Yawning is a clear signal, but frowning, ear-pulling and finger-sucking can be, too

Your baby is getting sleeeepy, verrrry sleeeepy … or are they? Sometimes, it can be hard to know. After all, they don’t have the words to tell you how they’re feeling, so it’s up to you to learn to decode their actions and expressions.

“Sometimes, parents get frustrated when their baby seems to be crying for food but refuses to eat,” says pediatrician Maureen Ahmann, DO. “That can be a sign that the baby is actually tired, not hungry.”

Dr. Ahmann walks us through some common signs of tiredness in babies.

Sleepy cues to look for

By paying attention to your baby’s facial expressions, body language and sounds, you can learn to recognize when they’re getting sleepy — and put them to bed when they’re starting to get tired, rather than when they’re overly tired.

As with older kids and adults, signs of sleepiness are often evident on your baby’s face. Look for:

  • Yawning
  • Droopy eyelids
  • Furrowed brows
  • Frowning or grimacing
  • Staring into the distance

Certain types of body language can indicate sleepiness, too, like if your baby is:

  • Rubbing their eyes
  • Pulling on their ears
  • Sucking their fingers
  • Arching their back
  • Clenching their fists

Here are some other signs that your baby is ready to hit the hay:

  • Fussiness and irritability. These might seem like overly general signs, but the better you get to know your baby and their usual personality, the better you’ll start to understand when you’re seeing the cranky, verging-on-sleepy version.
  • Disinterest in their environment. “If your baby starts turning away from stimuli, like the bottle, breast, sound or lights, that’s a pretty clear indication that they’re getting sleepy,” Dr. Ahmann says.
  • Clinginess.The more tired and irritable a baby becomes, the more they may start to cling to their parents or caregivers.
  • Whining or crying. Tired babies sometimes make a sound known as “grizzling” — a sort of prolonged whining that never quite escalates to crying. Babies who are overtired, on the other hand, often cry louder and more frantically than usual.
  • Sweating. The stress hormone cortisol increases with tiredness, Dr. Ahmann explains, which can cause an extra-tired baby to become an extra-sweaty baby.

Signs of sleepiness can quickly progress into overtiredness, and from there, it can be difficult to get your baby to go down. Sure, that can seem counterintuitive. After all, shouldn’t a sleepy baby want to, well, sleep?! But when they’re too tired, they experience a rush of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline that can amp them up instead of calming them down.

“To keep your baby from becoming overtired, put them down for a nap as soon as you notice signs of drowsiness, like eye rubbing and droopy eyelids,” Dr. Ahmann advises.

Are these signs enough?

Every baby is different, so your child may not exhibit all the signs or all the same signs. Even if your first child did some of them, your second or third or fourth child may be completely different.

It’s also possible that, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you won’t always notice the signs. One minute everything seems fine, and the next, your baby is wailing and clearly overtired — though, you hadn’t noticed that they were even a little tired.

Dr. Ahmann recommends paying attention to your baby’s wake windows, or the times they’re awake between naps. What are their usual patterns? What times do they typically nap and for how long? You can even use an app to keep track of them, if you find it helpful.

“Keeping babies on a regular sleep-wake schedule will help them be better at falling asleep, staying asleep and not becoming overtired,” Dr. Ahmann notes.

She shares recommendations for how much sleep your baby needs based on their age:

  • Newborns can sleep 20 out of 24 hours and be awake for only 45-minute increments.
  • By 4 months, babies usually sleep 10 to 12 hours at night (waking up once or twice to eat) with three to five hours of napping throughout the day.
  • By 6 to 9 months, they usually stop waking up to feed at night.
  • By 9 months, their naps begin to shorten.

These are general frames of reference. But remember: Just like grown-ups, each baby has their own habits, preferences and needs.

“There’s a range of ‘normal’ sleep habits, and all babies are different,” Dr. Ahmann clarifies. “If you have concerns about your baby’s sleep habits, it’s always best to talk them through with your pediatrician.”