# The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program?



## MLA (May 22, 2008)

Is anyone at all familiar with this? It's apparently supposed to help you work with your child's natural sleep patterns -- it was written by a sleep expert. I'm wondering if it would be useful for a 10 month old.

Here's the Amazon link:

The 90-Minute Sleep Program by Polly Moore


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## mkoontz (Sep 9, 2005)

no idea. but I'd be wary of anything called a sleep programme. How about you try to see if your baby is tired every 90 mins and go from there.


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## Thing1Thing2 (Apr 30, 2008)

I read through some of the pages they allow you to view online.

Its a CIO book and the author doesn't recommend co-sleeping b/c of "safety" issues.

You may be able to glean a little bit from the "following your baby's own sleep schedule" idea though.

It looks like the author has a bunch of charts in which to record your childs natural sleep patterns. At some time after the child is 6 months old, he/she should have a routine sleep rhythm. To figure out their unique rhythm, you stay at home all week and try to pick up on cues that your baby is ready for nap time. You examine the pattern and then you have your schedule to stick by. It is supposed to give the child a more restful sleep and make it easier to put the child down for sleep.

Basically, it's what we AP parents do by following our instincts.


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## MLA (May 22, 2008)

Interesting, BonnieNova. I didn't get the sense that it was a CIO book, based on the reviews I read. I got the sense that it was neither pro nor against CIO. I didn't know about the anti-cosleeping stance in it, though. That would be a no go w/me since we do bedshare. I admit, though, that I'm thinking of moving him to his crib. He already sleeps sidecarred (when I've not pulled him into bed), and I think he might actually sleep better that way. Not sure how to do it, yet, though, since he still nurses to sleep.


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## georgiamum (Jun 14, 2009)

i don't know if anyone is still paying attention to this thread but i wanted to reply, because I found The 90 minute Sleep program VERY useful in one way (naps) although it is very bad in another (nights).

here is the useful part first - she explained that science tells us that babies' brain activity goes in 90 minute cycles, and so babies need to be napping 90 minutes after they wake up, all day. (during the first 6 months, then they add some longer awake times in multiples of 90 min.) She does not recommend putting the baby on a schedule - you follow the baby's schedule. when baby wakes up from a nap, add 90 minutes to the time and that's when the baby will need the next nap.

I now put my baby to sleep after he's been up for an hour and 25 minutes, and he falls asleep in the sling and never has big meltdowns anymore. I know now that the meltdowns were because he was overtired. Also, I can take him out in public without worrying that he will have a meltdown as long as I watch the clock and then bounce him to sleep in the sling at the right time - which is before he freaks out. so baby is happier and I am happier. maybe some people intuitively know when to put the baby to sleep before they freak out, but I, as a first time mom, never figured it out.

and the bad part - the book recommends cry it out or "fading" (a supposedly more gentle version) when the baby reaches 6 months.

I recommend reading this book in a bookstore (it's short) or getting it from the library. It has some good, gentle science based info about naps and baby sleep cycles. But please ignore the advice about nights and CIO.


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## MLA (May 22, 2008)

Thanks for your feedback. Without reading the book, I've been doing the ninety minute bit for naps. He's 10 months old, and 90 minutes is too short a time for him to be up, but I find that 3 hours after waking seems to be the magic number for putting him down for a nap.


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## VeganCupcake (Jun 13, 2007)

I have the book--I also have virtually every other baby sleep book out there.









It's not really a "baby sleep plan" at all--just some information about babies' brains that can be helpful in helping your baby take naps. Like a PP, I found it more useful for naps than for nighttime sleeping ideas.

Also interesting was the information about the neuroscience of alertness cycles and how babies gradually (but on their own very individual timetables) develop the ability to stay alert for longer periods of time. She gives some interesting examples of how different babies' natural rhythms change over the first year of life.

She does talk about CIO, but it seemed like just a brief section, and I totally ignored that anyway.


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## chipper26 (Sep 4, 2008)

I really tried to follow this program and overall it worked pretty well. It's basically about how to read your baby's sleep cues and follow a natural routine/pattern of waking cycles. I still loosely follow the sleeping routine in 90 minute increments.

It really helped me with the timing of dd's naps. I ignored the part about allowing crying after 6 months to lengthen their sleep cycles. There was some bad advice, but overall I liked the science behind it and I only used the parts that fit with my parenting philosophy. It's worth reading.


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## chipper26 (Sep 4, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MLA* 
Thanks for your feedback. Without reading the book, I've been doing the ninety minute bit for naps. He's 10 months old, and 90 minutes is too short a time for him to be up, but I find that 3 hours after waking seems to be the magic number for putting him down for a nap.

Same here. I now follow the 3 hour pattern and my dd is 12 months. She usually needs 4 - 4 1/2 hours of awake tome before bedtime, though.


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## OGirlieMama (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *georgiamum* 
i don't know if anyone is still paying attention to this thread but i wanted to reply, because I found The 90 minute Sleep program VERY useful in one way (naps) although it is very bad in another (nights).

here is the useful part first - she explained that science tells us that babies' brain activity goes in 90 minute cycles, and so babies need to be napping 90 minutes after they wake up, all day. (during the first 6 months, then they add some longer awake times in multiples of 90 min.) She does not recommend putting the baby on a schedule - you follow the baby's schedule. when baby wakes up from a nap, add 90 minutes to the time and that's when the baby will need the next nap.

I now put my baby to sleep after he's been up for an hour and 25 minutes, and he falls asleep in the sling and never has big meltdowns anymore. I know now that the meltdowns were because he was overtired. Also, I can take him out in public without worrying that he will have a meltdown as long as I watch the clock and then bounce him to sleep in the sling at the right time - which is before he freaks out. so baby is happier and I am happier. maybe some people intuitively know when to put the baby to sleep before they freak out, but I, as a first time mom, never figured it out.

and the bad part - the book recommends cry it out or "fading" (a supposedly more gentle version) when the baby reaches 6 months.

I recommend reading this book in a bookstore (it's short) or getting it from the library. It has some good, gentle science based info about naps and baby sleep cycles. But please ignore the advice about nights and CIO.


That info about 90 minute cycles doesn't sound all that different from the info in Weissbluth's book, though maybe it's better-organized. And I guess "fading" is the tiniest bit better than his "Let 'em cry 'til they drop" approach. But it doesn't sound like particularly unique information.

I will say that that bit in Weissbluth (like a PP, I've read 'em all!) was eye-opening, because especially with 2, I wasn't really seeing a pattern when they were infants. Once I started trying to get them down for naps earlier, before they started freaking out, that part of things got a lot easier. But only when they were babies. It didn't really matter once they hit 2 years of age.


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## JustVanessa (Sep 7, 2005)

Sounds like the exact info that Pantley says (minus the fading thing)


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## angelandmisha (May 16, 2008)

It may not be new or earth shattering info about the 90 minute cycles, but this book somehow made me understand them better, more clearly than other books. Yes, it does suggest letting your babies cry but you don't have to do that to get some benefit from the book.

Like pp's have said, it really helped me figure out when to offer naps. And I probably read it somewhere around the time ds wad 9-10mo. Basically the deal is there's a window of opportunity for sleep to come quickly every 90 minutes or in multiples of that. The author suggests, and I found it to be true, that if you offer sleep toward the end of that 90 minute(or 3, 4 1/2, 6 hour) period, the child will likely fall asleep quickly. Past that window of opportunity, it will likely take until the next 90 minute increment has passed. I was finding it was starting to take 45 min- an hour for my ds to
fall asleep. This was unusual for him and frustrating for me, so I saw this book and bought it. It was like the missing piece of the puzzle for me. I knew the signs of my sleepy baby, but I didn't get how to predict when they would
appear.

After noticing the time he woke up and figuring put when those 90 minute increments were, I was able to offer naps and bedtime when he would be most likely to fall asleep and it was really helpful. Instead of nursing for an hour before he'd fall asleep, (and feeling frustrated) we were able to nurse briefly and he'd fall asleep within about 10 minutes. So much easier!

Bottom line, I thought it was a really useful book and I just ignored the parts that I didn't like- crying, etc. I just wanted some info about how to predict sleep cycles because I felt like I was missing something and it gave me that.


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## OGirlieMama (Aug 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *angelandmisha* 
It may not be new or earth shattering info about the 90 minute cycles, but this book somehow made me understand them better, more clearly than other books. Yes, it does suggest letting your babies cry but you don't have to do that to get some benefit from the book.

Like pp's have said, it really helped me figure out when to offer naps. And I probably read it somewhere around the time ds wad 9-10mo. Basically the deal is there's a window of opportunity for sleep to come quickly every 90 minutes or in multiples of that. The author suggests, and I found it to be true, that if you offer sleep toward the end of that 90 minute(or 3, 4 1/2, 6 hour) period, the child will likely fall asleep quickly. Past that window of opportunity, it will likely take until the next 90 minute increment has passed. I was finding it was starting to take 45 min- an hour for my ds to
fall asleep. This was unusual for him and frustrating for me, so I saw this book and bought it. It was like the missing piece of the puzzle for me. I knew the signs of my sleepy baby, but I didn't get how to predict when they would
appear.

After noticing the time he woke up and figuring put when those 90 minute increments were, I was able to offer naps and bedtime when he would be most likely to fall asleep and it was really helpful. Instead of nursing for an hour before he'd fall asleep, (and feeling frustrated) we were able to nurse briefly and he'd fall asleep within about 10 minutes. So much easier!

Bottom line, I thought it was a really useful book and I just ignored the parts that I didn't like- crying, etc. I just wanted some info about how to predict sleep cycles because I felt like I was missing something and it gave me that.

I totally hear ya. Sorry if I seemed dismissive. I was mostly trying to say if you've read a lot of the other books (Weissbluth, Pantley - although I don't remember that as vividly, somehow, etc.) it doesn't sound like there will be any revelations here. Which, of course, is because there aren't any true revelations regarding making another human sleep. Not that I haven't tried and tried and tried to find some!

ETA: I definitely agree that the 90-minute info is valuable, and that even if a book suggests CIO in combination with that, the 90-minute info is useful. I find a lot of Weissbluth's info about the very early months quite helpful. Just when he started saying "Let them cry up to..." I ditched.


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## MLA (May 22, 2008)

Thanks so much for all your feedback, guys. I've been trying to get him down after 2-3 90 minute cycles ever since reading about this book, and it's really made getting him to sleep a lot easier. I guess I probably don't need to actually buy the book now.


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