appropriate duration, which may only be a total of forty-five minutes
including feeding time, and she shows signs of fussiness, it is time for a
nap.
Two Months
If you follow the principles of PDF, this will be the period when your
baby drops his or her nighttime feeding and begins sleeping seven to
eight hours continuously. Naps during the day should be at least 1½ hours
long. Seventy-five to eighty percent of PDF babies begin sleeping
through the night on their own without any further parental guidance
apart from routine feedings. It just happens. Some periods of night crying
are experienced by the remaining twenty percent of children. Most of this
takes place over a three-day period and the crying bouts average between
five and thirty-five minutes in the middle of the night. On average, it
takes three to five days for a nine-week-old to establish unbroken sleep
cycles.
NOTE: It’s not unusual for two- or three-month-old PDF babies to
awaken at around 5:00 or 5:30 A.M. and talk to themselves for up to an
hour. Afterward, they usually go back to sleep for another hour or so.
This quirky phase can go on for a week or a month and sometimes longer.
If you start to respond each time you hear a noise from the cradle, then
5:00 A.M. will become your baby’s waketime—and yours, too.
Three to Five Months
During this period, your baby will drop his or her late-evening feeding,
leaving four to six feeding periods during the day. Nighttime sleep will
average ten to twelve hours. The baby will have three daytime naps
between 1½ to 2 hours in length, resulting in a longer waketime. Once the
third nap is dropped, both waketime and often the other remaining
naptimes will increase in duration.