What is baby sleep training?

Sleep training teaches your baby to fall asleep without your help.

You know those endless hours of stories, lullabies, and sways before sleep? With a successfully sleep-trained baby, you can kiss them all goodnight. While those pre-sleep routines were essential tools in helping your baby develop his circadian rhythm (the internal clock that lets him know when it’s time to wake up and when it’s time to wind down), continuing to rely on them to lull your baby to sleep can create a hard-to-break habit in the long run.

Around the 4 to 6-month mark, your baby is developmentally ready to start learning to fall asleep on his own without excessive parental intervention – your baby is ready to develop independent sleep skills. By that, we mean you should be able to pop your little one into bed, then walk away and let him drift off.

By teaching your baby to fall asleep without your help, you can set him up for a successful long-term sleep cycle as he grows into a toddler.

How to Sleep Train Baby for Naps

Sleep training your baby can be difficult. It’s tough for babies to say good night when it’s still day . If your baby isn’t napping well—napping inconsistently or refusing naps altogether—try some of these nap training tips to turn your restless sleeper into a daydreaming dozer.

#1 Recognize the Signs of Sleepiness

When developing a consistent nap schedule, it can help to take your baby’s natural sleep pattern into account.

When your baby becomes tired, she’ll exhibit signs of sleepiness, including the following sleepy cues:

• Rubbing her eyes
• Yawning
• Becoming fussy

By putting your baby down for a daytime nap when she shows these first signs of sleepiness, she’ll have an easier time drifting off. Try not to wait too long to take action, or your baby may:

• Fall asleep before she’s in her crib – The more often your baby falls asleep outside of her crib, the less she’ll want to sleep there during naptime and bedtime.
• Become overly exhausted – When babies are overly exhausted, they have a harder time settling down for sleep. Their little brains become overstimulated by the world around them, leading to an increase in the stress hormone, cortisol. When their bodies are flooded with this hormone, it’s harder to relax and wind down for sleep.

#2 Determine a Sleep Schedule

Once you understand the times your baby naturally becomes tired during the day, you can create a nap routine that complements your baby’s sleep and wake windows.

Baby naps are not one size fits all. Depending on age, your baby’s wake windows will look something like this:

• For babies between 2–4 months – The wake windows can last between 1.5–3 hours.
• Between 5–8 months – This is about when you’ll start focusing on sleep and nap training. Your baby may stay awake for 2.5–3 hours in between naps.
• Between 9–12 months – The wake windows can last anywhere from 2.5–4 hours.

Using your baby’s natural sleep and wake windows to develop a short nap schedule can help your baby fall asleep faster during set nap times. By sticking to this schedule every day, your baby’s body will learn to anticipate these naps and adjust his circadian rhythm accordingly.

Babies between 4–6 months will generally need to nap 2–3 times a day, while babies between 6–12 months will likely only need 2 naps a day.

#3 Take a Break Between Mealtime and Naptime

Although feeding your baby before naptime can encourage sleep, you want to avoid this bedtime routine becoming something your baby can’t fall asleep without. When your baby creates a sleep association between feeding time and nap time, she’ll be trained to think a snack is required for her to fall asleep.

If your baby develops a need to nurse to fall asleep, she could potentially fully wake up needing you at every little arousal—basically every 90 to 120 minutes in the night.

How can you achieve this while still ensuring your baby is well-fed?

Try adding a simple activity between mealtime and naptime, such as changing her diaper, singing a song, or reading her a short story.

#4 Set the Scene for Sleep

Creating a healthy sleep environment that’s dark, quiet, and free of distractions is particularly important during daytime naps when sunlight and outside noises can keep your baby awake and alert. If you have a stubborn sleeper on your hands, any noise or distraction may give him a reason to put off naptime in the hopes of having a more exciting adventure.

Try transforming his room into a replica of the ultimate relaxing sleep environment—Mom’s womb. You can do this by:

• Turning off the lights
• Keeping the curtains drawn
• Removing any toys from his line of sight
• Using a white noise machine to mimic the sounds he heard in Mom’s womb
• Setting the temperature to between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit (which experts recommend for both summer and winter months)

Creating the perfect sleep environment for your baby gives him the best chance of drifting off to dreamland. If you want to learn more about this baby dreamland, read our blog article answering the question, “Do babies dream?”

#5 Stick to the Crib

If you’re wondering how to get your baby to sleep in their crib, it is important to move your little one to her crib as she becomes drowsy. She’ll fall asleep there, leading her brain to associate her crib with sleep. Not only will developing this association help encourage your baby to nap when she’s placed in her crib during the day, but it will also help ease her into sleep at the end of the day when you tuck her in for bedtime.

#6 Keep it Cozy

Even the sleepiest baby won’t be able to settle down for a nap if he’s uncomfortable. Before placing your baby in his crib, make sure that his tummy is full and his diaper is fresh. Take a look at the texture of your little one’s jammies to ensure it’s soft and soothing (and not scratchy), keeping an eye out for things that might press into him, like zippers and buttons. You can also swaddle him in a soft blanket to create a sensation of pressure that babies associate with the warmth and security of Mom’s arms.

#7 Relax Your Response Time

If your baby is over four months old, it may help to delay your response to their cry. Before or during your baby’s nap, she may fuss, gurgle, or cry. While these noises may set off instinctual parent alarms in your head, you can go ahead and hit snooze for now.

Around the time your baby is four months old, she begins to develop her ability to self-soothe—in other words, the ability to calm herself down if she becomes fussy in her crib or wakes in the middle of a nap. By allowing your baby to develop this ability, you are giving her an essential tool for becoming a more independent sleeper. Plus, when you don’t intervene, you increase the likelihood that your baby falls back asleep on her own and gets in a full nap time.

How long should you wait to check on your baby if she starts to fuss or cry?

Go ahead and set your snooze for around 5-10 minutes.

#8 Try the Ferber Sleep Training Method

The Ferber Method is a popular baby sleep training method and is recommended to wait until your baby is between four to six months old . It’s similar to relaxing your response time in that it encourages parents to wait for set intervals of time before checking on a crying baby who refuses to take a short nap. This sleep training technique goes one step further and discourages holding or feeding your baby to soothe him during these times. Without the help of Mom and Dad, your child has the chance to learn how to self-soothe independently.

When utilizing the Ferber Method, you’ll gradually extend the intervals of time between baby check-ins, allowing your baby to learn to self soothe. An example of the first day of Ferber Method training may look something like this:

• At the start of naptime, place your baby in his crib, tuck him in, and leave the room
• If your baby begins to cry, wait 3 minutes before re-entering the room to check on him
• During this first check-in, you may soothe your baby with reassuring words, or by placing a hand on him gently, but avoid picking him up or feeding him
• After a moment, leave the room again
• If your baby continues to cry, wait 5 minutes before re-entering the room
• If your baby needs a third check-in, wait 10 minutes before doing so

By the end of the first week, your check-in times should more closely resemble the following schedule:

• First check-in – After 20 minutes
• Second check-in – After 25 minutes
• Third check-in – After 30 minutes
• Fourth (and subsequent) check-ins – After 30 minutes

While it may feel distressing to hear your baby cry and not respond with cuddles and kisses, studies show that this method of sleep training significantly improves infant sleep (as well as parent sleep) in the long run.

#9 Promote Active Wake Windows

It’s important to take advantage of your baby’s awake times by encouraging activities that will tire her out by naptime and result in better sleep.

Activities can include:

• Playtime with her favorite toys
• A stroller ride around the neighborhood
• A trip to the park
• A thrilling game of peek-a-boo
• Storytime with a colorful book
• A dance party set to some funky tunes

Simply put, exhausting your baby with an eventful wake schedule is a great method if you are wondering how to get your baby to sleep longer.

#10 Be Patient and Consistent

It’s important to remember that any new skill requires consistency and patience. Because no two babies are alike, there isn’t a set timeline for when your baby’s sleep training will lead to a regular schedule with full 1–2 hour nap times.

If your baby continues to grapple against sleep during set nap times despite sleep training, it’s okay to feel a little discouraged. Just remember: you will get this. Some babies simply need more time. Keep as consistent a schedule as possible and trust the sleep training process.

One day, the struggles of sleep training will feel like a distant dream.

The Benefits of Sleep Training Nap Time

Teaching your little snoozer about independent sleep isn’t the only benefit of sleep training. Other advantages of sleep training your baby for naps include:

• Reducing the likelihood of early morning wake-ups – When your baby avoids his naps, his entire sleep schedule is affected. This means he may fall asleep too early in the day and wake up for an extremely early bird breakfast.
• Ensuring ideal sleep duration – Babies between 4–6 months need between 12–17 hours of sleep a day, whereas babies between 6–9 months need around 12–15 hours of sleep. Whatever sleep your baby doesn’t get at night is supplemented by his daytime sleep, making them a crucial part of achieving his ideal sleep duration.
• Stimulating cognitive development – Studies show that a baby’s naps in the daytime play a significant role in cognitive development in infants and toddlers, particularly in terms of language development.
• Promoting parental sleep – When your baby sleeps consistently, you can too. As a parent, getting a good night’s rest can help you keep up with your boundless bundle of energy, stay alert throughout the day, and reduce your overall stress levels and sleep problems.

Put Nap Troubles to Rest with Personalized Sleep Advice from the Baby Experts at SneakPeek

As your little one grows up, it’s up to you to teach them everything from their ABCs to how to get a good night’s sleep. Babies make us ask a lot of questions, “what does it mean if baby twitches in sleep?” or “do babies dream?” to name a few. But sometimes, you may wish you had a teacher yourself to keep you up-to-date on all things baby. Luckily, for a lesson in your baby’s unique sleep behavior, you can turn to SneakPeek Traits.

With SneakPeek Traits DNA Sleep Test —a simple, at-home DNA test—you can gain scientifically-validated insight into your baby’s genetically healthy sleep habits, including her:

• Sleep chronotype
• Sleep latency
• Sleep efficiency
• And ideal sleep duration

You’ll also receive sleep tips and advice tailored specifically to your little snugglebug so that you can create her most effective sleep schedule.