06/19/2026
They sound intuitive but are actually working AGAINST sleep…
If you feel like you’ve tried everything and your baby is still fighting sleep, it might not be what you’re doing. It might be HOW you’re doing it.
😴 FOLLOWING SLEEPY CUES INSTEAD OF WAKE WINDOWS
Rubbing eyes, yawning, zoning out. These feel like obvious sleep signals but here’s the problem: sleepy cues and overstimulated cues look almost identical beyond the newborn stage. A bored baby and an overtired baby can look exactly the same.
Cues alone are unreliable and following them is why you end up with a baby who doesn’t need very long to feel rested and ready to party.
⏱️ RUSHING THROUGH BEDTIME
A quick bedtime feels efficient but your baby’s nervous system needs to shift out of stimulated mode with your help. That does not happen with just bath, feed, bed.
A slow, connected bedtime routine regulates their nervous system, fills their emotional cup before a long stretch without you, and cues their brain that sleep is coming.
When that routine is doing its job, the transfer stops being a fight.
🍼 FEEDING OR ROCKING TO SLEEP
This one feels like the most natural thing in the world and it works in the moment. But here is what is happening underneath it….
Your baby falls asleep in your arms feeling completely safe. Then they’re transferred to the crib.
When they stir between sleep cycles and wake up in a completely different place without you there, their brain registers it as a threat.
Their safety alarm goes off. They genuinely do not know it is safe to sleep separate from you yet and THAT’S the core of their wakings.
That is a skill they need to learn, and it starts at the beginning of the night, not in the middle of it.
💬 Comment “TRAINING” and I’ll send you my free training that walks you through how to go from hourly wakings to sleeping through the night with a foundations-first approach.