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In this episode of How Long ’Til Bedtime?, we dive into one of the most common questions parents ask: How long does sleep training actually take — and how can you tell if it’s working? Allison breaks down the realistic timeline she sees when working one-on-one with families, why the process isn’t always linear, and what improvement should look like in the first week.

You’ll learn:
— What progress typically looks like from night one through week two
— Why night four is a key milestone for evaluating success
— The difference between night sleep improvements and nap stabilization
— How temperament and method impact the timeline
— Why “sleep training” is more than just cry-it-out or choosing another method
— Red flags that signal your approach needs adjusting
— When it’s time to reach out for professional support

Allison also explains why you shouldn’t feel stuck in sleep training mode for weeks or months, and how small tweaks to schedule, method, or consistency can often make a significant difference.

If you’re unsure whether your child is getting the right amount of sleep for their age, download Allison’s free infant and toddler sleep guide. You can also book a free 15-minute Get Acquainted Call with Allison or a member of her team anytime.

Looking for expert guidance on your child’s sleep? Allison offers two free age-specific guides to help you discover how much sleep kids need to thrive—at any age. Get your free copy now: 0-2 Years Old or 3 to 10 years old

From baby sleep to toddler sleep, daycare naps to sleep training—How Long ’Til Bedtime? is the podcast for parents who want practical, guilt-free sleep tips they can actually use.

Hosted by pediatric sleep coach Allison Egidi, each episode delivers real solutions for every stage—from navigating newborn sleep struggles and weaning night feedings to helping your 3-year-old fall asleep independently (and stay asleep!). Whether you’re trying to make sense of daycare sleep patterns, craving your evenings back, or simply need a working mom podcast to keep you grounded, you’re in the right place.

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Scroll down for a full transcript of this episode.

216. How Long Sleep Training Really Takes — And How to Tell It’s Working

Hey guys, before we dive in today, I just wanna share a quick update on that brunch that I told you about a couple of weeks ago. So in case you missed it in the Before We Dive In segment, maybe it was two episodes ago, I mentioned that a mom of one of the girls on Ainsley’s basketball team invited me to a brunch at her home where she gathered a small group, actually a decently large group, I feel like there was maybe 18 people, of women for an intentional conversation about setting our priorities around the holidays and how each of us was going to approach it. It was such a lovely way to spend two and a half hours. I met over a dozen women who I did not know and we had really thought provoking and grounding conversations.

I enjoyed it so much that I’ve decided to host a similar gathering for the parents who are part of my Sleep Tight membership later this month. So it was a great, great brunch and moment of connection and something as I roll into the new year, I would love to talk about more on here with you guys, that concept of building intentional connections. So that’s my update. The brunch was great.

Okay, on to today’s episode. Today we’re diving into a question that I kind of feel like I get constantly when I’m connecting with parents who are interested in working with us. And that is how long does sleep training actually take? And maybe even more importantly, how will I know if it’s working? Whether you are thinking about sleep training or you feel like you have been sleep training forever with very little progress to show for it, this episode is going to give you clarity and hopefully more confidence.

Hey there, Allison here. Welcome back to How Long ‘Til Bedtime. Today we’re talking about sleep training, specifically how long it takes and how to know whether it’s working. I’m going to give you the short answer right out of the gate, but keep listening because not surprisingly, it’s more nuanced than a set number of days. When I work with a family one-on-one, I have them complete a two week sleep log as they’re implementing the sleep plan that we came up with. No matter what the sleep struggles were before we got started, by the end of those two weeks, my goals are generally the same. And that is that the family will have a baby or toddler and parents who can go into and through the bedtime routine without dread, anxiety, battles, or tears. I want them to have a child who goes to bed without resistance and falls asleep in five to 20 minutes. We want a baby or a toddler who can confidently put themselves not only to sleep at bedtime, but back to sleep if they wake up during the night. And who, depending on their age, is getting a solid 10 and a half to 12 hours of sleep at night. And we want a predictable nap schedule with age appropriate nap lengths.

That’s what we’re shooting for in about a two week period. But as you’ve probably either experienced personally or heard from your friends, the process sometimes can be quick, but often isn’t always perfectly linear and may take two weeks to hit those goals. And the method you’re using and how well that method aligns with your child’s temperament can absolutely impact the timeline. But before I go on, I want to acknowledge a trend that I’ve been seeing. More and more parents are telling me they want to improve their child’s sleep, but without quote sleep training.

This always makes me so curious to want to understand how they are defining sleep training. Lately, the trend seems to be equating sleep training with a no connection, cry it out approach. And it just baffles me because why do certain parenting terms get twisted in such a way that they immediately make people feel defensive or judgy or fearful. I just want to be clear here that I am supportive of sleep training. Helping families quote sleep train is a huge part of what I do every single day. But when I say sleep training, I am not just indicating that we’re going to cry it out, which by the way has several definitions by itself.

Cry it out is one method and it can be appropriate and effective for some babies. But there are also very hands-on sleep training methods as well that can be equally as effective. And in my opinion, sleep training, as I look at it, is much bigger than just a method. It’s about learning to work with your baby or your toddler or your child’s body, their temperament, and their sleep abilities and supporting them as you teach them healthy sleep habits. So that’s how I view sleep training.

And now that I just took you on that little detour, let’s go back to the original question. How long does sleep training take? I think it’s fair to say that more hands-on methods involving a lot of physical contact tend to progress a little slower. But when it comes to babies and toddlers, whether you choose a very hands-on approach, a middle-of-the-road approach, or a more hands-off approach, I like to see noticeable improvement with night sleep specifically by night four. That doesn’t mean bedtime is going to be absolutely perfect and that your baby is suddenly sleeping 12 glorious hours without a peep. But night four should look noticeably better than night one.

If things still look pretty darn similar to night one after night four, that’s when I usually like to think about starting to adjust something. Do we need to adjust the nap schedule or bedtime? Do we need to adjust the feeding approach? Do we need to tweak the sleep training method that you’re using? Do we need different method altogether? Usually a small tweak or two and sometimes a bigger tweak will shift us quickly in the right direction. Every child’s sleep training journey looks a little bit different, but here’s what I see most often. Significant improvement with night sleep during that first week, but it’s also not uncommon for naps to still be a little dicey during that first week. Naps often stabilize after nights become more consolidated and consistent.

And once we’ve been able to collect that full week of data that helps us find those anchor nap start times. It is very common to see nights improve during week one. And then naps really start to stabilize during week two. That’s why I love that two week sleep log process. So if naps are messy in the first seven to 10 days, that does not mean that sleep training isn’t working. It usually just means the schedule still needs a little fine tuning.

So what would I classify as not normal or not working. Every once in a while I will hear from a parent who says, we’ve been sleep training for a month or months and nothing is improving or there’s just been very little improvement or we’ve slid backwards, we stalled out. It’s just not improving and sticking. If that is you, here’s what I would say. You shouldn’t be stuck in sleep training mode for weeks or months on end. If you’ve been trying to sleep train your baby or toddler for more than 14 days and you are not seeing meaningful improvement, it’s almost always a sign that one, the schedule may be misaligned or two, the approach doesn’t match your child’s temperament or three, there’s an inconsistency that you aren’t able to see because you’re too close to it. That does not mean that you’re doing anything wrong or that you’ve harmed your child. It just means it’s time to shift those puzzle pieces around. And honestly, it’s probably time to check in with a sleep consultant or a sleep coach who can look at what has improved and where you’re still stuck and guide you to those tweaks that need to be made.

So to recap, here’s how to know if sleep training is working. I think two weeks is a realistic and reasonable window for significant transformation. You want to see night sleep clearly starting to improve after four nights. You want to feel like we’re moving in the right direction.

You don’t need to panic if naps don’t stabilize in that first week, but you should be able to start anchoring those naps start times as you move into week two. And what’s not normal is feeling like you’ve been sleep training forever. If you’re in that boat, please reach out for help. Whether it’s me or another qualified sleep expert, you do not have to keep grinding through something that’s clearly not working for your child.

If you’re not even sure if your child is getting the appropriate amount of sleep or how many naps they should be taking and how that could be impacting your sleep training journey, go grab my free infant and toddler sleep guide where I outline the appropriate amount of sleep for children by age. So I will link to that in the show notes.

And if this episode has brought up some new questions for you, or you’re wondering if it might be time to look into working with a sleep consultant or coach, you can always schedule a free 15 minute get acquainted call with me or one of the sleep coaches on my team. And you can do that through the website, sleep and wellness coach.com. We’ll link to that in the show notes as well.

Alright guys, thanks so much for listening and I will see you back here next week. Bye for now.