"You are so lucky!" This is what others usually say to me about my son and his sleep habits. Yes, I am blessed to have a healthy, content 14 month old; however, only few know of the waking hours we spent figuring out his sleep patterns. Sure, my darling boy slept long stretches starting at 6 weeks, but he depended on outside needs to get him "through the night." When our son was 6 months old, my husband and I researched to find out how a typical baby was put to sleep. We consulted friends, books, magazines and even the Internet. We found that sleep, or lack of, is a major topic of conversation.

When both my husband and I read and discussed the same "sleep" books, we had great success on following through with the advice given. According to Richard Ferber, author of Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, an average 12 month old sleeps 11 hours at night and takes two 1 1/2 hour naps and sleeps a total of 13.3/4 hours. At 18 months, the total is similar, but toddlers combine the two naps to one. Ferber's book also encouraged us to let him practice falling asleep without the use of motion or sucking. After one long night, our son has slept every night, through the night, even through two colds, traveling 9 time zones, teething, and slumbering at grandma's house.

With that hurdle crossed, I still was curious about whether my child was similar to other families' bedtimes, amount of hours sleeping and amount/length of naps. So, I took a survey over E-mail that some of you participated in. Here are the results from about 40 Silicon Valley babies, ages 8-18 months:

Average wake time 7:12 AM

The average 16 month old is sleeping approximately 8:30PM -7:30AM and napping approximately 12:00-2:30, which seems to go right along with Ferber's findings.

Have you ever had a mother tell you, "my child only sleeps 10 hours at night!"? Maybe there is a reason why. Interesting enough is that in my findings, ALL families surveyed with later bedtime resulted in LESS hours of sleep. On the flip side, an earlier bedtime resulted in MORE hours. See chart below:

This goes along with Marc Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. His findings show that a bedtime between 6pm and 7PM, increases their amount of rested sleep (about 12 hours for some). He feels that a well behaved, rested child benefits better than a child who plays with dad late at night. Since an average baby wakes around 7 AM, s/he requires an early bedtime for MORE rest (incidentally, these babies were not waking up at 5AM as most parents feared).

Yes, for our family, we were "lucky," that our child sleeps through the night, but, we also feel that researching, being consistent and communication also helps too. If you would like your child to sleep more rested, unassisted, and/or longer, I encourage you too examine your situation, consult others, read the research, and dare to make changes and maybe you'll end up being a "lucky" parents too. Good luck and good night!

(printed in Las Madres California Newsletter, September 2000)

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