Pediatrician's Top Tips For Helping Your Baby Learn to Nap 

You guys are a lifesaver. My baby would never nap throughout the day at the ripe age of 4 months old. He stopped napping. He was starting to develop bags under his eyes, Then, i followed your advice and he fell asleep in 8 minutes. I feel hope again!!

Thank you for being so real and honest about how hard naps can be ❤

Thank you! As a home daycare provider you have given me good insight to wake windows and the amount of time to check on my daycare babies. My job is to make sure my babies are well rested and able to enjoy their families when they go home without messing up the bedtime. It's easier said than done but I've learned much from you.

It’s actually pretty reassuring to know not even trained professionals have all the answers. Been trying to study like I was trying to get a doctorate, Now I know that’s going overboard. Lol You guys are my favorite RU-vid couple by far!!!

Just found out that we are pregnant with our second baby, too! So exciting that we are experiencing something similar right now! Our little toddler was SO rough when it comes to sleeping. He would NEVER sleep on his own - not even for a second - no matter how careful we were and how perfect the sleep space was. Finally, around 8 months, we were able to start sleep training. It was a nightmare for about 2 weeks strait, then one night *poof* he was sleeping for about 4 hours at a time on his own and we were SO grateful! Every baby is different; he relied heavily on loving touch to be soothed. Hopefully next baby will be more confident on it's own ☺️

Yay!! Watching this having breakfast as I have just put my 7 week old boy for his morning nap. Hoping it lasts more than 30 minutes so I can have time to pump lol 😆

Thank you so much for sharing this! 🎉 your videos are always so helpful and informative

Could you do a video about the transitions too? Like 4 to 3 naps, 3 to 2, 2 to 1, and 1 to 0? (not sure if you’ve done that one with cec yet)

Is there a way to train them to nap for longer? Babe only wants to nap 30-45min at a time 3-4x a day with 2h wake windows (5 months old)

Oh my gosh, the scenario you described at the beginning of the video is EXACTLY what I thought having a baby would be like 🤦🏻‍♀️ he’s 10 weeks today

Soooo helpful and supportive

Thanks for your videos. They are very helpful!

This is great! Thank you for sharing! Did you have any difficulty getting your newborn to nap in the living room? We're planning on doing the same but wondering if naps are better in the same room/bassinet as nighttime sleep.

We talk about our daughter the same way. She’s 5.5 months old, and is seriously the most picky sleeper. We’ve got her night trained for sleep but now we’re staring naps. Love that girl so much, but she won’t fall asleep unless we are home in her dark nursery and she’s always been this way. We call her “fomo baby” because If we are out and about she’s up and aware, wants nothing to do with naps. We can’t really have anyone watch her still because she will refuse to sleep and it becomes a whole overtired situation. It was funny seeing my nephew whose 5 weeks younger than her still sleeping like a newborn…or at least how she was as a newborn.

Hi guys! First and foremost thank you for your wonderful content. I have an almost 4 month old and would like to know when and how it would be ok to stop feeding at night so that I can start night sleep training. She's currently having a dream feed at around 11pm and then she wakes up at around 4am for another feed. Sometimes it takes a long time to get her back to sleep after that 4am feed. Your content has helped me so much. Many blessings to both your babies.

Thanks so much for this video! As a fellow physician mommy, I find these so helpful. My 8 month old rarely naps for longer than 40 minutes, which is hard. I think we’re going to start daytime nap sleep training soon. Thanks!

Hi guys. Thanks again for a helpful and informative video. So, I have a baby who just turned 1. And I guess I’ve fallen into the bad habit of giving her a small bottle- 4 to 5 ozs of whole milk (previously formula) to help her get to sleep. She’s come to expect this for naps and night time. Now her pediatrician recommends I cut back her milk a bit. She generally sleeps through the night, and takes 1 - 2 naps per day. Any tips for getting her to sleep without the bottle?

Hi! What if the baby is having seperation anxiety, do you think this training is right? Thanks in advance!

6 month old here… Our baby boy loves to be up, not-miss-a-beat and just this weeks demands a feed/cuddle before naps. He used to sleep like a champ a month ago for naps… but like you said …just when you’ve “got it figured out” bam!

Thank you!

I just found out today you're employed with my fertility clinic (Sarah). Such a small world. They are blessed to have you. ❤️ can't wait to bring a donor conceived baby into my family. ❤️

Thank you

My 13 month-old daughter is a great napper on the weekends but she goes to daycare during the week and struggles! She naps for a total of 2-3 hours on the weekends but maybe 30-60 minutes total while at daycare. Then she’s an absolute bear when she gets home because she’s exhausted. Any daycare nap tips?

We did sleep training for night time and it was successful. We saw improvement every night and by Day 7 she went to sleep on her own without any crying. However, the naps are really difficult. I’m on Day 3 for naps and wondering when does it typically start getting better? She takes 3 naps a day and I’ve had to abandon ship for all her naps since starting.

Great video! I wonder if you guys......or any of you moms have advice for kids in day care. My daughter is just about to be 5 months and she is a terrible napper. She is an excellent night time sleeper but naps are rough. She attends day care at a center where she is one of 6 infants and was until last week the youngest baby in the class. They have a really tough time getting her to nap. When we really buckle down on weekends and get her to nap, it's in a darkened, quiet room with white noise. At day care she is in a classroom with other babies. They try and keep the lights dim but there is LOTS to look at and noise from other kids. Needless to say she is normally pretty crabby when she gets home and it makes weekend naps hard

At the moment, i am planning to start sleep training my baby at night. Currently, we give her a bottle to fall asleep for her nap and at night time. I know I can't do that any more for bed time or nap time but my questions is can I try to change and take away her nap time bottle and night time bottle at the same time or should I keep her nap time routine the same by giving her a bottle but at night time not give her a bottle and follow the steps you outline on your pervious video on night time sleep training. Her naps are good right now by giving her a bottle, she will sleep for 2.5 hours once a day. She is 1 year old. But night time is horrible up every 2 hours for a bottle. So should i focus just on night time sleep training or try and do both at the same time naps and nighttime? Thanks in advance RS xoxo

two questions 1) do you still go in to reassure the baby if hes not crying but not falling asleep? my baby can stay in the crib looking around/sticking finger in his mouth/stomping his legs for 30 mins+ 2) how does the ferber method work if baby is waking up at night because he is hungry? do you pick him up to feed? or wait 60-75 mins of reassuring before feeding?

How did you manage to transition out of the swaddle?

Hello. Can you talk about your experience with IVF while working full time? thanks.

Would love to see a video about Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma during pregnancy

Can you please clarify, If the baby wakes up after 20 min, lays in crib for 25 min and then get them out of the crib. Does their wake window start when they woke up after the 20 min or after you get them out of the crib at 45 min?

What about night time sleep. We have a great routine. She does to sleep just find but she wakes up frequently and won’t go back to sleep on her own

So how did you get your daughter used to not using a swaddle? In the same boat here, and would love to know!

Thank you soooo much for saying it’s okay that we use nap schedules. Some family doesn’t understand that we want our daughter to take good naps as she sleeps better and is a happier toddler.

My baby only takes 30-40 minute naps but I'm not sure how to get her to increase them ): she just wakes up around this range every time.

My baby is 5 month old and just refuses to sleep during the day. The 1st nap goes down well, the 2nd and 3 rd nap just don't happen. We follow wake windows and sometimes she stays up for 4 hours, the minute her body touches the crib she starts crying . The room is dark with good temperature. What can I do to fix this ?

If she wakes up in say 20 mins and we leave her in her crib till it’s 40-45 mins, she will be crying for the entire time she is awake and in the crib… Is my understanding correct? Is that what is being done by others generally? Advise at: 11:28

Do you guys recommend covid shot for a 9 month old going on 10 months? My husband doesnt want it yet bc its not FDA approved. Does that matter?

Hi guys! Love your videos! Any tips on the 8 months sleep regression? My 8 months old daughter is sleep trained and was able to put herself to sleep in 5 minutes and sleep all night but this last week was a nightmare. She is constantly resisting her sleep and wakes up yelling and screeching in the middle of the night. She is only sleeping 8-9 hours and she naps for 30 minutes at most.. is it separation anxiety? She doesnt seem to be teething.. thank you 😊

My son is 13 months old. We started the chair method at night and he really did well, we were able to walk out of the room with only very minor fussing at about 10 days. BUT, he didn't nap at all for those 10 days no matter what we did. We had to nap train at that 10 days, and it didn't go well. It was so much harder than nighttime.

can this be done with a 7 week old?

Great video! Any advise for me, my 3 month old keeps waking up after about 30 minutes during nap time, she wakes up crying. It seems like she doesn’t know how to transition between sleep cycles during the day? She doesn’t have this problem at night. I’ve ended up holding my baby during naps to help her nap longer.

Do you have any advice for helping a baby nap in a car, such as while out running errands or on a road trip? Our 6 month old sleeps fantastic at night, and takes her 3 daytime naps at home in her crib with little to no fuss. But put her in a car and get anywhere close to nap time and she is screaming a crying up a storm until you take her home to her crib. It makes getting any errands done nearly impossible, and I have been trying to plan a road trip to introduce her to family, but currently don’t see how it would be possible with her refusal to nap anywhere that isn’t her crib. Do you think it’s just the light, like maybe adding curtains in the backseat would help her take a nap? Or am I doomed to never leave my house with my baby? 🤦🏼‍♀️😰

So do the nighttime and nap training at the same time? I started nighttime training last night and attempted nap training today and it was a disaster

Is it me that any one of the methods will not work if I left him crying he will not self sooth he just start to cry for hours

Or my baby's wake window during the day, 6-8 hours. She just, won't, sleep. Is this a disorder?

Hi, just checking if maybe my little one isn’t ready for this. We’ve done the night time training and he got the hang of that really quick. We’re on night 3 and he cried for a min or two and then just fussed a bit and was asleep within 15 mins. I’ve read that you should have the same approach to naps and you guys reinforce this but he just does not sleep at all, cries the whole hour 😢 We are only on day 3 of trying this so maybe it’ll get better? Just looking for some guidance please. He is 18 weeks old so just over 4 months.Thank you.

Hello thanks for this. I sleep trained at 5 months and she is a wonderful sleeper at night. She has always been bad with naps but I could sleep train until about 8 months by letting her gently cry it out. However at 10 months now, I can’t sleep train for naps because she can sit up and pulls to stand so she just gets up and then won’t go back to lying position! Help! What can I do?

Hello! My daughter is 5 months old and sleeps wonderfully (at times) in my arms. 100% a contact napper. While I absolutely love being her comfy place, I would love to be able to transfer her to her crib for naps. She sleeps well in her crib at night (aside from the night wakings that we are going through right now due to a sleep regression) but will wake up almost instantly when transferred to her crib. She only falls asleep after feedings. I don't mind feeding her to sleep.... its time that she and I have that is special. But it means that I have to transfer her asleep instead of the recommended "put the baby down drowsy". Any thoughts or resources would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

what if they wake and are crying after a 35 min nap? YOu mentioned that your daughter would wake early and you let her stay in there for another 20 min but was she crying? Would you suggest letting them cry for that 5-10-15 min intervals. Or end the nap?

I was wondering 🤔 if one has the same environment (white noise, dark room etc) for nap times, doesn't that condition them to only be able to sleep nap times in the same conditions? What will happen if we can't be home for a nap, will my little one still be able to fall asleep if the conditions aren't the same?

K so what do you do when you’ve tried sleep training at night for several nights and my stubborn boy screams bloody murder for over an hour until you cave and rock him to sleep?😅

Ok please clarify; baby woke up at 20-25 minutes CRYING. You said to let them lay in their crib for another 20ish. Do you mean even if they are crying? You didn’t specify. You just said if baby wakes up at that mark, let them hang there. Thanks!

I have a 4 month old that is still struggling with sleep if not swaddled. I know you mentioned in the video that swaddling one arm in and one out and using the magic sleep suit didn’t work for your daughter (which I have tried also and hasn’t worked), how did you end up getting her to sleep without a swaddle?

Just curious and I will totally ask our Pediatrician at next visit, why do we have to wait until 4 months to start sleep training? Our girl just turned 2 months but at night typically goes 4 hrs in between feeds and is gaining weight. What makes a baby “ready” for sleep training? Thanks so much and love your content!!!

I have a baby that doesn't nap anywhere too even till now. he is 1 year old now. I used to put him to sleep anywhere when he was a newborn, unfortunately as he grow, it stopped working. I nap trained and sleep trained both at once (did not night wean) at 4 months old because good naps usually lead to good night sleeps XD His nap started to deterioate gradually from 5 weeks old and at 7-8 weeks he not sleep for 4hr of wake window no matter what I do, can you imagine that? He went crazy by the time it's evening, hours and hours of inconsolable crying. Some people was questioning it was my milk supply issue. At 3 months old, he was waking every hour at night. My mother in laws kept questioning me if it's because my milk isnt enough to fill him. Gosh, they really don't know how horrible it feels for the mother to say that. Nobody seems to think that baby's sleep is a science, but truthfully quite many of them do need help to learn to sleep. When I started dark room, sleep schedule, white noise, they thought I was crazy. Nobody likes the idea of white noise and dark room including my husband. They don't get it. I went ahead with everything myself and you know what, best decision ever, my husband is really appreciating what I have done now because he gets lots of peaceful night sleeps and a happy baby LOL

Our baby is like that LOL she gets harsh FOMO and WILL. NOT. SLEEP. if we're out and about LOL

Can you both open your own practice ♥️♥️

Zipadee is the flying squirrel one!

Omg my daughter is the same! She will only sleep in her crib or car seat. That’s it 😅

When did you notice naps got longer? My 16 week old won’t sleep longer than 45 min.

My daughter had a VERY hard time learning how to sleep. What helped was... re ognizi g when she was just fussing in her sleep, and time. She went from IMPOSSIBLE to put down for a nap during the day (only slept with my boob, or if I carried her in a carrier - hated strollers). With time, she woke less and less during thw night, and it was her dad taking over for mw at night, so she got no boobie then. Now (2.5 y/o) she fusses once between 1-2 AM, but then falls asleep again and sleeps until about 7:30-7:50. Sleep training did absolutely NOT work with her

My husband woke our baby girl up at 8am yesterday so I could go meet my sister for a few hours. She was not happy. She's not a morning person.

Should we start teaching baby how to sleep on their own with daytime Nap first and move onto teaching them how to sleep on their own at night time? My baby is 8 months old and we still rock and give him a bottle to fall asleep at night and nap time. Something needs to be done! :(

This is disappointing advice. I come from a place where sleep training is not the norm, but I know in the USA there is a lot of pressure to return to work, which is why I can imagine sleep training is so popular. I am really lucky to have been able to take a year or maternity leave so never needed to do any sleep training. Waking at night is so normal in the first year or more of life. My son wakes once or twice a night (usually 10pm and 5am) for a feed which works fine for us. I do practice the ‘pause’ so give him a couple of minutes before responding at night as sometimes if he wakes and cries he is just uncomfortable and wants to adjust his position. It was also disappointing that you did not talk about the wide range of normal for infant sleep and the fact those ‘wake windows’ have no scientific basis and are widely different depending on which ‘sleep expert’ you ask. Anything from 9-16 hours of total sleep is normal for babies and some babies need more or less naps. My son dropped to 2 naps at 5 months and 1 nap at 11 months as he gets major fomo during the day and loves to play and practice skills.

A baby cries for a reason.We never let our babies cry themselves to sleep.

I have always followed your channel with interest when it was about sound medical advice. Now I am being disappointed that some of the latest content about infant sleep has to be taken with a ton of salt. 1) I keep wondering what formal training do pediatrician and/or OBGYN get during medical school on regard to infant sleep, infant psychology and attachment. I don't assume either of those professions are extensively educated in this regard and so I am not sure where all this confidence in dispensing "medical" advice on infant sleep comes from. 2) Sleep training is mostly an USA practice that put ridiculous amount of expectation on infants and is driven by an insane obsession with independence and productivity placed on mothers that are required to go back to work in 12 weeks (if their are lucky). Stop selling sleep training as a smart perspective and a world-wide truth. 3) Babies are biologically meant to rely on their carers and sleep training practices have been proven to NOT improve babies sleep. Sleep trained babies still wake up at night, they just don't ask for their carers any more because they have learnt they won't be attended. And doesn't last: sleep training often need to be repeated, so the claim "few rough nights for a lifetime of good sleep" is simply a LIE. It is though excruciatingly hard on babies and their parents and that - alone - can have unexpected consequences. If it works on your child, good for you, but as as doctors, I would not take the responsibility of dispensing it as sound medical advice to the entire you tube community because it is not.

These videos are long winded out for a busy parent. Break it down fast like a wellness visit