Sleeping patterns: 6 months +

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6 to 12 months

By now your baby's tummy is big enough to enable him to sleep for around 11 hours at night without waking to feed. If he's still waking frequently for food, it's time to re-think your feeding patterns. It may also be that he can't settle himself, and needs your help to doze off again.

Your baby's old enough now for you to be able to introduce sleep training to get him into better habits. The aim is to teach him how to get back to sleep on his own. Methods include gradual withdrawal (slowly moving further away in the room as he drifts off to sleep) and controlled crying (leaving him for gradually increased periods of time before going in to reassure him).

An expert's view

Caroline Deacon, author of Babycalming: Simple Solutions for a Happy Baby (HarperCollins, £8.99), says: 'It's important to remember that, at this age, your baby isn't waking to be naughty, it's just that he can't help it, for whatever reason.'

'The strategy you decide on for settling your baby will depend on the reason for waking. So play detective and look at what's going on during his days and nights that make it difficult for him to sleep well at night. Common problems at this age include: a baby not getting enough to eat during the day; a sensitivity to new food; pain from teething; too much sleep during the day or a nap too late in the day; and bedrooms being too light or too stimulating.'

'Keep a diary, and read through it with someone else - a GP, health visitor or another mum. If you're very tired, it's hard to see things clearly, and an outside perspective may pinpoint the problem.'

By Siobhan O'Reilly

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