3-6 Month Baby Sleep Survival Guide
Congratulations! You have officially passed the parenting Boot Camp that is life with a newborn. You are no longer that stunned slack-jawed new parent stumbling blindly through the produce isle at the grocery. Good for you!
If you haven’t already done so, take a few minutes to check out the Newborn Baby Sleep Survival Guide. Everything there still applies to your no-longer-a-newborn baby.
While some babies are done with swaddling by the 3 month mark, others will be happily swaddled until they are 6-9 months old. You’ll want to continue to use loud white noise and work hard to make sure you aren’t keeping baby awake too long. While your baby may be taking fewer longer naps it’s also totally normal for babies to still be filling their days with frustratingly short catnaps (check out Baby Sleep What is Normal for more details on this).
Your Baby Sleep Homework
When your baby is a newborn you can guiltlessly let them sleep wherever (basinett, your lap, etc.) and put them to sleep however (nursing, swinging, butt patting, etc.). And while it’s not time to panic, you now have 2 big pieces of homework to work on over the next few months.
Work Towards the Crib
Unless you are into co-sleeping for the long haul, now is a great time to start working on having your baby sleep in the crib. I’m not suggesting that the second your baby turns 3 months they need to be in the crib, but I am suggesting that 3-6 months is typically the easiest time window to make this change.
Teach Baby to Sleep on Their Own
This is THE BIGGIE. You want to start gradually putting your baby down awake. Some babies will fight this with a fiery passion. So the process of gradually reducing the amount of nursing, rocking, and butt patting you do can be frustrating. But it’s REALLY important. Also? Failure to do so almost guarantees you will never ever sleep through the night. That’s how important it is.
Further Reading
How and Why to Use and Loose the Paci
Weaning Baby OFF the Swing
Bedtime What Time?
Why Your Baby Hates the Crib
What to Do About Short Naps
Are You Keeping Baby Awake Too Long?
Sleeping Through the Night Part 1
Sleeping Through the Night Part 2
What You Need to Know About Sleeping Through the Night – Part 3
Is it time for Cry it Out?
What You Need to Know About Sleep Regressions
And of course the ever popular – Baby Sleep What is Normal?
{Photo credit: Lisa Stout}
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I have a couple of questions regarding our baby who is 3-1/2 months.
1) Her naps are very inconsistent. One day we will get two 2-hour naps (one in the AM and one in the PM). The next day, using the same routine before naptime, she’ll only sleep 30 minutes at a time. Why does it vary each day and what can we do to get it consistent? I will say she either naps in the swing or on her tummy (I know..I know) but we are not consistent with which method we use. We use whatever position will keep her asleep once we lay her down.
2) Nearly every night after we put her in her crib asleep, she wakes up 30-45 minutes later. I know this is the time she is transitioning in her sleep cycle, but what can we do to help her stay asleep? She is swaddled and we already have white noise. We do not use the swing (she hates it…even the varisty techniques). She sleeps in the nap nanny, which is in her crib. When she does wake up 30-45 minutes later, there is not one consistent thing we do to get her back asleep. Sometimes we feed her, sometimes it’s the passie, sometimes it’s rocking/ssshing. Any suggestions?
3) As I mentioned above, she is sleeping in her nap nanny in the crib. Any suggestions on when/how to remove the nap nanny?
Trish – whatever you do, you MUST take the Nap Nanny out of the crib. They are not meant to be used in a crib and can have terrible and tragic results – in fact the Nap Nanny was recalled recently.
Hey Trish,
Lots of babies sleep better on their tummies. So I totally get why you would be tempted to do that. But please don’t. It’s a major risk factor for SIDS which peaks at 4 months. So no tummy sleeping until she flips on her own. If you think having her sleep upright is helpful (is it?) then I would use a swing.
Denise is right – the nap nanny in the crib is not OK. Despite the recalls I DO feel the nap nanny is a good product but I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about it. And if you ARE going to use it, maybe you only use it during the day while you are awake and can keep an eye on what’s doing in there, OK?
Lots of newborns treat bedtime like a nap. They outgrow this – it’s frustrating but temporary.
I think at 3 months I would start BEING more consistent. Have her nap in the same place with the same routine all the time. Don’t move her around to wherever works best at the moment. Somedays you WILL have short naps. This is life with babies. They always seem to take short naps when you’re really hoping for a LONG nap. If I could fix that I could sell the solution and be a BILLIONAIRE. As I am not a billionaire it should be obvious that there is no fix
My daughter is just over 3 months old. I EBF, she takes naps in her swing, sleeps in her pack n play in our room at night, will sleep just fine in her crib for naps- although I rarely do it, and we do white noise, swaddle, paci for every sleep.
My first concern is that she can only stay happy for 1 hour, and then we start our nap time routine. It then takes 20-30 minutes for her to fall asleep. She does just fine falling asleep on her own, I just have to tickle her face a little, give back paci, and sshh her a few times. But I feel like she should be able to stay awake longer at her age? The problem is that she only sleeps for 30 minutes! About once a day, if she naps in her swing, she will drift back to sleep, after being awake for 10-15 minutes. When she does this, she will then take a 2.5-3.5 hour nap! But it’s very unpredictable when she will do this. It’s never at the same time each day, and it’s only in the swing. How can I get her on a routine where she does this, but at the same time each day? And how can I increase the length of time of both her naps and her awake time?
My other big issue, is that she HATES when we rock her to sleep (yet she loves her swing to rock her). This just started 3 weeks ago. She screams and flails and fights us for 15+ minutes, and then will calm down and go to sleep in our arms finally. I thought maybe she was done with swaddling, but no. Ok, so seems like an easy solution- just don’t rock her. But I need to live. Is that selfish? We can’t do anything but a quick trip to the store, because she is happily awake for such a short amount of time, sleeps for such a short amount of time, and will only sleep in her crib or swing. Getting out was so much easier when we could rock her to sleep when she was tired and we were out. Any suggestions as to how to get her to sleep in our arms or carseat?
Hi Jen, I seemed to have this issue as well when my daughter hit 3 months..
Its like one day she just decided to go from taking 2-3 hr naps, to taking short 30 minute naps.
I tried many things..but basically tried to keep a consistant routine for naptimes (and bedtime) and made sure that the environment she was sleeping in encouraged sleep (dark room with blackout curtains, fan for noise) and when she started having issues napping in her swing, I immediately made the decision to switch her to her crib for naps, and also for bedtime (she was sleeping in her rock n play sleeper prior.) We were very lucky and the transition to her crib couldnt have gone smoother. I was told that the shorter naps are common because of the sleep cycle of a baby that age, and I was encouraged to go in and try and soothe her back to sleep to try and get her back to taking longer naps..I cant say that it really worked for us though.
Naps continued to be kind of all over the place for a couple months…no matter what I tried.
She just turned 5 months the other day, and I finally feel like naps are going a little smoother. I have learned that she does best when I soothe her by either BF or just holding her and letting her get sleepy, and then putting her down awake but drowsy. There are times she falls asleep in my arms and I put her down asleep, and some of the time she will wake because she is no longer in my arms, and sometimes I even have to go back in and try and soothe her again..
The biggest thing I have learned is that every baby is different, and it may take some time, but you will eventually start to see a pattern of when she gets sleepy and may be ready to nap, and also start to find the best way to approach naptimes and such..
More than likely things wont get easier overnight, but have faith! It seems that most sleeping issues start around the 3 month mark, and it seems like it is just because babies are really becomming more aware at that age, and it may take a little more to get them settled down and sleepy..and sometimes no matter what you do, things may be a little wacky for awhile. Just stay strong and keep telling yourself that things will eventually get better!
Hi All and Alexis,
I wondered whether anyone could give me a little explanation or tip on the following issue:
I have a daughter who is 12 weeks and goes down to bed at 7pm on her own (with a little bit of help of a dummy) without much more than a stroke on her cheek into her moses basket where she sleep 12 hours with one or two night feeds. She does the same when she has her afternoon nap outside in the patio in her pram, no need for a moving pram. However, when she goes down for morning naps I need to rock her for about 15 minutes. Anyone had the same issue at all? She sleeps about 4-5 hours during the day in 3 or 4 naps.
Thank you for your help
At 9 weeks, my now 13 week old began sleeping 5-7 hours in a stretch with only 1 middle of the night feedings. His naps during the day were much shorter (30-45 minutes) but it was a trade-off I was willing to accept to get that critical nightime sleep.
Just a few days ago, he started waking up again every 1-2 hours, like a newborn. Is this sleep regression, in which case I should “do whatever I need to do to get through it.” Or is this the beginning of object permanence, in which case I need to start to teach baby to sleep on their own?
Many thanks for any advice.
Our three month old son was a great sleeper at 4 weeks. He went down around 8, up around 1:30 and 5 for feedings. Since then it’s gotten worse where he wakes up before midnight then every hour from two on. We stared the “sleep sense” program last week, losing the pacifier which we thought was the problem but it hasn’t seemed to help. Day 1-5 on the sleep sense program he slept longer but since day 6 he is back to his old routine. What’s the reason and what’s the solution?!!!
Hi! My baby turns 4 months next week and I’d like to transition her to her crib. We are still waking up every 2 hours to eat (at least that is why I am assuming she is waking up and I am exhausted to tears.
We are on our third week of her going to day care and her refusing to take a bottle during the day. She waits till I get home to eat. As of right now, I am away from home for 12 hours out of the day.
Our bed time routine is this- Bath, PJs, sound machine (rain sounds), and nurse to sleep. I cannot put her down on our bed nor the bassinet or her crib. As soon as I put her down, she is awake. There has only been a few times I’ve had sucess putting her down on our bed to sleep without her waking up. Normally, she sleeps on my chest while I sleep sitting up. Not fun anymore! I’m so tired and would love to sleep laying down for once.
Last week, I tried to mimic the routine but instead of letting her fall asleep nursing—I put her in her crib while she was drowsy after nursing. It didn’t work but I was persistant about it. I tried the pick up and put down method where I picked her up when she cried and put her down back in the crib after I calmed her down. I waited a minute or two before I picked her up again. I’m afraid to say that she increasing became more and more difficult to calm. I mean she was crying so hard that her face became puffy and she had a hard time catching her breath. I don’t know if this is the right thing to do. She doesn’t care for the swing or bounce chair, so I don’t think I can use those to transition her to the crib.
Any helpful tip or guidance would be soooo great.
Hi Alexis, I LOVE your site, and some days i just reread articles ive already read to help reinforce and relax me. But I do have an issue id like to ask. So my son is 4 1/2 mths old and sleeps in his crib now. After a sleeptime routine, He goes into his crib awake and i feed him a bottle as he lays there and pat him for a few minutes and he drifts off to sleep around 7:30. He sleeps for a blissful 4-5 hours!! Then around 11/12 he wakes up, and then continues waking up every 2 hrs or so. I BF him and put him back down, sometimes awake, sometimes asleep, and if awake, he can put himself back to sleep. Im not sure if he is hungry or he needs the boob to calm him, but he can put himself back to sleep after BFing for a bit. I do tihs from till about 5 when i am too tired and just give up and bring him into my bed for my own sanity. Every night! HELP!
Hi all – I love this site and have posted a few times. I have a quick one today — am struggling mightily with 17 week old who doesn’t like to sleep or nap well. I am at the end of my rope. I am wondering if there could be a correlation with the coffee that I drink in the morning? Anyone have any facts/thoughts/experience on caffeine and bf-ing babies and sleep? I am SO desperate for it that it literally is the only thing that is good and pure about my mornings…but if its keeping baby up I want to try to do something about it. I would really appreciate any info!! Thanks!
Hi Gwen,
I JUST looked this up myself yesterday.
http://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/lifestyle/caffeine/
One or two cups seems like it wouldn’t be the culprit. Hope the article helps!
Hi, Kim – thanks for this! I have given up caffeine out of desperation. We’ll see.. The night wakings have gotten so much worse. Every 40 minutes to an hour I am up with him for at least that long. He is teething, but still…this is killing me! And I’ve tried all the tricks (swaddling, white noise, swing) and nothing is working to help keep him asleep. I do not thin caffeine is the culprit, but don’t know what else to do.
Thanks though for the link!! Gwen
My daughter is 10 weeks old. Yes, I know she is young. She is a good night sleeper but takes cat naps (30 minutes) about six times a day. I know she can’t get through that sleep cycle. I want to be able to put her down more awake but she just cries. Should I let her cry at all or go in immediately?
Hi Alexis! I’ve been following your baby sleep guides like a bible since my son was born 4 months & 1 week ago. I don’t know how I stumbled onto you but thankfully I did!
My delightful little munchkin has in the last two nights started waking about 10-15 times a night! Every 45 minutes or more – which is a bit of a shock after being down to two nightfeeds for the last 2 months. I’ve basically never rocked him to sleep. We used the cradle swing until he started self settling which I thought was going great until this week – I just popped him in the crib with a paci after his feed, bath & story and off to the land of zzz he went – I even make sure I’m out of the room before his eyes close!
He’s still going to sleep this way, but when he wakes I’m generally just putting his paci back in (except for 2 & 5am where he feeds). Sometimes the paci works, sometimes it doesn’t and I have to stroke his head to get him to sleep. So now I’m stuck because I don’t know if I’m having a growth spurt or just “object permanence” kicking in & he’s actually waking for the paci now. His day sleep is similar, if he stirs from a nap & the paci goes back in he falls back asleep. I don’t seem to have any other symptoms of a growth spurt (he’s always eaten tons, and he doesn’t appear to be any crankier?).
I’m trying to make the tough decision to ditch the paci or not. Appreciate your advice here!
Did you see this one Sarah?
http://www.troublesometots.com/the-thing-about-sleep-regressions/
Lisa
Hi Lisa – I’ve read them all.
No sign of a growth spurt asides from the waking….
He’s not fussy or hungrier or anything.
I have read them all too, sadly for me, always hoped I would have one of those babies who just slept
[don't think they exist actually].
I am no expert by any means, but I don’t think sleep regressions are always to do with eating, they can be developmental. Well hidden internal baby stuff to keep you guessing! It does sound like crazy town sleep after your previous good pattern. Maybe worth riding out a few days before making any changes like ditch the paci…use swing again? (Alexis says extra soothing for sleep regressions, without mega bad habits which is tricky but sounds like you have soothing methods that are sustainable for you so good to re-embrace them?).
I think AskMoxie has some good stuff on sleep regressions if you google it?
Hope it gets better.
Lisa
Alexis,
We have a daughter who turns 6 months old tomorrow. She has been enrolled at a Development Center (daycare) for about three months now. When she first started there, she would take a few naps throughout the day, anywhere between 30-60 minutes in length, occasionally longer. She has a white noise machine and a sleep sac that we had her teachers use to swaddle her arms. Over the past month though, she began to roll over so her teachers would no longer swaddle her arms. This has led to her naps being almost non-existent. Over the course of an 8 hour day at the center, she has had recent days with as little as 20 minutes sleep the whole day. When we pick her up, she immediately goes to sleep in the car and then sleeps for a good 3 hours when she gets home. Her teachers are working with us, but she just isn’t sleeping and we’re pretty sure it has to do with the swaddling. When we bring her home, we do swaddle her arms, but we have a video monitor that we have on to keep an eye on her. When swaddled, she naps great. She sleeps great through the night, without having her arms swaddled, which we think is due to her being tired and not having anything to look at because her room is dark. We’re somewhat concerned about her sleep at daycare because on the weekends, she takes about three naps per day (morning, afternoon, and early evening), but she just isn’t getting that sleep during the day on weekdays. Do you have any thoughts you can share with us?
Jason
Hi! I saw Alexis suggest to another parent whose baby was turning in bed but still really needed the swaddle to try doing swaddle + strapped in swing (which doesn’t have to be moving). Does your daycare have a swing (or baby bouncer thing) they would be willing to strap your swaddled daughter into? (check out the Dr. Karp interview for how to swaddle in the swing – I’m guessing the same works for a bouncer) In those things there’s no risk of rolling over because she’s strapped down, so the center might be less worried about swaddling. Then you can test the waters on sleeping unswaddled (see Alexis’ post on swaddles; the section testing the waters). Hope this helps. Daycare was a real challenge for our daughter’s daytime sleep too. We ended up bringing our swing to her classroom!
Hey Alexis,
Big fan of your website!
I have a question regarding if I should wake my 5 1/2 month old up from her naps..
A little background…she was a swaddled swing sleeper until 3months of age where she dropped the swing and just slept swaddled in her crib, then at 4 1/2 months she started to roll over and we had a few sleepless nights where we had to drop the swaddle and she was thrashing around, but then got used to it and now sleeps fine unswaddled and in her crib. She gets put down in her crib awake and we have no issues (thanks no doubt to being put awake in the swing in the first place and learning how to put herself to sleep)-thanks for that:)
Since then she has been waking up once in the night to feed, like clockwork wakes up at 730am, down for a nap at 9am for 2 hours and then again at 1pm for 2 hours and then sometimes a power nap around 5 for 40 mins and then to bed anywhere between 630-8pm…now we recently went away (to a diff time zone) and have been back for 2 weeks now and I find I still have to wake her up in the morning, and after two hours of napping to stick the old schedule she was on! I decided to experiment today to see how long she would sleep…I still woke her up in the morning, but woke her up at 830am, she went down no prob for her nap again at 915, and then she slept until 115pm!!!…she went then for a second nap at 3pm and woke up at 5pm…now not sure what will happen tonight, but do you think I should just let her sleep for as long as she wants for her naps, or should I stick to my schedule? I know sleep begets sleep but is there such things as too much daytime sleep?
Thanks so much for your input!
-Maia