Yahoo's Expert Guide to Sleep: 6 - 18 months - video Dailymotion

Yahoo UK

Sisters and sleep experts Eve and Gem reveal some of their tried and tested sleep techniques for babies aged 6-18 months.

Transcript

00:00 If you're struggling with your baby's sleep and you're desperate to improve the whole

00:03 family's energy levels and wellbeing, keep watching.

00:07 We're going to be revealing some of our tried and tested sleep tips for babies aged 6 to

00:12 18 months.

00:18 In this age group, 6 to 18 months, much changes. Your baby's going to go from having around

00:22 3 naps at about the 6 month mark, dropping down to 2 around the 7 to 8 month mark and

00:27 dropping down to 1 around the 15 to 18 month mark. Anything from 45 minutes to up to 2

00:33 and a half, 3 hours can be normal for naps at this stage. And at night, you're going

00:37 to want to get a good 10 to 12 hours sleep. Sleep can be solid from this age and no night

00:42 feeds are necessary, but if you want to have a night feed in, that's absolutely fine. It

00:46 is of course up to you.

00:49 Between 6 to 18 months, there are some developmental changes that can impact sleep. Around month

00:54 7, we have separation anxiety and this can present again in the early toddler years.

00:59 Absolutely, but these needn't throw sleep completely off. They are just going to be

01:04 bumps in the road that can absolutely be overcome.

01:07 So the good news at this age is that 11 to 12 solid hours of sleep are truly absolutely

01:13 within reach. So the only thing that is going to come between you and achieving that kind

01:18 of sleep is if your baby is going to be really reliant on some help to get to sleep, such

01:23 as feeding, staying, patting, rocking, etc.

01:27 Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing any of those things. They just don't

01:32 go hand in hand with best possible sleep for your baby.

01:36 We want you to know that it is within reach and it's there for the taking. The single

01:40 best thing that you can do to enable the sleep that your child is capable of at this age

01:44 is to allow them to learn how to fall asleep independently and peacefully.

01:48 It can be really helpful to use nap gaps at this stage so you're tuning into your baby

01:53 and not clock watching.

01:55 And at the 6 month mark you're looking at around 2 hours of a nap gap and at the 18

01:59 month mark you're looking at about 4 hours of awake time before the next sleep.

02:03 We like to work with nature so feeding before naps and bedtime sleep is still what we advise.

02:08 And good old fashioned fresh air and light will be your friend as well. But follow your

02:13 baby, you don't need to clock watch. Look at what your baby is doing. They will show

02:17 you if they appear really groggy you might need to increase the sleep and if they're

02:21 rested and good to go then you're doing great.

02:24 The single biggest factor in preventing parents from making change when it comes to sleep

02:28 is fear of control crying or damaging the attachment between your baby and you.

02:32 But the truth, the truth that we must shout from the rooftops is that it is exhaustion

02:38 and sleep deprivation itself that is the eroder of attachment.

02:41 We can't be the patient loving parents we are underneath the exhaustion if we're dragging

02:46 ourselves through the day only to dread the night.

02:48 And in fact it was exhaustion that led me to crash my car with my baby in it at 10 months

02:53 old because I was so terrified of doing sleep teaching.

02:57 And you can do sleep teaching in the most responsive need meeting way. It's exactly

03:02 what we do here at Calm and Bright and you don't need to choose between a well attached

03:06 baby and a well rested baby.

03:08 If you want to learn more about improving your child's sleep at different ages be sure

03:12 to check out our other videos on the Yahoo website.

03:15 And catch us speaking live at the baby show events throughout the year.

03:19 Follow us on @CalmAndBrightSleepSupport on socials.

03:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]

Yahoo's Expert Guide to Sleep: 6 - 18 months

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