Your little one yawns, rubs her eyes, fusses. She’s exhausted, but won’t go down for a nap. You’re frustrated, but far from alone. Research suggests up to 35 percent of babies have chronic sleep issues, but in real life almost every baby has occasional bouts of day and nighttime restlessness.
If your baby fights naps and struggles at bedtime, you both need help — and fast. No one needs to sell parents on the benefits of quality sleep (including regular naps) for baby’s mood, not to mention her health and development. Baby naps can also make moms and dads feel more positive and parent more effectively.
Sleep training for naps, in one form or another, offers a solution if your baby isn't napping well, refuses to nap unless she's held or is resisting naps altogether. Here's how to decide if this approach is right for you.
What is sleep training?
The mere phrase "sleep training" makes some parents uneasy. They imagine their baby wailing for hours on end alone in a crib. That image is unbearable — and not accurate.
The truth is that "sleep training" is an umbrella term for a range of time-tested approaches designed to help babies who are at least 4 to 6 months old learn to soothe themselves to sleep.
The benefits often outweigh the downsides, and there aren’t any risks if you do it right. What research has been done on sleep training has found no adverse long-term effects to the child. In other words, your baby won’t remember any of it.
Sleep training for naps — is it possible?
Yes, sleep training for naps is possible. And it's worth trying if your little one is stubbornly resisting naps or not getting enough daytime sleep.
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The reason: Naps are optional for adults, but not for babies. In fact, not only are they critical for her development, but they help her get sufficient, good-quality nighttime sleep and are needed to help her log the total amount of sleep she needs in a 24-hour period.
Most babies don’t sleep through the night until they're older (and even then, "sleeping through the night" can be as little as six hours at a stretch), so naps are vital for making up that deficit.
If your baby nods off a few times a day with no effort, lucky you! If she doesn’t, you probably need to teach her how to get more daytime Zzzs by sleep training her for naps, for her health and your sanity.
Tips for sleep training for naps
Sleep training your baby may help her get to sleep faster, wake up less and nap more regularly, but it’s called "training" for a reason. You’re going to have to invest a little time and effort, and it might not work right away.
Here’s how to give yourself and your baby the best shot at learning to power nap:
- Know the signs of sleepiness. If she’s rubbing her eyes or starting to get cranky, she's letting you know that her nap window is open. Even if she just woke up, this is the moment to put her down again.
- Keep a nap schedule. You probably already know what time of day your baby starts to get fussy and drowsy, so try to get ahead of it. Naptime should be quiet time, free of distractions, so don’t plan to have the neighbor kids over or head to the grocery store during that time. You want your baby to be ready to hit the hay as soon as she shows the first signs of sleep readiness. And you should adhere to the wake windows in between naps that are appropriate for your baby’s age and stage.
- Make her comfortable. You wouldn’t want to sleep in damp underwear or uncomfortable clothes, and neither does your baby. When naptime rolls around, make sure she is well-fed, has a fresh diaper on, is dressed in a cozy outfit, and is placed in a dark, quiet room.
- Don’t react to every cry. If your little one gurgles, squirms or even cries during her nap, she may be able fall back to sleep without your help. Don’t give in to the parental urge to comfort her if it might interrupt hard-won naptime. Give baby at least five to 10 minutes to fall back to sleep on her own before you intervene.
- Set the right mood. It might be bright outside, but your baby will probably sleep better during the day if it seems like nighttime. Put her down in the crib or bassinet where she normally sleeps overnight, and keep the environment quiet and dark. You might also try using a white noise machine to keep outside noises from waking her up.
- Be active between naps. The more active your baby is when she's awake, the better your odds are of getting her down for naptime. Ample playtime and lots of chances to enjoy her favorite activities are fun — and will hopefully tire her out later.
- Decode her cries. Some crying sounds signal actual distress ("I scratched myself with my pinky nail!"), while others are just exhausted protests ("I’m never falling asleep, and neither are you!"). Tune into the differences. Knowing them can help you decide whether your fussy napper really needs you to rush to her side.
- Be consistent with your sleep training method. Whether you go with Ferber, extinction or something else, stick with it. The only way she’ll learn to doze off on her own is with practice.
Benefits of sleep training for naps
Babies can’t get all the sleep they need at night. Sleep training helps babies nap, which is crucial to their health and well-being. Here's a snapshot of the benefits of sleep training for naps:
- Protects baby’s health. Daytime naps help make up for nighttime sleep deficits, allow your baby to get the amount of sleep she needs in a 24-hour period, help her sleep longer and more soundly at night and promote emotional and mental functioning. Naps may also benefit your baby’s physical development and support immune, endocrine and heart health.
- Promotes parental well-being. In addition to the benefits for babies, healthy infant sleep (including naps) seems to be good for parents too. Specifically, it improves parental mood and relationship satisfaction, and may reduce stress and even depression.
- May boost language acquisition. One study suggests naps and nap quality — more so than nighttime sleep —may be a predictor of a child’s future vocabulary and expressiveness.
How long should you try sleep training your baby to nap?
There is no hard-and-fast rule about how long you should try sleep training for naps, though some studies suggest that if it’s going to work, you should start to see results in about a week. Yep, that’s an "if." Sleep doesn’t work for every baby, but that doesn’t mean you should give up too soon.
If one type of sleep training doesn’t work, try another. Just be sure to give your original method at least a week before moving on to a different one. For some babies, sleep training methods with more soothing and check-ins like the Ferber method are the magic formula, and for others, crying it out is the right solution.
Timing is also fluid. If sleep training is a bust at 6 months, it could work miracles at 7 months. At 8 months, your baby might go through another sleep regression, and you just might have to start sleep training all over again.
When can you start sleep training your baby for naps?
No matter how much you wish you could start sleep training your colicky newborn, you can’t. Sleep training has to wait until your baby is at least 4 to 6 months old. Younger babies just aren’t developmentally ready.
Bottom line: Sleep training can be an effective way to help baby nap, but it’s not one-size-fits all. You just have to figure out what works best for you, your family and your baby's temperament.
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