Sleep Training 101: Bedtime fading

If you've ever put your baby or toddler to bed only to deal with failed transfers, multiple false starts, lots of night waking or dealing with your toddler repeatedly getting out of bed, you're not alone. While several behavioral sleep training methods exist (like the Ferber Method, Camping Out, Pick-Up-Put-Down, Silent Return to Sleep, etc.), bedtime fading is not technically sleep training. It's an approach that involves modifying your child's schedule to make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Bedtime fading can be done on its own or in conjunction with a parent-led or baby-led behavioral sleep training approach. In this installment of our Sleep Training 101 series, we break down what the science says, and how to put it into practice.

The Science

To understand why bedtime fading works, you first need to understand how sleep is regulated in the human body, and especially how that regulation develops in infants and young children.

Sleep is governed by two interacting biological processes, described by the two-process model of sleep regulation. The first process is homeostatic sleep pressure, which is just the build-up of sleep need over time. Simply put, the longer your child is awake, the sleepier s/he will become.

The second process is the circadian rhythm. This is your child's internal clock, which signals when it is time to sleep and when it is time to be awake. These two processes work together to promote consolidated sleep. At an appropriate bedtime, high sleep pressure coincides with circadian signals for sleep, making it easy for your child to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep.

Understanding these biological drives is key to understanding many bedtime difficulties. When a caregiver places a child in bed at a time that does not align with the child's biological bedtime, the child will struggle to fall asleep. Research on toddlers found that too little time between the child's evening melatonin onset (DLMO) and parent-selected bedtime is associated with increased bedtime resistance and longer time to fall asleep. In other words, putting a child to bed "too early" relative to their internal clock is likely to result in a difficult bedtime.

Bedtime fading is a behavioral intervention designed to address exactly this mismatch. The core principle is straightforward: rather than battling the child's internal clock, you temporarily delay bedtime to the time when your child is biologically primed to fall asleep quickly (i.e., your child's biological bedtime).

Several studies have reported positive outcomes with bedtime fading. In one study that included 43 babies aged 6-16 months, bedtime fading improved the time it took to fall asleep, and showed modest improvement in the number and duration of night wakings. This study also showed reduced cortisol levels compared to babies who did not participate in bedtime fading. This is important, because it suggests that pushing bedtime temporarily later does not result in excessive stress due to "overtiredness." After 12 months of follow up, this study also showed no differences in attachment between babies who experienced bedtime fading compared to those who didn't.

Among toddlers, one study that evaluated 21 young children (aged 1.5-4) found that bedtime fading led reduced the time it took to fall asleep by ~10 minutes, reduced time awake overnight by ~8 minutes, and reduced bedtime battles. That study also found that the parents who participated liked the strategy and most children had improved sleep even two years after the intervention. Similar findings were reported in a study examining six autistic children, suggesting bedtime fading can be an appropriate and effective strategy for neurodivergent children.

Finally, the 2006 pediatric sleep guideline published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) identified bedtime fading combined with positive bedtime routines (infant and toddler) and response cost as a recommended treatment option for bedtime problems.

Importantly, like most sleep interventions these studies show positive outcomes, but sleep outcomes didn't improve for every child. Evaluate your child's temperament and sleep issues carefully before deciding to implement bedtime fading.

How Do You Implement Bedtime Fading?

Bedtime fading involves shifting your child's bedtime routine later, to align with a time when you know your child is able to fall asleep. You should put your child down 10-20 minutes later than your child's average fall asleep time for the first week or so. Once your child is able to fall asleep in less than 20 minutes for a few nights in a row, you can shift your bedtime routine earlier in 15 minute increments every night or every few nights until you reach your target bedtime.

Before you begin, we suggest tracking sleep for about a week to determine your child's biological bedtime. You'll want to log the time your child actually falls asleep, not the time you put your child to bed.

A few general principles apply across all age groups:

Consistency is key. Choose a start date when you can commit for at least 2 weeks without major disruptions (no travel, illness, or unusual schedule changes).
Set a fixed morning wake time followed by light exposure. This will anchor your child's circadian rhythm and prevent problems like split nights from developing.
Use a consistent, calm bedtime routine (bath, book, song, etc.) that signals to the child that sleep is coming, regardless of what time it occurs.
Be realistic about how much sleep your child needs. We're all for ensuring children get enough sleep, but many social media influencers recommend sleep durations that are simply not realistic for most children. Check our age-by-stage sleep chart to learn how much sleep your child should be getting.
Consider implementing bedtime fading in combination with "response cost." Response cost involves giving up and taking your child out of the room if s/he doesn't fall asleep within 20 minutes. You can read more about it here.
Consider implementing bedtime fading in combination with a behavioral intervention. If your child depends on strong parent-led sleep associations to fall asleep, like rocking, bouncing, pacifier replacement, feeding to sleep, it might be helpful to combine bedtime fading with another baby-led or parent-led behavioral intervention.

The links below provide step-by-step guides for implementing bedtime fading for:

Need More Help?

If you need a little help to figure this out or if you are facing other challenges, then please check out our other blogs, our newborn class, and sleep training class. We have other blogs on schedules, naps, travel, toddler issues, and more! If you just need to talk to someone who can help you devise a sleep plan, then feel free to book a one-on-one consultation with us. We are moms with advanced degrees in sleep, nursing, and behavior analysis. We are always happy to help!

References

Borbély, A.A., 1982. A two process model of sleep regulation. Hum neurobiol, 1(3), pp.195-204.

LeBourgeois, M.K., Carskadon, M.A., Akacem, L.D., Simpkin, C.T., Wright Jr, K.P., Achermann, P. and Jenni, O.G., 2013. Circadian phase and its relationship to nighttime sleep in toddlers. Journal of biological rhythms, 28(5), pp.322-331.

Cooney, M.R., Short, M.A. and Gradisar, M., 2018. An open trial of bedtime fading for sleep disturbances in preschool children: a parent group education approach. Sleep Medicine, 46, pp.98-106.

Delemere, E. and Dounavi, K., 2018. Parent-implemented bedtime fading and positive routines for children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 48(4), pp.1002-1019.

Gradisar, M., Jackson, K., Spurrier, N.J., Gibson, J., Whitham, J., Williams, A.S., Dolby, R. and Kennaway, D.J., 2016. Behavioral interventions for infant sleep problems: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 137(6), p.e20151486.

"Practice parameters for behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children." Sleep 29, no. 10 (2006): 1277-1281.