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Hi Nicole,

I have three kids. The first didn't sleep well until she was two and a half, and the second didn't until about eighteen months. (I define sleeping well as being able to put them to bed, walk away, and see them again only when the sun has risen!)

Now I have a 12 month old. Until the last few days he's been going to sleep around 10pm after a feed, waking up for another around midnight, and again between 2am and 4am, and at that point I just have him in my bed and breastfeed him until around 6 or 7am. 

The last few nights he's shocked me by going to sleep with a feed as early as 9pm and sleeping in his cot until up to even 8am the next morning without interrupting my sleep. The first morning I woke up after that much sleep I was scared he must have passed away during the night! It was such a shock.

He has a nap (also fed to sleep) from 11am to 1pm. He's quite regular with this. Sometimes he has another nap at around 4pm for half an hour or so. This isn't regular.

We have never had a real routine in our family, and I'd love one to follow for meal times, naps and sleeping that would be suitable for him. I just don't know how to do it.

I'm also worried that my baby will stop sleeping so long at night (still feels too unbelievable to be true) and I also want to figure out how to put him down on his own to sleep without him screaming. I have my two other kids sleeping in the same room, and my husband also has a low tolerance for night-time crying.

In a few weeks we'll be going on vacation overseas for 19 days, and I don't know how many changes to make before going away – I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile. And would having a routine be good for us while we're travelling, or is it an impossible dream?

I have your book, and I've managed to read about half of it. I haven't used the helpdesk yet as ironically I've been too tired.

But now that I've had a couple of nights of blissful sleep, I don't want it to stop!

Hi Nicole,

No, that must have been someone else. I've since seen some of your suggested routines in these forums, and despite his 'flu interfereing with his sleep, he seems to be sleeping more and more as he recovers.

So I have my fingers crossed. I'm saving the Helpdesk for after the trip when things settle down, if I still have a problem.