Is keeping a baby awake during the day an effective way to make them sleep better at night?
No — this is a myth. Keeping a baby awake during the day does not make them sleep better at night. The opposite is actually true: the better babies sleep during the day, the better they tend to sleep at night. Overtiredness makes bedtime harder, not easier.
In this episode of The Toddle About Show, hosts Bill Clapson and Emily Clapson tackle this widespread belief head-on as part of a myth-busting conversation about baby sleep. The instinct to tire a baby out by skipping daytime naps feels logical to many parents, but it consistently backfires. An overtired baby becomes harder to settle — their nervous system is overstimulated, and what looks like wakefulness is often a stress response, not genuine readiness for sleep.
What is overtiredness?
Overtiredness occurs when a baby misses the optimal window to fall asleep and becomes too stimulated to settle easily. Rather than making sleep come faster, this state actually delays sleep onset and reduces sleep quality — the opposite of the intended effect.
The Clapsons point to the Lullaby Trust as the authoritative source parents should turn to for evidence-based sleep guidance. Their advice extends beyond the daytime nap myth: the Trust recommends that babies sleep in the same room as their parents for the first six months and that the room temperature be kept between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius to support safe, quality sleep. Getting the environment right matters just as much as managing daytime rest.
"Broken sleep doesn't just make you tired. It makes you short tempered, more anxious, less enjoyable as a parent. So when we work on children's sleep, it's really important to focus on the whole family."— Melanie Hastings, sleep consultant, Toddle About magazine
The episode is part of a broader effort by The Toddle About Show to cut through the noise around parenting advice — and to remind families that babies are not machines with an on/off switch. Hear the full conversation, including more myth-busting and practical tips, on Listenly.