Trying to Prepare for Start of Sleep Train
My baby is currently 12 weeks old, so I know he’s too young for formal sleep training. I’m mostly trying to plan ahead and figure out what I should be working on now and what methods might be a good fit when he’s old enough.
Current situation:
12 weeks old
Sleeps in a bedside bassinet overnight
Takes at least one crib nap in his nursery daily, sometimes more
Crib naps are usually only about 45-60 minutes, so he isn’t used to sleeping there for long stretches yet
Wake windows are usually around 1.5 hours, occasionally up to 2 hours before bedtime
Eats pumped breast milk and averages about 25 oz/day
Usually wakes once overnight to feed, occasionally twice
The biggest challenge right now is getting him to sleep. He often gets very upset during the bedtime routine (we do bath every night, then basically feed to sleep) and sometimes cries hard while I’m trying to get him down. I’m not always sure if he’s overtired, undertired, or just fighting sleep.
To settle him, I currently use a lot of assistance: rocking, bouncing, holding, patting, feeding, and sometimes a pacifier. He doesn’t use the pacifier much during the day, but it can help him fall back asleep overnight if he wakes between feeds. If he’s genuinely hungry, I feed him and put him back down afterward.
He’s also an active sleeper and moves around a lot overnight. Sometimes he’ll wake briefly and resettle with a pacifier, other times he’ll need a feeding. Occasionally, if he wakes very early in the morning (around 5-6 a.m.), I’ll feed him and bring him into bed with me for a couple more hours of sleep. This isn’t every day, but it does happen sometimes.
I don’t follow a strict clock-based schedule yet and mostly follow his cues and wake windows.
My goal is to have a better sleep situation by the time I return to work when he’s 6 months old. For those who have been through this stage, what would you focus on over the next couple of months before sleep training age? Are there any habits I’m creating now that may make sleep training more difficult later, or is this all fairly normal for a 12-week-old?
Editing to add a few additional details :
He goes to bed between 730-830 most nights. Sometimes a little later if his last nap ended a bit later than 630.
Once he’s down he will give me a 6-8 hour stretch some nights.
Already transitioned to arms out sleep bag because while he isn’t rolling, he was noticeably very interested in putting his hands to his mouth. He hasn’t quite figured out thumb sucking. Just likes to put his whole fist in his mouth. This is problematic for me because he will repeatedly knock the pacifier out. I don’t mind using the paci for naps and car rides or to calm him down if he’s fussy but I do try to get him down for bed without it although sometimes I have to resort to using it and it almost always is popped in if he unsettles in the middle of the night.