The sleep rules: Babies

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Once they're a few months old, the periods of babies' wakefulness start to expand. Now's the time when you worry about how many periods of sleep a child needs and for how long. And while that child is slumbering so beautifully, it's tempting to relive the salad days of the newborn era, pick up a magazine and let them doze.

'Once they're in an established routine, you should definitely wake them up if they oversleep. If I let my daughter snooze for too long in the morning,' says Catherine, mum to Madeleine, 8 months, 'she won't want to sleep at lunchtime or go to bed at a decent hour in the evening.'

It's a tiring time of trial and error. But most feel that indefinite sleep is a recipe for disaster, and despite varying techniques most parenting gurus agree on two daytime naps for babies over three months: a 30-minute nap in the morning and a longer one, around two hours, at lunchtime. The theory is that, by 7pm, they'll be ready for an all-nighter. Fingers crossed!

Boob snoozing

Some breast-feeding mums might experience the 'boob snooze', where your baby falls asleep as soon as you place him on your breast. 'Snackers' can be infuriating to a mum who has aspirations above the sofa, but is this a good reason to disturb his feeding and sleeping?

'It really depends on how long it is since the last feed and whether you're concerned about his health,' says Gail Johnson. 'If he's well, normal temperature, weeing and pooing as usual, then it's not such an issue.

But if he's missing out on feeds or has diarrhoea, you might want to wake him. Take off a layer of his clothing so he's cooler, talk to him or change his nappy to wake him up.' If his sleeping and snacking is affecting your milk supply, contact your midwife, who will be able to give you advice.