If your child begins to sleep at roughly the same time each day – this can help to set his or her body clock, and make it easier to settle to sleep at those times. Of course, this can be easier said than done. If you think you have a good chance of getting your to sleep in whatever way possible at certain times, and you can fit your life around a sleep schedule, then you could try to implement more of a schedule. An important element of sleep schedules is having a set waking time also. Waking your child at the same time each morning especially, but also after naps, can help to set his or her body clock and ensure he or she is ready for sleep at bedtime.
I would recommend keeping a log of your child’s sleep times over the next few days, to a week. This will hopefully give you an idea of a realistic, natural schedule for your child. You can sign up for my free sleep mapping course here if you haven’t already received it. There are plenty of books that recommend sleep schedules for certain ages. Once you know what your child’s natural baseline is, you could find a schedule that looks like it would fit you and your child.
I used the Dream Baby Guide, which provides two possible schedules and makes recommendations as to how they can be adjusted to fit your child’s sleep needs: https://www.practicalresearchparenting.com/2014/10/10/dream-baby-guide-review/ but there are many other books out there that provide recommended schedules.
Please add your experiences with this approach in the comments below. Please provide the age of your child when you tried it, and how long you tried it for. If it helped, please share the effects you saw. If it didn’t help, why do you think it didn’t work in your case?
