To Sleep, Perchance

There you are, soothing a fussy baby and trying desperately to be the good father while letting your exhausted partner get some much needed-rest. If the two of you are so tired, surely the baby must be too—so why won’t she just go to sleep already?

A new book poses the theory that we might be keeping them awake too long. The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program uses the natural rhythms of the biological clock to determine when a child should rest. Each of us—tots included—have a basic rest and activity cycle that lasts about an hour and a half. As a new dad, your job is to recognize when baby hits her lull and put her to bed, pronto. If you miss the sleep cues (eye-rubbing, fussiness, lack of alertness) you miss the prime window for rest and will have to wait till the next cycle runs its course.

While this might seem just one more in a long line of parenting books out there that you’ve meant to take a look at (as soon as you get some sleep, right?), there might just be something to using nature’s rhythms to help soothe and quiet your child. And if it doesn’t work, you can always get a babysitter to come over and stay up with baby so you can take a nap of your own. [USA Today]