My encyclopedia's "Anthropology" section points out that the few
remaining hunting-gathering societies are intensely studied because they
exemplify "the state of social organization and culture for 99 percent
[!!--punctuation mine] of all human experience."  And who hasn't had
that blinding flash of recognition about how "uncivilized" that new baby
is -- how pleased they'd be to be living in a small, familiar group of
people, with no particular schedule, where everyone curled up together
and went to sleep shortly after dark.  (This is not to romanticize how
precarious human existence was for much of our stay on earth -- I love
central heating and complain enough about "gathering" at the
well-stocked grocery store.)

Logically, our sleep patterns are so far removed from the "natural."
I'm pulling from memory a fascinating New York Times article a few years
back (couldn't find it in the newspaper's archives) about researchers
who had a large study group living on "sun time" and going to sleep
shortly after dark and awakening naturally, which in winter would cover
about a 12 to 14 hour span.  A pattern that seemed to emerge was a
period of heavy sleep, leading into a long stretch of very light sleep,
almost a trance-like state, with some tranquil time that was technically
"awake."  There were also some comments that in many non-industrialized
societies, sleep wasn't this "dead-to-the-world" for seven hours
experience, but that people would often be up for a bit, to poke the
fire and chat a bit, then drift back.

Anyway, in my experience, the parents who are hard-pressed by a
situation with a wakeful nursing baby are often working parents who put
the baby to sleep at 7:30 (as in the initial post on this issue) then
race around with household tasks so they can fall, exhausted, into bed
at 11:30, and get an hour's sleep before the show begins.  Meanwhile,
they forget that the baby has already put in a good five-hour stretch.

Sometimes it helps to keep the baby up later.  Because it's easier for
grown-ups to change their behaviors, I've also known sleep-deprived
couples who would systematically turn in very early a few nights a week,
with Ovaltine and warm socks, (perhaps Tuesday and Thursday of the work
week) which would help them get through the other nights.

In searching the NY Times archives for the afore-mentioned article, I
came across a few other intriguing ones:
"Normal levels of indoor lighting can reset internal clocks,"  Feb. 8,
1999
Lack of Exposure to Sunlight May Explain Some Old People's Insomnia"
January 26, 2001

I remember reading somewhere some studies that were being done with
babies that were never exposed to artificial light and were sleeping
through the night from a relatively early stage -- does anyone else
recall this?

These suggest that while a lot of babies will adapt readily enough to
whatever conditions of lighting and timing the culture has to offer,
perhaps a few will take some time to re-tune the clock they evolved
with.  Maybe now that summer is coming, just suggesting that the toddler
spend more time outside could help them settle better at night.

This has turned out longer than anticipated, and is more speculative
than problem-solving. (Is the topic officially a "dead horse" yet?")
But since babies don't deliberately wake themselves up, perhaps even
speculating on a reason could make the parents feel that they're meeting
a real, if temporary, need.

Margaret Wills
LLLL

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