offer just that! Connect with an expert consultant today, and she will create a Personalized Sleep Plan™ (using your sleep log, if you send it!) that’s uniquely tailored to fit your baby’s temperament and personality, and your parenting goals.
Browse our list of consultation package options here.
Once you make your choice and purchase, you will immediately receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. You’ll be able to log in and get started right away!
Want more information about how personalized help works? Check out our FAQ page here, and get answers.
Do you keep a baby sleep log? Has it helped you make sense of your baby’s sleep challenges? Any advice for parents who are considering sleep logging?
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Jennifer Klug says
No matter what i seem to do for my 8 month old son, he’s all over the place with wake times. He has more days with 2 naps than 3, but he won’t stop waking too early. Even on days when he has sleep that seems perfect and appropriate for his age, he won’t go to sleep and he won’t sleep past 6 am. I’ve logged his sleep for weeks and I just feel like there’s no pattern. I’m so tired and lost as to how to even begin to fix it!
Emily DeJeu says
@ Jennifer Klug – hmmm….is this normal for him, or is this a new problem? If it’s new, it might be the 8/9/10 month sleep regression. If this is a standard problem for him, then you might want to think about our Shifting Schedules e-book, which is available to our members, in our Members Area.
Hope these resources help, Jennifer! Hang in there – and best of luck to you and your family!
Emily DeJeu says
@ Ingrid — here’s an article that outlines baby and toddler sleep needs by age: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-needs/baby-how-much-sleep/ That maybe be a good one to bookmark and save for later, so that you can reference it as your son grows. As for dreamfeeding — that’s not a strategy we usually recommend, but then again, it works for some families. If it works for you, it’s fine, but know that it can lead to some nighttime problems (like unnecessary nighttime waking).
This article, about knowing when it’s time to wean from night feedings, may help you: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/baby-night-wean-3-signs/
Of course, you can always download our free guide about helping your baby sleep thorough the night; that’ll be helpful, too! https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
Hope these resources help, Ingrid! And thanks for commenting. 🙂
@ Rene — I think your desire to get them on the same schedule makes sense; while it may be ideal to let each girl naturally develop her own unique schedule, it doesn’t sound very practical!
In terms of helping your problem sleeper – you definitely don’t want to keep her awake for longer period of the day in an effort to make her sleep better at night. That’s almost guaranteed to backfire – doing that will make her overtired, which in turn will make her sleep worse, not better. 1.25 – 1.75 hours of wake time is reasonable (and may actually be on the long side) for a 4 month old, so there’s nothing unusual there.
To get started with helping your daughter sleep better at night, you could download our free guide (if you haven’t already): https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/ That’s a great place to start. You could also read through our article series on sleep training techniques (start with Part 1, here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/sleep-training-from-no-cry-to-cry-series-part-1/). You’ll want to use gentler methods at this point, since your baby is still very young.
Of course, if sleep training proves tough (and it often is, with multiples), you could consider a personalized consultation: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/ We’ve done a lot of work with families with multiples over the years.
Hope this helps, Rene! Thanks for reaching out, and don’t hesitate to ask more questions, if you have them. You can ask them here, via the comments, or you can e-mail them to contact (at) babysleepsite (dot) com.
@ Kari & Kendra — love this! Thanks for reaching out to and helping one another. Moms helping moms is a beautiful thing! 🙂
Kendra says
Hi Kari,
I think the patterns show up more, for me, visually. So I can zoom out and kind of see if things have been decreasing or increasing over time, or if there are certain days he doesn’t sleep well (for example, I just noticed that he has been pretty bad about napping at all on Saturdays. I’m wondering if it’s just because my husband is home and he doesn’t want to miss out on time with him, or if we need to take him out on Saturday mornings and wear him out more than usual…).
The color codes are Green = Sleep, Dark Blue = Awake, Teal = Soothing/Quiet In Bed, Red = Crying in Bed, Orange = Eating, Purple = TV time.
Down below the color graph I put in times for his sleep numbers that day, like Night Length, Nap Length, Latencies to Sleep, Wake Times, and then I average them for the week to get an idea of how much sleep he needs vs. how much he’s getting. His averages has been decreasing each week, this month, going from 12.11 hours in a 24 to 11.23. I don’t like that, but even though I’m trying to get him more, he just seems to need less. I’m hoping that as Fall gets closer he’ll start sleeping more again.
I hope that helps! Whether you use a spreadsheet or an app or just a pen and paper, I hope you can start making sense of your son’s erratic schedule. When my son was 13 months he was pretty erratic too, it seems they want to go to 1 nap on some days and others 2. Don’t worry, he’ll likely go back to 2 naps after a few weeks. It’s a pretty common thing.
Kari says
Hi there, I was just looking through the site for tips & saw this post.. I have a 13 month old with very erratic sleep patterns & an established habit of needing to nurse to sleep. I’m working on changing that & get him to actually sleep at night.. So Anyway! I saw your spreadsheet, Kendra & being that I’m not exactly “spreadsheet savvy,” could you elaborate a bit on how to effectively utilize the Google spreadsheet to track his patterns? Also, what do each of the colors in your spreadsheet represent? Thanks!
Rene says
P.S. So far, we have not had the 4 month sleep regression with either twin. Fingers crossed!
Rene says
We have 4 1/2 month old (born 1 month early) twin girls that sleep 5-6 hours during the day through 3 naps and about 11 hours at night. It would be 12 hours if we dropped the dream feed at 9p. (Not really a dream feed since they are always awake for it now.)
They have both been sleeping through the night since about 10 weeks old with an eat-wake-sleep routine. One of the girls is a dream at night. We rarely hear a peep out of her. The other one, however, wakes 2-4 times per night. Most of the time, we just get up and give her a paci and she goes right back to sleep within 10 minutes. I can probably count on one hand the number of times we have had get up and feed her (both are formula fed since 2 months).
Because they are twins, we keep them on the same schedule for eating, wake time, and naps. Mainly for my own sanity when I am working alone. My husband sometimes travels overnight, and I have help from grandma 2 days a week. The rest of the time I’m on my own with them.
We would like to get the problem sleeper sleeping soundly through the night like her sister, but how do we make these types of adjustments without causing problems for the other one? Also, they only seem to be able to stay awake 1.5-1.75 hours at a stretch before they start getting cranky. If I do need to keep them awake longer during the day to sleep better at night, how is that possible without adding another nap? (Was hoping we could decrease soon. Not increase.) I have, on occasion, allowed them to be on different schedules, but it wipes me completely out by the end of the day. Can’t imagine dealing with new problems at night too.
Ingrid says
Any chance anyone can tell me totally how many hours my 8 month old is supposed to sleep? He normally sleeps 10-11 hours at night and 1.5-2 hours for naps. His awake period is still 1.5-2 hrs most. Does anyone still dream feed at this stage? He started recently to wake up at 3am talking to himself. I leave him alone for 30-45min and then he starts crying. Any tips would be great thanks!
Emily DeJeu says
@ Kendra — ‘a spreadsheet maniac’ – that made me smile. You sound like Nicole; she’s a self-professed ‘numbers nerd’, too! 😉 Sounds like you have a good handle on sleep logging – and, sounds like it’s been beneficial for you!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with sleep logging, Kendra! 🙂
Kendra says
I have it on Google Drive. Here’s the link if anyone’s curious lol (I love to see what other people’s schedules are like, too!) My son is almost 2 1/2.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkD-2947t9ZidFZMbU05VURjOXpjaG9ILXg1amNLUWc&usp=sharing
Kendra says
I’m a spreadsheet maniac and I love using Excel to track my son’s sleep. I track it quantitatively by taking averages from week to week, but I also color-code a graph of his entire day so I can have a visual representation. I keep track of about when he eats, sleeps, plays with friends, and watches TV, so I can see if any of these factors affect his sleep. If it weren’t for logging, I think I might be totally lost on his sleep needs because he does not show strong cues (or I don’t see them often enough to know them because he’s usually in bed by the time he gets tired).