Life

How To Use The Weissbluth Method For Naps

by Autumn Jones

With so much focus on getting your baby to sleep at night, it's possible you could be overlooking another important part of your baby's day: naps. Especially in the first year of life, babies spend a hefty amount of time sawing logs. Between nighttime sleep and naps, your little one needs plenty of rest to help them grow and develop. But making sure all that sleep is quality may take some trial and error. Using sleeping training for naps can be just as beneficial as it is for night sleep, so learning how to use the Weissbluth method for naps may be what your little one needs to make the most of nap time.

In the world of sleep training, Dr. Marc Weissbluth is credited with introducing the term "extinction," which means crying it out with no rescue from the parents, according to the Baby Sleep Site. The practice of crying it out is the central belief behind the Weissbluth method, so if you want to use this for naps, you need to be comfortable with allowing your baby to cry until she falls asleep. Once you've decided this method will be right for you, you can start to make your plan for implementing it for nap time.

As Weissbluth told Today's Parent, putting your baby to sleep drowsy, but awake is key to healthy sleep. However, Weissbluth does advocate for using some type of soothing in the time leading up to putting your baby down to sleep. Sleep training is something he believes you should start right away if you're going to be using his method. So as soon as your baby comes home from the hospital, you should start putting your plan into motion.

To help you keep track of sleeping and waking patterns, Weissbluth has created the Weissbluth Method Infant Nap App, so you have all the info to help your sleep training efforts in one place. It tracks your baby's naps, gives you nap time reminders, and offers advice for how to make the Weissbluth method work best for your family.

Although the app is handy, it's not necessary for success. In order to use the Weissbluth method for naps, just remember to soothe, put to bed awake at the same time each day, and let your baby cry it out. Hopefully before long, your baby will be enjoying naps that give her the rest she needs to grow and develop into a healthy child.