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Set a regular wake-up time for your baby

Dr Pamela Douglas9th of Jul 202317th of May 2024

father in kitchen in the daylight with baby in carrier and young child next to him

This page is part of a collection of short articles called Brief & simple, which together make up a quick summary of The Possums Sleep Program in plain language. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the program's online text and videos.

If your baby has disrupted sleep patterns at night, stick to a regular wake up time. This an important way to reset a baby's body clock.

However, it takes one or two weeks to reset your baby's body clock. You have to make this change gradually or it can seem too hard for both you and your baby.

Acknowledgements

I'm grateful to Professor Sophie Havighurst, Ros June, and Caroline Ma at Mindful, The University of Melbourne, for their feedback on the articles in the Brief & simple section of The Possums Sleep Program. They helped to keep the language plain and the concepts as accessible as possible. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the program's online text and videos.

Recommended resources

Getting your baby up at the same time each day helps if you have night-time sleep troubles

How to balance the three pressure points as you reset your baby's body clock

It takes one or two weeks to reset your baby's body clock

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Baby sleep superpower #1: milk = sleep

black and white photo of baby breastfeeding

This page is part of a collection of short articles called Brief & simple, which together make up a quick summary of The Possums Sleep Program in plain language. For comprehensive information and support, please go to The essentials section of The Possums Sleep Program, and begin to work your way through the program's online text and videos.

You have two tools (which we can call your superpowers!) for making baby sleep as easy as possible.

  1. Plenty of milk

  2. Rich sensory stimulation

Superpower #1 for healthy sleep is plenty of milk in the tummy if your baby is under six months. After six months, solids will have a role to play as well. Sleep happens most easily in the first year of life if you offer frequent and flexible breast or...

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