There is light at the end of the tunnel. As your baby gets older from birth to 18 months (a year and a half), they begin to sleep less and stay awake longer. From my experience, I was amazed at how my son followed the common sleep patterns that all 'sleep' books spoke about.

It was more a question of when he would 'drop a sleep time' or begin to 'sleep through'.

Pattern for the 'Feed-Play-Sleep' routine (Day pattern)

Newborns - 5 sleeps, in between you feed, burb, change nappy, cuddle, look for sleep cues,  then it's off to sleep. With the last feed you bath baby ready for the night sleep. At 6 weeks Codi dropped the 11pm feed, much to my husband's delight.

3-4 months - 4 sleeps. I generally, alternated depending my instinct, either changing their nappy first or feeding first, have a little floor play or tummy time, a cuddle, cue for sleep and settled off to bed. With the last feed time, adding a bath in to relax for the rest of the night. During this time, I also began experimenting with a morning bath and dropping the night time bath. This didn't work for me, as Codi began sleep longer during the day instead of the night time.

Once I switched back, he began to sleep from 7pm to 3 or 4am for a quick feed then back to sleep waking anywhere between 6:30-8am. During this stage, it is a good idea to move your routine towards a 7pm sleep time. Many infant sleep studies have been conducted that pin-points that 7pm is the time for sleep and no earlier or later, due to the number of 'sleep cycles' an infant has to fit in during the night.

So that means a feed, change, play, bath and then bed. In my experience, having the bath just before bed gave Codi a 'sleep cue' that indicated that this was the long night time sleep period.

At this stage I also began to 'wean' Codi off the 3/4am feed time. Reducing each night for a week the amount I gave him and only gave the feed in a bottle. Then I slowly began offering 'cooled boiled water', when I could tell he was only askng for a feed at this time out of routine and really didn't need milk. I continued to do this until he 'slept through' by himself.

5 months - you may hit a snag or a major upheaval at this stage with a growth spurt or the beginnings of teething. Or it may be the time to start solids if they aren't satisfied with just milk.

6 months - by this time my son had started solids. After a week of solids he began to 'sleep through' from 7am to 7pm each night consistently. At this age, they are on 3 sleeps during the day, and you can begin to read stories and play with them during the day. A night time story, didn't work for me, it would over stimulate Codi, rather a song and wind down cuddle, to indicate it was time to sleep was what worked and still works today.

12 months (toddler) - up until this age, your little one will now have progressed to just a morning and afternoon sleep.

13 to 15 months - They begin to drop either their morning or afternoon nap.

15 to 18 months - From my experience, as Codi dropped his afternoon nap, I had to work towards pushing this morning nap time 9am to 12:30 or even 1pm. I found what worked was providing morning tea at 9am and lunch at 11am, with sleep at 12. My son now at 18 months is just beginning to have his lunch at 12 and then having an afternoon nap between 1 and 3pm. Then afternoon tea, which keeps them fuelled until dinner between 5:45pm and 6pm.

It makes sense as lunch for adults is at 12. I am told by moms with older kids that this type of routine sets them up in good stead for a short afternoon nap when they reach 2 and even shorter (30mins of quiet time) at the age of three. The feed times also help when they start Kindy.

From my experience, a little coaching on the way to encourage my son into routine that works really helps with having breakfast, lunch and dinner mostly together. And, a little boy that gives his mom a great night's sleep. Now sleeping from 7am to 8, 8:30am consistently.

In short, my opinion, is that it is really critical to establish and implement 'sleep routines' from the beginning of their lives which set up solid foundations for how they sleep as they get older into adulthood. My husband's mom was very good at this and he can go to sleep at a drop of a hat. My mom was excellant at raising me, however struggled with establishing a solid sleep routine, and to this day, I struggle with sleeping.

Keep your chin up, keep at it, you will get some quick wins and hopefully a restful night's zzzz.