Product Description

For every parent who struggles with their baby's sleep (and for every parent who wishes their toddler had better sleep habits), finally a straightforward, all-natural solution to help baby get the sleep she needs—both through the night and during the day.

A sleep researcher with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, Dr. Polly Moore has created a simple, foolproof method based on the basic human rest and activity cycle (BRAC), which occurs every hour and a half. According to the BRAC, baby should go back for a nap a mere 90 minutes after waking up—that's right: 90 minutes.

The program is called N.A.P.S.—Note time when baby wakes up, Add 90 minutes, Play, feed, or pursue other activities, then, at the end of the 90 minutes, Soothe baby back to sleep. When baby wakes up again, whether after a short or a long nap, start the cycle over. And, although it sounds counterintuitive, frequent napping actually helps baby sleep through the night.

In a reassuring and accessible style, Dr. Moore explains how and why the program works; the benefits of napping—a happier, healthier baby with a headstart on cognitive development and emotional intelligence; how to implement it for babies at various ages, from two weeks to a year; and how to use it to solve common sleep programs, such as a baby's need to be held, baby waking up too early in the morning, baby getting a second wind before bedtime, baby confusing day and night, and more. The Wire-O-bound book includes a guided journal for recording baby's sleepy signals and sleep difficulties, a daily log for keeping track of baby's nap times, and space to note baby's milestones—all peppered with humorous, inspirational quotes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37465 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 184 pages

From the Back Cover
Introducing a kinder, gentler, all-natural method to help your baby get the sleep he needs. Developed by Dr. Polly Moore, The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program and its breakthrough N.A.P.S. plan work in conjunction with your baby's basic rest and activity cycle. The method is simple, foolproof, and yields long-lasting results: truly restful daytime naps and consistent nighttime sleep.

About the Author
Polly Moore received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, where she specialized in sleep research. She continued her research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center, and is now Director of Sleep Research at California Clinical Trials in San Diego. She is a hands-on expert in the subject of baby sleep with two small children of her own and gives talks to new parents on the subject. She and her family live in San Diego, California.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Sleep, Not Stimulation
A New View

Who doesn't love a sleeping baby? The sight of a baby, swaddled in a soft blanket, cheeks slightly flushed with sleep, touches us deeply. The baby's complete surrender to sleep reminds us of human vulnerability and tenderness. Our innermost desires to nurture and provide are aroused. In the presence of such innocence, we feel both humbled and strengthened by our duty as adult protectors.

As individuals, we appreciate a baby's sleep, but as a culture, we're having trouble getting our babies to sleep well. Sleep difficulties in children are at an all-time high. My experience with new parents strongly suggests widespread, chronic sleep deprivation in babies. Parents who come to my classes describe babies who sleep only twelve or even ten hours a day (far short of the recommended time, which is around sixteen or more hours daily for newborns; see chart below and on page 12. Other parents have babies who spend hours sobbing in their arms before finally nodding off for a short, restless nap. I see babies rubbing their eyes on their mothers' shoulders--even rubbing their eyes on the carpet if they're lying on the floor--while the exhausted parent shakes a brightly colored toy in front of the child and explains, "My baby never seems sleepy!" Many of these parents are unaware that their children are sleep deprived.

In 2005, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) commissioned a nationwide survey of the sleep habits and behaviors of children younger than four years old. Sleep needs vary across the first year, but according to the NSF's pediatric task force, most babies past the Baby's Sleep Distribution* newborn stage need somewhere between thirteen and fifteen hours of sleep in a 24hour period. And that's just a minimum. Some babies thrive on sixteen hours per day, or even more. But according to the NSF study, about half of the nation's babies log only twelve hours or fewer daily. That's a serious problem: A sixmonth- old baby who sleeps twelve hours a day will suffer a cumulative sleep loss of hundreds of hours by the end of his first year of life! The study also showed that days mos mos mos yrs although parents wish their kids could Newborn Infants get more sleep, these parents don't realize *For more information, see the chart on page 12. their kids actually need to sleep more.

A Sleep-Deprived Generation
Why are our babies missing out on so much sleep? Do parents want to deprive their children of a basic biological need? Of course not. Like the generations of parents before us, we want to give our babies everything they need and then some. As expectant parents, we may try even harder than our own parents did to prepare for our new job: We take classes or read books about breastfeeding, child- proofing, infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and making baby food at home. Yet there are few opportunities to educate ourselves about an infant's sleep. As a society, we tend to assume sleep will take care of itself--or, at least, that there's little we can do to encourage good sleep in our babies or to prevent sleep problems from starting. There's also a widespread belief that the only way to help a baby sleep is to wait until she is six months old and then let her "cry it out" until she learns to sleep on her own and through the night. Many parents are uncomfortable with this approach, not to mention that the six-month milestone can seem awfully distant when your ten-week-old is taking only a few catnaps a day and wakes every hour at night. In fact, there are several steps--most of them very gentle--you can take to promote good sleep habits. It's great if you can start from birth, but you can also implement these steps anytime in the first year to improve your baby's sleep. That's what this book is all about.

But all the sleep science in the world won't make a difference in your baby's sleep habits unless you are committed to helping your baby get the best sleep possible. My program isn't hard to follow, but if you want good results, you'll have to make your child's sleep a priority. For starters, you may need to change your own attitudes toward sleep. Unfortunately, mild sleep deprivation is a way of life for many of us; according to a 2002 NSF study, American adults sleep an average of just 6.9 hours nightly. That's down from nine hours at the beginning at the twentieth century. We are cavalier about our own sleep needs, and some of us may even brag about how little sleep we get at night. In this way, we are poor role models for our children.

Even if you have always tried to get sufficient sleep yourself, you probably experience plenty of social pressure to keep your baby awake. In a culture that downplays the importance of sleep for adults, the attitude toward babies' sleep is affected as well. One mother I know recalls excusing herself and her nine-month-old from a playgroup so the baby could take a morning nap. "My baby gave up her morning nap months ago," crowed another parent in the group. "She's too bright and curious to lie down and go to sleep in the middle of the day." The mother of the napping baby told me, "It made me feel like my child was less intelligent because she needed to sleep." Another mother talks about how the parents in her neighborhood laugh when she puts her baby down for sleep at 7 o'clock in the evening: "When I was growing up, all the kids, not just the babies, went to bed early. Now people think you're a rigid control freak if you don't let your baby stay up late and go out with you to restaurants and friends' houses." On popular television shows, babies don't change the lives of the adult characters; instead, they are simply integrated into their parents' social schedules as cute companions. The message is clear: Sleep is for the slow, the unhip, and the old-fashioned.

In general, we've fallen for the belief that activity is more important than sleep, no matter what a person's age. Activity--and only activity-- is supposedly what makes us smart, productive, and fully engaged with life. In the last decade or so, many parents have been taught that babies in particular need constant stimulation if their growing brains are to be properly developed. New mothers and fathers feel compelled to add several items to their to-do lists: Engage the baby with toys that blink, whir, and whistle; take the baby to "Mommy and Me" music, yoga, or other classes; watch so-called educational television shows or DVDs with the baby; and so much more.

Taking care of an infant is a joy. It is also one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs a person can undertake. Parents nevertheless push themselves to achieve all the items on their list because they believe that the more stimulation they provide, the more effectively they will promote their baby's brain development.

Let's look at the evidence for stimulation and the ability to improve cognitive development. Much of this evidence comes from studies on laboratory rats. Up until the 1960s, it was standard practice for lab rats to be placed three to a cage, with no toys or objects to explore. Then it was discovered that when researchers added two or three additional rat "friends," along with five or six toys, such as wheels or ladders, the rats developed brains with nerve cells that had a more complex pattern of connections. This finding was a huge breakthrough for neuroscience because it showed for the first time that brains can change in response to their environment.

Although all of us--babies and children and parents and grandparents-- need challenges and changes to keep our brains growing, it's important not to exaggerate these findings. Many people--including the folks at companies that manufacture infant toys--have interpreted these and other studies to mean that developing brains need a continual bombardment of colors, music, and extravagant playthings. Let's remember that the rats were given a few friends and a couple of sturdy toys to share. We're not talking about a rat Disneyland here. It's vital to have some colorful, safe toys for your baby and to provide stimulation by holding her, playing with her, and talking and singing to her. But we have no proof that structured activities, specialized toys, DVDs, or flashcards lead to improved cognition or better school performance down the road. In fact, too much stimulation can have the opposite effect because it can cut into crucial sleep time for your baby.

Sleeping Brain, Active Brain
The misperception that sleep is a sign of laziness or weakness is understandable. Sleep looks and feels an awful lot like a state we enter when we're too tired to continue our productive work and need to shut down. When we sleep, we are relatively still, and our faces tend to adopt a slack, unthinking expression. Our ability to perceive the world-- to hear, feel, and see--is compromised. But in this quiet phase, the body and brain aren't taking a vacation, not at all. Although at present no one can say exactly why we sleep, it's clear that several vital functions are regulated during the sleep state. We know this because of the grave consequences of missing out on sleep. A 2006 Institute of Medicine report stated that sleep deprivation in adults is linked to an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke. Scientists at the University of Chicago have shown that after just eleven days of sleep restriction, healthy young men develop prediabetic symptoms and produce lower levels of human growth hormone. Other scientists are investigating a connection between sleep loss and poor immune function.

And it's during sleep that the brain has an opportunity for some of its most efficient work. The brain processes information during sleep. It uses sleep time to encode and consolidate what we learned during the day, which may be why our minds feel so sharp and uncluttered after a good night's rest. It's as if all the information from the day has been filed away in its proper plac...

Customer Reviews

Excellent guide on babies' sleep patterns
I must recommend this book for any new mother. I have a 3-year-old
and a 4-month-old baby. I wish I had know about sleep cycles with my first child.

This book emphasizes the alertness/drowsiness cycles that
babies experience in the first year. For mothers of babies who fuss a
lot, this book is your answer to getting them to sleep more and
scream less. You need to recognize your baby's sleepiness signals at the end of 90 minutes and help him to sleep then. Babies are usually unpredictable and cannot follow rigid schedules. This 90-minute concept is so simple that I'm amazed no one else has written about this.

This book is also the answer to any mother's question:
"When will my baby sleep through the night?" It has a wonderful
overview of babies' sleep patterns throughout the first year and teaches
what is normal for babies at different stages due to their neurological
changes.

There are other invaluable things: the book explains fussiness at dinnertime; it describes how crankiness is usually due to your baby not sleeping enough; it provides good advice on teaching your baby how to sleep on their own (at the right age).

I loved reading this book because it confirmed my opinions on babies and sleeping, and I learned valuable advice about the 90-minute cycle too!

A Lifesaver!
I can't believe how lucky I am that my mother found this book while browsing the shelves at a local bookstore. I had just become a mother for the first time and my baby was NOT happy. She was always fussing, screaming, and crying. I had no idea what I was doing. She was tired, I was tired, but I didn't know how to help her sleep except to try to put her down when she appeared ready. Then, when my daughter was about 2 months old, my mom gave me this book. I read it and decided that although it sounded crazy, Ms. Moore is a sleep expert, I am obviously not, so why not give it a shot. I figured it couldn't get much worse at that point.

THE DAY I started using the N.A.P.S. plan my baby started to sleep better. As time progressed, things got better and better. Now, 7 months later, my baby rarely cries and putting her down for a nap or for bed is generally a pleasant experience.

The plan is simple. When your baby wakes up, start the clock. After about 80 minutes, start winding baby down for a nap. At the 90 minute mark, get her to bed! Don't worry if naps are short, just start the clock over as soon as baby gets up. Ninety minutes later, back to sleep!

My baby can now go for longer stretches between naps but is still most definitely on the 90 minute cycle. So, I have just added another 90 minutes between napping periods. She gets up at 7:30 and goes for a nap at 10:30 and so on.

Be aware this is not a book about sleep training. Look elsewhere for that if you need to. However, I've found that in using the plan in this book, we didn't really need to sleep train our daughter. At 7 months she sleeps close to 12 hours at night and we are able to lay her down awake, give her a kiss, and leave the room. No crying, screaming, or fussing.

I just wish I could give the book 10 stars!!

It changed my life!
Before reading this book my six month old took short naps and woke up frequently throughout the night. I thought she was just naturally fussy and a light sleeper. Now her naps are at least an hour long, and she sleeps six hours straight at night without waking up. My husband can't believe the difference in her disposition when he comes home from work. The book is short and to the point and gives sleep advice for children of all ages. The author offers advice as a professional and a mother. I have read three other sleep books and this was by far the best.