Knowing how to put a baby to sleep is an important part of your baby developing healthy sleep habits.
While you can’t make a baby go to sleep, you can make it easier for them. From making sure they are going to sleep at the right time to developing a bedtime routine, you can gently guide your baby towards sleep and eliminate the difficulties that can come when your baby doesn’t want to fall asleep.
Read on for tips on how to get your infant to sleep, what to do to help infant sleep, the difference between how to put a newborn to sleep versus an older infant, and overall info on things to help babies sleep like a dream.
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Steps for How to Put a Baby to Sleep
While every baby and their personal likes and needs are unique, there are some tried-and-true ways to approach bedtime so that your baby falls asleep fast and stays asleep longer.
Determine the proper time for sleep
When you follow an age-appropriate sleep schedule that takes into account the days wake time and nap time, you have a better chance of your baby falling asleep quickly – and staying asleep longer – at bedtime. It ensures proper wake windows and that your baby has enough daytime sleep without affecting their night sleep or causing them to fight bedtime.
The Smart Sleep Coach by PampersTM app has an AI-driven sleep schedule that recommends the ideal bedtime for your baby. Following the schedule, coupled with all the following steps, is the ideal way to put a baby to sleep.
Set the stage with a calm environment
Creating a serene sleep space helps signal to your baby that it’s time to wind down. Here’s how to make the environment sleep-friendly:
- Avoid Overstimulation Before Bed: Transition from high-energy activities to calm ones an hour before bedtime.
- Dim the Lights: Lower the brightness to signal nighttime is beginning.
- Minimize Noise: Use a sound machine to block out distractions.
- Maintain Ideal Room Temperature: Ensure an ideal room temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold, aiming for around 68–72°F (20-22°C).
Establish a consistent bedtime routine
There are many reasons why a bedtime routine is important for a child of any age.
A predictable series of calming activities helps your baby associate these steps with sleep. Your routine might include:
- A Warm Bath: Bath time can be soothing and helps lower your baby’s core body temperature, signaling bedtime.
- Massage: A gentle massage with baby-safe lotion can help your baby relax. Here’s how to massage your baby to sleep.
- Story or Lullaby: A short, calming story or one of the best lullabies for sleep can help soothe your baby and prepare them to close their eyes.
- Pajamas and Diaper Change: Dressing your baby in cozy pajamas and a fresh diaper is a great way to start winding down.
- Cuddles and Kisses
If you’re wondering how to put a baby to bed fast because they are overtired, you can simply speed up this bedtime routine. The minute you notice sleepy cues and fussiness is the time to move it along!
Lay them down sleepy but still awake
If your baby is over the age of 3 or 4 months, laying them in their crib sleepy but still awake helps them get comfortable with falling asleep on their own. You might:
- Hold and rock your baby until they seem tired, then place them in their crib.
- Use gentle shushing sounds or patting if they fuss after being laid down.
Consider a sleep training method
If your baby is older than 4 months, you can explore one of the many methods of sleep training, which are ways to help your baby develop their innate independent sleep skills. Sleep training sleeping methods for newborns aren’t yet possible – or safe.
There is even a gentle sleep training method which is a slow and steady approach where you offer a lot of support to your little one to get them used to falling asleep at bedtime.
If you decide to sleep train, consistency is key. Take this free baby sleep quiz to see what sleep training method may be right for you and your baby, based on your own parental style and your baby’s unique personality.
What Can I Give a Baby to Sleep?
Parents often wonder “what can I give baby to sleep” as part of their bedtime routine.
Pacifiers are one thing that you can give a baby to sleep as they help safely calm them. You also can give lots of cuddles and kisses, and of course a story or song, to help soothe them for sleep. More on how and when to introduce pacifiers.
Pediatric sleep consultants recommend that you do not give an older baby a bottle or nurse them as part of your routine.
Once a baby is out of the newborn stage, around 3 or 4 months old, feeding to sleep could cause a sleep crutch or an unhealthy sleep habit, which means they rely on feeding to fall asleep. This can cause difficulties with independent sleep as they age.
You also should not give a baby stuffed animals or blankets in their crib to sleep until their first birthday.
What if Baby Won’t Fall Asleep?
Babies can have trouble falling asleep for various reasons, from overstimulation to hunger or even a missed nap, which causes an overtired baby.
They also could be experiencing sleep regression, which is a temporary period of sleep disruption often caused by a developmental milestone such as teething or learning a new skill such as crawling, or even they are sick and not feeling well.
They also could be entering a nap transition, which is when babies stop napping or drop one of their daytime naps. Signs of this includes fighting bedtime or resisting a nap, as they don’t need the extra daytime sleep.
If your baby won’t fall asleep and none of the steps for how to put a baby to sleep are working, make sure you're tracking sleeps in the Smart Sleep Coach app and following the updated bedtime which adjusts depending on how naps went. The app also has expert advice for nap transitions – sometimes a trick is just switching to an earlier bedtime!
Difference Between How to Put a Newborn to Sleep Versus Infant to Sleep
The difference between how to put a newborn to sleep versus how to put an infant to sleep largely comes down to their developmental stages, sleep needs, and their ability to self-soothe.
Newborns are too young to self-soothe, which makes putting them to sleep a little trickier. However, often how to make a newborn fall asleep fast is as simple as feeding them – unlike an older baby, they are still too young to develop a sleep crutch.
Also, a newborn doesn’t yet know the difference between day and night so tend to eat and sleep around the clock. This means often time “putting a newborn to sleep” means simply defining what sleeps of theirs happens during your nighttime and treating those wakeups and feedings differently.
Things to help newborns sleep
Unlike an older baby, newborns are too young to develop sleep crutches or not healthy sleep habits.
Therefore, letting them sleep when held and feeding them to sleep are perfectly safe and okay – and often recommended! Especially given they are awake all day and night. Just make sure you stay awake!
Once your newborn reaches around 3 or 4 months old and starts to understand the difference between day and night and develop their ability to fall asleep without you holding or feeding them, this is when the steps outlined in this article become more relevant.
However, knowing a newborn’s wake windows and also doing things to differentiate the day and nighttime can help a newborn develop their circadian rhythm and develop the understanding that nighttime means sleep. Following the Eat Play Sleep schedule for babies is one way to start helping them differentiate their days and nights.
Important baby sleep safety: The best way to lay a newborn to sleep, and all babies until their first birthday, is on their back. You can limit their Moro reflex, or their startle reflex, by laying them down legs first followed by their butt, back, and then head. (This is a reason why babies move so much in their sleep.) Additionally, if you swaddle your newborn, stop swaddling immediately if they show signs of rolling over. Also, make sure you know how to swaddle correctly.
Final Thoughts
Every parent wants their baby to sleep well at night – and likely wants bedtime to be an easy, seamless, calming time of the day.
While there are periods for every baby, child, or even adult, that may disrupt the evening routine, such as illness or overtiredness, remaining consistent and following age-appropriate wake windows often helps get your sleep back on track.
