When is the best time to start sleep training?

Sleep expert Kim West, LCSW-C, shares advice for new parents on the best and easiest time to start sleep coaching their baby
Baby Sleep Advice | When To Start Sleep Training | Kids in the House
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

When is the best time to start sleep training?

Comment
66
Like
66
Transcription: 
The best and easiest way to start sleep coaching is between six and eight months. That's when it just feels magical and quick. Then it gets a little bit harder as our children get older because they have more stamina and, sort of, fight it off. It's inconsistent for a little while and that makes it harder. Once you do have decided, this is it. We are going to get started, we have three weeks in our schedule to focus on this. Our child is healthy. We've gotten approval and support from our pediatrician, then we start, after a great day of naps. This is very important. You don't want to start when they are running on sleep vapors and two, 30 minute naps. You really want to get the naps any way that you can get them. You set yourself up for an early enough bedtime, and you put them down awake. You always start sleep training at night. Then you address the naps the next day. That's really important and a great question to ask.

Sleep expert Kim West, LCSW-C, shares advice for new parents on the best and easiest time to start sleep coaching their baby

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Kim West, LCSW-C

Psychotherapist & Author, The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight

Kim West is a mother of two and a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical (LCSW-C) who has been a practicing child and family social worker for more than 19 years. Known as The Sleep Lady by her clients, over the past 12 years she has helped thousands of tired parents all over the world learn to listen to their intuition, recognize their child’s important cues and behaviors, and gently create changes that promote and preserve his or her healthy sleep habits. 

West has appeared on the Dr. Phil, Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, TLC’s Bringing Home Baby  and CNN, and has been written about in a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Baby Talk,  Parenting, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today, The Telegraph, The Irish Independent and the Washington Post. West hosts the sleep section of The Newborn Channel, played in maternity wards in hospitals across the country. West is the author of The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy with Joanne Kenen. She is also the author of 52 Sleep Secrets for Babies and The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook.

Kim received her master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She lives with her family in Annapolis, Maryland.

More Parenting Videos from Kim West, LCSW-C >