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For a baby that is old enough and weight gain is good, they will generally start sleeping through the night within 1 to 2 weeks. For toddlers and older, it may take 2 to 3 weeks. Remember, every child is different. Some children learn these new skills faster than others. It is crucial that you are 100% consistent with the plan, or the parents may actually delay the child’s progress when they are either inconsistent, or have assisted the child to sleep in some way. If your child has been dealing with early morning wakings, please see below.

Early morning wake ups are one of most challenging components of the body clock to change. It often takes at least 2 to 4 weeks, sometimes upwards of 6 weeks, to see it come around. Just be patient!! See Early Morning Wake Ups document for more information.

Naps can be more challenging to change than night time sleep, so you may see slower progress in this area. On average, it can take 1 to 4 weeks before nap time consistency improves. In some cases, it can take up to 6 weeks. Further still, some babies are not developmentally ready for longer naps until they are between 4 and 6 months old. But the good news is that nap length does improve with time! If your baby practices with the independent sleep skills and has a good schedule, one day it will be like a light has been switched – and voila! – their nap lengths will increase.

It is not uncommon to see a child nap really well, while not sleeping well at night. They are trying to get the sleep their little bodies need. It is also not uncommon to initially see a decline in napping, as their night sleep starts improving. This is a huge shift in their bodies, to be getting good quality, hopefully consolidated, sleep overnight. They are not used to either so much sleep or such good quality sleep, and you will likely initially see that naps become more challenging or shorter. In time, these will improve again. It may be a few days, a week or a few weeks. The naps WILL improve with time. If your baby is close to a nap transition period, we may find that it is time to move forward and drop a nap. We will discuss if this is the right next step for your child. Often, it’s a matter of being patient and allowing your baby’s body and circadian rhythm to adjust to all these changes with his sleep.

Sometimes during the first week of implementing sleep changes you’ll see an attitude shift where they start to catch on and dislike the routines and might be grumpier during the day. Stay strong! Sometime in the second week (or maybe even the third if they had a large sleep debt) they’ll come around and may even start loving the routine and will become much happier during the day. It’s all a part of the process since it is such a huge and all-encompassing developmental change for them. Just like any other developmental milestone, there can be some mood changes for the baby. It is a good sign that your munchkin is starting to recognize the order of your sleep routines. Sleep cues are starting to be so well established that your child is able to recognize that sleep time is here. It’s pretty common that they don’t want to be apart from their favorite person. On occasion, baby may also be fussy and upset that they aren’t ALREADY asleep, since those sleep cues are clear. This part will get easier!

There are a few reasons why your baby is crying before sleep. It is not uncommon for some children to cry a bit before bed. Many children find the transition from one activity to the next very difficult. He may simply be protesting the change in activities. Ensure you are letting your child know that the first activity is coming to an end, and it is time for bed, particularly if your child is a toddler or older. The crying may also be part of your child’s self-soothing routine, and that will change over time. Some children need to let off some steam before they go to sleep. Over time, the crying should decrease. Ensuring that your timing is good and that your child isn’t going to bed over or under tired is very important as well. This is something we will discuss and keep an eye on as we progress. Together, we will discuss possible solutions to help decrease this crying or protesting, but there is not always a complete solution. It is just a matter of time and consistency. As a mother of a boy who ALWAYS cried before bed just because he could, trust that it will end one day!

Developmental milestones have the potential to really interfere with children’s sleep. The good news is, once your child has solid sleep skills and no longer has a sleep debt, any interruption to your child’s sleep should be minimal. When your child has a large sleep debt and poor sleep skills, developmental leaps and even teething can wreak havoc on their sleep. As we know, a child that relies upon a prop to fall asleep will need help to recreate whatever situation got him to sleep in the first place each time he wakes. If his mind is busy focusing on his newest skill, or if his teeth may be bothering him, he will likely take much longer to settle. On the other hand, a baby that has good sleep skills and does not have a sleep debt will be able to connect sleep cycles with minimal interruption to their sleep.

It is very common that as we get about halfway through our program parents will report that the baby is learning a new skill. Why is this? When your child is sleeping, his brain is developing. Now that your munchkin is finally getting some good quality sleep, that equals more brain development. Your child gaining new skills may slow down our sleep progress slightly, but at the end of our time together, you will have all of the tools you need for continuing to build healthy sleep! Just remember, these small hurdles of cutting a tooth or learning a new skill you are now experiencing would likely have been much more difficult prior to our working together. It would have involved much less sleep, more frequent and longer night wakings, and may have been much more difficult prior to learning any healthy sleep skills.

Learning to roll, sit or stand can be challenging when it comes to sleep, as the child can legitimately get stuck in these new positions in his crib and not be able to get out of them by himself. First, have a lot of practice time during the day! For rolling… Lay him on one side of a baby blanket towards a corner and gently pick up that corner to help him roll from back to belly, belly to back, left to right, right to left. For Sitting and standing… Just keep practicing going from these positions to laying down during the day.

Once your baby is in bed, he will likely get into his newest position that he cannot get out of, and will initially need your assistance. It often takes about a week until he masters the skill. During this time, you will need to keep helping him get out of the rolled over / sitting / standing position. As soon as he can do it on his own, please allow him to. Otherwise, this will continue to be a game.

If she falls asleep sitting or standing once she has the ability to lay herself down, let her be. While it may look uncomfortable to us, children are incredibly flexible. If she’s uncomfortable, she will lay herself down. If you start laying her down, this can (and WILL!) quickly become a habit or game, where she is unwilling to lay down on her own, and it will disturb her sleep. This will continue until you stop laying her down.