Chorevia

Day 349 of 365 · Week 47

Sleep near one

Last reviewed · 4 min read · 14 sources · Plain-text version

Twelve to 16 hours a day until the birthday, then 11 to 14; two naps for now, one after 15 months; separation waking. The routine, written on a card for the sitter and the grandparents.

A white mother in a dim nursery lowering her fifty-week-old son onto his back in a bare crib with the mattress at its lowest, a board book on the armchair, a nightlight in the hall.

Sixteen days from the birthday, the sleep numbers are about to change on paper and barely at all in the house. Today is what stays the same, what shifts in the months after the party, and the routine written down so someone else can run it.

Heart

Babies 4 to 12 months need 12 to 16 hours of sleep a day, naps included (CDC; WHO), usually 9 to 12 hours at night plus two naps (Nemours KidsHealth). From the birthday, the WHO's number for ages 1 to 2 is 11 to 14 hours, with regular sleep and wake times (WHO). The naps stay for a while: in a study that followed 172 children, two naps a day were well established by 9 to 12 months, and one afternoon nap by 15 to 24 months (Weissbluth, 1995). Fewer than 2.5% of children stop napping before age 2 (Staton et al., 2020).

Head

What wakes a baby this age is often not sleep at all. Separation anxiety can bring back night waking (AAP); the move is to reassure quietly, then leave (Nemours KidsHealth). The routine is the other half: a bath, then stories or songs, and down drowsy but awake (Nemours KidsHealth). In a 3-week trial of 405 families with children 7 to 36 months old, a consistent nightly routine helped children fall asleep faster and wake less, and mothers' moods improved (Mindell et al., 2009). The guide's section is Naps, nights, and night feeds.

Body

The crib rules run to the birthday and past it. Place your baby on their back for every sleep until age 1 (AAP); if they roll both ways on their own, you don't need to flip them back, but the crib stays bare, with no pillows, blankets, bumpers, or stuffed toys (Moon, AAP). The mattress is at its lowest and cords are well away (AAP). The crib itself has a long way to go: the AAP's cue to move to another bed is 35 inches tall (AAP).

Try today

  1. Close on an index card on the kitchen counter with four short handwritten lines and a time beside each, a pen on top, the baby's cup and toothbrush lined up behind it.

    The routine, written

    Time: 10 minutes, one index card · Naps, bedtime, and night waking in the guide

    1. Write tonight's routine as a few short lines with a time beside each: bath, brush, book, the song, down awake (Nemours KidsHealth; AAP).

    2. Add the goodnight words you actually say, exactly, so a grandparent says them too.

    3. Add one line for a waking: "Go in, one quiet sentence, a hand on the back, out" (Nemours KidsHealth).

    4. Add the crib rules in one line: on the back, nothing in the crib, mattress stays low (Moon, AAP).

    5. Tape it inside the kitchen cabinet nearest the nursery, where the sitter will look.

    Make it work:

    The card is for whoever isn't you. Tomorrow it gets a second side.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a long morning nap and a short, loud afternoon one, in a day that still adds up to the range (Nemours KidsHealth).

    Call 911

    if your baby is struggling for each breath or can barely cry (AAP).

  • Normal

    standing in the crib at 5 a.m., shouting, then sitting and sleeping again; a baby who gets stuck standing can be shown how to bend their knees to sit down (AAP).

    Go to the ER now

    if your baby is hard to wake, isn't alert when awake, or seems confused (AAP).

  • Normal

    a week of wakings that line up with a new sitter or a clingy day; separation anxiety and night waking travel together (AAP).

    Call your pediatrician right away

    if your baby cries nonstop, or cries when touched or moved (AAP).

For you

The mother on the sofa with her feet up and a book open, the nursery door closed down the hall, the father in the kitchen doorway with two mugs.

The routine is for your evening too. In the trial, it was the mothers' moods that improved alongside the children's sleep (Mindell et al., 2009), and the reason is on the card: a bedtime that runs the same way every night ends at the same time every night, and the hour after it is yours to plan. If the nights are still breaking you with the birthday in sight, that's not a routine problem; a sadness that has lasted more than two weeks is a reason to see your own doctor, without waiting (Office on Women's Health).

If you're the partner: the card means you can run bedtime without asking how. Alternate nights, starting tonight.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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