Controversial sleep advice on radio 4... what do you make of it?

[MissTea]

Did anyone hear Jim Horne (Director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University) on woman's hour yesterday saying that you should limit the amount a baby sleeps in the day in order to get them to sleep better at night, and that you should put them down for naps in a brightly lit kitchen?? This goes against everything I have read about sleep. I have an 8-months old who sleeps really badly, day and night, and has always done so. I have been trying to get her to sleep more in the day, and putting her down in a dark room. So is this completely wrong? Any thoughts...?

I didn't hear it. Not sure about putting them down for a nap in a brightly lit kitchen although I can see the logic as it's important for them to differentiate between day and night. As for limiting the amount of time they nap in the day - definitely. With all 3 of mine I always woke them from naps. Even from day 1 I would wake them during the day after 2 hrs, partly so that they didn't sleep too much during the day and partly to make sure I got enough feeds in during the day (the more I fed during the day the less I fed at night). DC3 is 9 months and now I never let him sleep more than approx 2.5 hrs during the day, so if he has a long morning nap then I'll only let him sleep for an hour or so in the afternoon, but if he has a short morning nap I'll leave him longer before waking him in the afternoon. Just to add all 3 of mine have been v good night sleepers from quite early on, although maybe more luck than good management, who knows....

However, in my experience it also seems to be true that if they don't nap during the day then for some reason they sleep worse at night, so if your DD isn't really napping during the day I would keep trying to get her to have regular naps. It's a balancing act!

I took the advice to be aimed at babies who are struggling to sleep at night - not across the board iyswim?