What does Drowsy But Awake Mean?
One of the biggest myths about sleep training is you should put your baby down DROWSY but awake! What does that even mean? The worst part about this advice is that there are probably several different definitions of it.
Making it even harder for YOU as a parent to figure it out.
what does drowsy but awake look like?
One person might mean just ready for sleep/at the end of the their child’s awake time. Another could think it means to put them down when their eyelids are heavy. Someone else could interpret it to mean when they’re doing the slow blink and staying closed for more than a few seconds.
See why it’s confusing?
how to do drowsy but awake
Well, this is the tough part to answer because again, it can look different for every newborn including the level of “drowsy” it took for them to settle easily into sleep. Some kids don’t have a clear “drowsy” stage while others can nail it spot on.
Needless to say…. it’s an experiment with newborns.
We hear things like, “drowsy but awake is impossible.” We get it, truly. Read more for what to do instead!
when to start drowsy but awake
Your best time to try this is going to be in the early weeks/months with a new baby before 4 months when their sleep cycles change and mature. It’s less effective outside of the newborn stage!
what if drowsy but awake doesn't work?
As a sleep consultant, I have plenty of phone calls with parents who are calling with a common troubleshooting issue! Their babies who once went to sleep “independently” are now waking up when put into their sleep space and are having multiple night wakings.
Why did it work then and not working anymore?
The reason is because these parents are putting their NEWBORNS down DROWSY…. That may work with a newborn, but once they hit the 4th month sleep regression, it most likely will not work anymore.
Drowsy is the first stage of sleep… once a newborn’s sleep matures, putting a baby down drowsy can often lead to them waking up right away and feeling confused and disoriented! This confusion often leads to MORE crying and MORE night wakings.
As a sleep consultant, we never suggest putting babies down DROWSY but AWAKE, instead we say “put your baby in their sleep space WIDE AWAKE.” The reason is because drowsy is such a subjective word. Some parents can interpret drowsy as eyes open and calm and some parents can interpret it as basically asleep, just not fully asleep.
Wide awake is scary! You think there will be MORE of a fight that way— but we actually find the opposite.
If you’ve been following us for awhile, you know that it is biologically normal for babies (and us too) to have multiple night wakings, however, independent sleepers can easily put themselves back to sleep. BUT, if you are putting your baby down drowsy, you are assisting them too much! When they wake up in the middle of the night or early from a nap, they will look for you to put them BACK in that drowsy state!
What are ways that can put them to sleep drowsy?
Bottle or nursing too close to bedtime
Quick nap too close to bed
Put baby down awake: Not drowsy, nor already asleep BUT awake! This is how your little one will learn to go to sleep and then back to sleep independent of sleep props.
Struggling with the wide awake component? We can help! Work 1:1 with Jenna here and you’ll get it all figured out.
