Naps should happen immediately when your baby shows signs of tiredness. If you wait too long, she becomes overtired, “wired up,” and unable to sleep.

Once you are familiar with the your baby’s nap needs you can plan a nap routine to start the wind-down process. If consistent naps are new to you look more for your baby’s signs of tiredness and scrimp on the routine until you settle into a predictable pattern. In other words, don’t begin a lengthy pre-nap routine if your baby is clearly ready to sleep! Watch for these signs of fatigue; your baby may demonstrate one or more of these:

You have probably experienced this scenario: Your baby looks tired and you think, “Time for a nap.” So, you wash her hands and face, change her diaper, answer a phone call, put out the dog, and head for baby’s crib or the family bed, only to find that she’s suddenly wide awake and anxious to play!

What happened? She has moved through her window of tiredness and gotten that “second wind” that buys her another hour or two of alert time before she re-enters her tired state. This can often happen later in the day. Suddenly, your baby is (finally!) ready for a nap at dinnertime, and the plot thickens- do you put her for a late nap and thus extend bedtime, or keep her awake and deal with a tired, fussy baby? Rather than face this ordeal, respond earlier to her signs of fatigue and get her in for her nap right at that time.

Once you have watched your baby carefully for a week or so, you should be able to create a nap schedule that works with her daily periods of alertness and tiredness, thus making your nap schedule easy to adhere to.

Once you’ve established a nap schedule for your baby, it is very helpful if you create a simple but specific nap routine. This routine should be different from your nighttime routine, although it can have similarities that signal sleep- for example, the presence of a lovely or special sleep-inducing music. Follow your nap routine the same way every day. (Except, as I mentioned before, if your baby is showing clear signs of being tired and ready to sleep. Then abbreviate or even eliminate your routine for that day.)

For a reluctant napper, your routine might include some relaxing motion, such as rocking/relaxing in a swing/walking in a sling or stroller, and some gentle lullaby music.

A nap routine doesn’t have to be long and involved to be effective. If your baby’s nap occurs about the same time every day there will be many subtle cues, such as the timing of his lunch, that tell your baby that nap time is nearing.

Better naps mean better nighttime sleep.

Newborn infants have irregular sleep cycles, which take about 6 months to mature. While newborns sleep an average of 16 to 17 hours per day, they may only sleep 1 or 2 hours at a time. As children get older, the total number of hours they need for sleep decreases and they also begin to sleep for longer periods of time. However, different children have different needs. It is normal for even a 6 month old to wake up briefly during the night, but these awakenings should only last a few minutes and children should be able to go back to sleep easily on their own.

Here are some suggestions that can help you establish good sleep habits so that everyone can sleep better at night:

1. Try to keep her as calm and quiet as possible.
When feeding or changing your baby during the night, avoid stimulating her or waking her up too much so she can easily fall back to sleep.

2. Don't let your infant sleep as long during the day.
If she sleeps for large blocks of time during the day, she will be more likely to be awake during the night.

3. Put your baby into the crib at the first signs of drowsiness.
Ideally it is best to let the baby learn to relax herself to sleep. If you make a habit of holding or rocking her until she falls asleep, she may learn to need you to get back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night. This may interfere with her learning to settle herself and fall asleep alone.

4. Avoid putting your baby to bed with a pacifier.
Your baby may get used to falling asleep with it and have trouble learning to settle herself without it. Pacifiers should be used to satisfy the baby's need to suck, not help a baby sleep. If your baby falls asleep with the pacifier, gently remove it before putting her in bed.

5. Begin to delay your reaction to infant fussing at 4 to 6 months of age.
Wait a few minutes before you go in to check her, because she will probably settle herself and fall back to sleep in a few minutes anyway. If she continues to cry, check on her, but avoid turning on the light, playing, picking up, or rocking her. If crying continues or begins to sound frantic, wait a few more minutes and then recheck the baby. If she is unable to settle herself, consider what else might be bothering her. She may be hungry, wet or soiled, feverish, or otherwise not feeling well.

6. Ideally, by a few weeks of age a baby should sleep in a separate room from his parents.