Is it possible to sleep train a baby who doesnt cry?

[Thesunwillcomeout]

I know sleep training is controversial and I don't really want a debate about whether I should or shouldn't. All the sleep training methods I've heard of seem to be about what to do with babies who wake up crying. Dd (7 months) has started to wake up from her lunchtime sleep after 45 minutes. She used to be able to get herself back to sleep but now lies wide awake in her cot. She doesn't cry. 45 minutes is not enough sleep so she ends up over tired and misses her afternoon sleep and wakes in the night. Really need to crack the lunchtime sleep. Would consider sleep training if it was possible with a non crying baby

You could try the 'wake to sleep' method - basically get the baby to gently stir after about 35 mins and the theory is that you tip them into the next sleep cycle. You need to do it for a few days until they get into the habit of sleeping for longer.

If she is happily lying down, that is the best you can hope for - no sleep training at any age can actually make a child go to sleep.

It is totally normal for this to happen at 6-7months and it is really annoying.

When mine were doing this (three dc), I'd leave them 10 mins after they woke up then I'd pop in and check there was no poo, they hadn't rolled over etc. Then I'd give them a kiss and leave them another 10 mins. Then I'd get them up if they hadn't gone back to sleep.

If they've only had 45 mins then I'd give them a very short nap, 20-30 mins, sometime between 4 and 5pm but up no later than 5pm. I found this didn't affect over night sleeping.

My youngest is 9 month old and reliably doing 2-2.5 hours at lunch time now so it's only a couple of months of annoying lunch time naps to get through.

You could do with finding a way to pull baby through the light sleeping phase at the end of one sleep cycle, into the next sleep cycle. The idea is to get baby at just the right point so she doesn't wake up properly from this light sleeping.

Having the nap in something you can move is the best way to actively teach babies to lengthen their nap. So a pushchair, sling, bouncer or similar. I wouldnt move to static cot naps until naps are consistantly lengthened for exactly this reason.

If you aren't able to lull back to a deep sleep and baby wakes up properly, I'd give up on that nap and just reduce awake time until the next nap (so have more naps per day). Chances of going back to sleep after waking from a 45 minute nap are marginal at this age.

Agree with RN, add in a cat nap later in the afternoon. She will probably lengthen naps with age, but I don't think it's a sleep training issue as she is probably just not tired enough to go straight back to sleep even though she needs another nap more quickly.

Thanks all. It's good to hear that it's common. I had been wondering about naps in the pram and rocking but was worried about the proverbial rod for my back. Haven't really got anything to lose though

Oh it's fine to do it on the move if you can be bothered. I found that if I got her to sleep in the buggy I could sit down in a cafe or something and just jiggle her every now and again to keep her asleep but if we went home she would wake up immediately so it depends how you want to spend your time. Now she's napping reliably I like to be at home so I can sit on the sofa and eat biscuits for a bit!!

Does she have a morning nap before the problematic lunchtime one? If she does then she might be ready to go down to two naps as she's about the right age for that. At 7 mo my DS was roughly on the 2-3-4 schedule, which is wake, nap 2 hours later, awake for 3 hours, second nap and then bed about 4 hours after they wake from that. Might be worth a try!

She does have a morning nap, she copes best when she has about 45 minutes but is only managing about 25 at the moment. Early waking makes the timing tricky often. Am liking the 2 3 4 concept. My feeling is that she needs more daytime sleep not less though. Could be worth a try when the lunchtime sleep is better. On current form, she would be going to bed at 4