Why do babies fight sleep? First, babies aren’t born knowing the value of a good night’s sleep and they lack maturity. The 3 main reasons babies fight sleep are over-tiredness, under-tiredness, and separation anxiety. In today’s article, we explain 3 reasons your baby might be fighting sleep and 5 things you can try today to help!
Baby Fighting Sleep? 3 Reasons Why
There are 3 primary reasons why most babies fight sleep at bedtime and nap time:
Baby is Overtired
This is hands-down the most common reason why your baby is fighting sleep. Simply put, a baby becomes overtired when you miss their sleep window (that moment when they are drowsy enough to fall asleep fairly quickly, but not so tired that they have begun crying) and put them down for a nap or for bed too late. It sounds odd, I know, but babies really can become too tired to fall asleep easily. This is because our bodies release hormones to fight fatigue and give us our “second wind.”
Baby is Not Tired Enough for Sleep
In my 15+ years as a sleep consultant, I can tell you that this is less common but still a reality in some cases – especially for toddlers fighting sleep.
If your baby is fighting sleep, rewind and think about their most recent wake window. While younger babies definitely need short wake times throughout the day, most toddlers are capable of much longer wake times. In our experience, a toddler who’s fighting sleep may very well not be tired enough to sleep.
This can also be true for more social babies and perceptive ones as well. Simply put, perceptive and/or social babies are more likely to fight sleep simply because they don’t want to miss a minute of fun, and they have learned that being awake is so much more stimulating and interesting than being asleep! These babies have what we can FOMO.
Your baby’s temperament will be very important when you’re thinking about your schedule and sleep routines.
Baby Has Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety doesn’t strike for most parents until around 7 months old and it seems to get a bit worse during the 8 to 10-month sleep regression. But when it strikes, it can certainly lead to your baby fighting sleep! Separation anxiety tends to really peak around 18 months, and can also re-surface again around the 2 year mark.
5 Tips to Help Babies Fighting Sleep
While your baby fighting sleep can be incredibly stressful and frustrating, rest assured there are remedies that may improve it:
Move bedtime to either an earlier or a later time in the evening.
If your baby fights sleep because they are overtired, then moving bedtime up to an earlier point in the evening can really help. You may also want to try shortening your bedtime routine a bit – shorter routines can help your baby feel relaxed and drowsy but also ensure that you’re not keeping your baby up too long before bedtime.
However, if you suspect that your baby is fighting sleep because they aren’t tired enough to fall asleep, then try moving bedtime later. Again, this is particularly true for toddlers – if your toddler is still taking two naps a day, for example, then your bedtime may need to bumped back fairly late in order to make sure your toddler is tired enough for sleep. And in these cases, you may need to extend your bedtime routine, to give your toddler plenty of time to wind down.
In other words, be sure to set your baby or toddler’s schedule appropriate for their age!
Institute a nap routine, if you haven’t already.
Many of you no doubt have a solid bedtime routine in place – but lots of parents overlook the nap routine! But in our experience, a nap time routine can really help a baby or toddler go from full-on playing and fun to falling asleep. If your baby is fighting sleep at nap time, and you suspect it’s because they are having trouble transitioning from playtime to nap time, then try a calming nap routine. Just be sure to keep it on the short side – one story and a quick lullaby is great.
Adjust your baby’s feeding and sleeping schedule to allow for more or less wake time.
If you’re asking yourself, “Why is my baby fighting sleep?”, odds are you need to make some schedule adjustments. A baby who is overtired may be taking too few naps, or taking short naps. Conversely, a baby who isn’t tired enough at nap time and bedtime may be ready to drop a nap, or to have a later bedtime.
One other thing to consider is that some babies need less sleep than their peers. Are they smart? Possibly! There are theories to say gifted children need less sleep than their peers. However, if your baby needs a lot of sleep, take heart that I’m sure you’ll find plenty of gifted children who need a lot of sleep just the same!
For help in determining the best, most sleep-inducing schedule for your child, check out our sample sleep and feeding schedules by age.
Give your child a little space.
If your baby or toddler is pushing away from you during the nap time or bedtime routine, keep in mind they may be communicating that they want to unwind and do it themself particularly if they are a toddler. There is no harm in putting your child down, scooting away a little, and just giving your little one a break. If your toddler is older, you may want to try leaving the room for a few minutes, and then returning to try again later. It’s not a punishment or a consequence – it’s just you respecting your toddler’s emotions, and giving them the space that then seem to be requesting. At some point, I remember I had to figure out that my sons had outgrown being rocked and were trying to communicate they just wanted me to put them down in their cribs!
For separation anxiety, check-in and provide comfort, but work not to create new sleep problems.
As I said earlier, separation anxiety is a less common cause of a baby fighting sleep. However, if that’s the cause of your baby fighting sleep, then you’ll want to take a look at this article on separation anxiety and sleep for tips about how to manage this problem without creating additional sleep problems.
Resources:
Do Gifted Children Need Less Sleep?
Hey
My baby is 5 month old and he cries a lot before sleeping may it be day time or night.
Swinging, lullbies etc doesn’t help much.
I read so many articles mentioning put baby to sleep when he is drowsy but even that doesn’t work.
It’s really hard to watch just all baby crying loud .????
Also, daytime naps are not long maximum he sleeps for like half an hour.
During night we go for dream feeding so nights are better.
Could you help me solve the problem, I would prefer not going by cry it out method.
Awaiting response
Hi @Neha –
Thank you for writing to us. I am sorry to hear about your baby’s sleep issues, but please know that you are not alone! We’d love to help! While is is common for some babies to cry a little before sleep to “unwind” a little, longer periods of crying before each sleep time could be caused by a number of things! First, you may want to take a look at your little one’s overall schedule and be sure that his naps and bedtime are at good times for him. Perhaps he is overtired? Undertired? For certain answers and certain help, I do believe you will benefit from one of our Personalized Consultation Packages, where we will work directly with you on a detailed plan you can commit to and feel good about. We have a very holistic view and approach to helping families with their sleep. It’s not always about strict sleep training or cry-it-out or what-not, but is about the whole child and figuring out the right mix of everything for that individual child. We know that limiting crying is every parent’s desire, and we work to really help the whole baby, the whole family, and to also limit tears for everyone! We 100% personalize our advice for each individual family based on their history, goals, baby’s personality, and family philosophies. We do not make blanket statements that all babies can sleep through the night by a certain age or weight without feedings, either. We know that all babies are truly unique and therefore will have unique needs and require a unique plan.
You can read about all of our sleep consultation packages and purchase directly online here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
Thank you again and hang in there!
Hi, are there any references for your advice?
Cheers,
/Chris
@Christopher – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village and for reading! We have worked with thousands of families across the globe over the past decade and have shared some of their stories, in their own words, on our parent’s stories page. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can do so here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-site-reviews-and-testimonials/ If you’re requesting something other than this, please feel free to reach out to our Client Relations Team here, at any time: https://www.babysleepsite.com/contact/?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=contact Thank you, again, for reading!
Hi! Thanks for the page!!.. I have a little angel of 6 months old. How we can understand the her sleeping time?
@Sandy – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village. Here’s a resource for you if you haven’t seen it already – it’s a sample 6 month old sleep schedule that you can use as a general guideline: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/6-month-old-baby-schedule/ and this one is a guide to understanding your 6 month old’s sleep a little better: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-guide/4-5-6-month-old-baby/. I hope reading through them offers some help in understanding your little one’s sleep a little better. Hang in there, Sandy, and please stop in to see us again soon!
Thanks for these tips Emily. I think the big one is being overtired. Sometimes when my wife comes home from work later than me, my baby girl gets all excited when she sees her, and consequently becomes overtired and can’t settle down to sleep. Nothing more frustrating than a baby who fights sleep! However, we’ve generally found a later bedtime works well for her (and us) as she will “usually” wake up around 7am if she goes to bed about 8pm.
Graham = > http://www.bilinguababy.com
Hi Graham –
Thank you for visiting our sleepy little village, and thanks for commenting! You are so right about babies getting over-stimulated and then having a hard time winding back down again! We are happy to hear that you have found what works for your family!