How to Handle Your Baby’s Night Wakings

This article provides advice specifically for babies 3 to 12 months of age.

Night waking and night crying pull on our heartstrings. And of course, we often jump right up because we don’t want the entire household to wake (and we hope to lull our little one back to sleep before they fully wake). Night waking is the biggest sleep complaint of a baby’s first year. About 25% of 5-month-olds can’t sleep 6 hours in a row. And frequent night-wakers end up receiving 1.5 hours less sleep overall!

New Zealand researcher Jacqueline Henderson and her colleagues had moms track their babies’ sleep patterns. They found that:

• 50% of 3-month-olds slept 5 hours straight. (Not bad!)
• 50% of 5-month-olds slept 8 hours, from 10 p.m.to 6 a.m. (Jackpot!)
• 15 percent of infants couldn’t even sleep 5 hours straight by their first birthday. (Uh-oh!)

A different Canadian study found that:

• A third of 5 month-olds who woke at night still couldn’t manage 6 hours of unbroken sleep at two and a half years of age. (Yiiiiikes!)

What to Do to Reduce Night Waking

So don’t just wait for your 5-month-old’s sleep to fall into place. Luckily, there are effective ways to get your baby on the right path earlier. First, establish a calming bedtime (and pre-bedtime) routine. Use a strong, rumbly white noise all night long—this helps your sweetie learn to self-soothe by providing cues that don’t involve your presence.

If your infant is past 5 months and is still waking between midnight and 6 a.m., you should consider the following:

Night Waking Causes

• They're overexcited.
• Something’s bugging them (including hunger).
• They've learned too many wrong habits and not enough good sleep cues.
• Your bedtime timing is off (it’s too early, too late, or too irregular).

Does that list sound familiar? Not surprisingly, these are exactly the same reasons infants fight falling asleep. Addressing these issues will end or diminish night wakings for most babies 3 to 12 months of age.

But if there’s anything I know after decades of baby watching it’s that setting a great routine and sleep cues like white noise and a lovey (a hand-sized stuffed animal or a hanky-sized blanky, safe after 12 months)—can do the trick to improve your little one’s sleep.

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Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider.