Baby signs for bedtime are simple hand gestures that allow preverbal infants and toddlers to communicate their nighttime needs, including signs for SLEEP, BED, BATH, BRUSH TEETH, MILK, and I LOVE YOU. The “Baby Signs for Bedtime” board book by Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, featuring photography by Penny Gentieu, offers parents a structured introduction to these signs through photographs of babies demonstrating gestures like “sleepy,” “toothbrush,” and “quiet.” Research from the Baby Signs Program, which has been part of the UC Davis Center for Child & Family Studies curriculum since 1990, suggests that signing can decrease frustration and tantrums while enriching parent-child relationships during those often-challenging evening hours.
Consider a typical scenario: an eleven-month-old who cannot yet say “milk” but wakes hungry in the night. Without signs, she cries and fusses while her exhausted parents guess at what she needs. With a simple sign for MILK, learned from consistent bedtime routine practice, she can communicate her need directly. This article covers the research behind baby signing, the specific signs most useful at bedtime, how to introduce them effectively, common challenges parents face, and the limitations you should understand before starting.
Table of Contents
- What Are the Most Useful Baby Signs for Bedtime Routines?
- The Research Behind Baby Signing: What Studies Actually Show
- How Baby Signing Reduces Bedtime Frustration and Tantrums
- Introducing Bedtime Signs: Practical Steps for Parents
- Common Challenges: When Bedtime Signing Doesn’t Go Smoothly
- The Baby Sign Industry: Understanding the Commercial Landscape
- Looking Ahead: Baby Signs as Foundation for Later Communication
- Conclusion
What Are the Most Useful Baby Signs for Bedtime Routines?
The most practical bedtime signs form a vocabulary around the evening routine itself. Common signs taught in programs like baby Signs for Bedtime include SLEEP, BED, STARS, MOON, BOOK, LIGHT, BATH, BRUSH TEETH, MILK, PACIFIER, and I LOVE YOU. These correspond to the predictable sequence of activities most families use to wind down each evening, from bath time through the final goodnight. The SLEEP sign, made by bringing the hand down over the face with fingers together, is often the centerpiece of bedtime communication.
BATH, BOOK, and BRUSH TEETH signs help children anticipate and participate in the routine’s progression. The sign for I LOVE YOU, a combination of the ASL letters I, L, and Y made with one hand, often becomes a treasured part of the goodnight ritual for families who adopt signing. Experts recommend starting when a child begins to wave bye-bye, typically between eight and twelve months. However, parents should understand that signing is not a magic solution for sleep struggles rooted in other causes. A baby who signs MILK but has already been fed may be using communication as a delay tactic rather than expressing genuine hunger, a distinction parents must learn to navigate.
The Research Behind Baby Signing: What Studies Actually Show
An NIH-funded study presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies in Paris in 2000 found that children who participated in the Baby signs Program as babies scored 12 points higher on IQ tests at age 8 than children who had not participated. Research published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior that same year indicated that babies in the program developed receptive and productive verbal skills faster than non-signing peers. Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, the researchers behind this work, also documented enhanced infant self-esteem and increased interest in books among signing babies. However, these findings require context.
A review by experts in Ontario, Canada noted methodological problems with some earlier baby sign studies, including small sample sizes and potential confounding variables. A 2013 controlled study by Dr. Elizabeth Kirk in Hertfordshire, England, found that signing mothers were more responsive to their babies’ nonverbal cues and encouraged more independent action, suggesting that the benefits may stem as much from increased parental attentiveness as from the signs themselves. This distinction matters for bedtime routines specifically. If the act of signing encourages parents to slow down, make eye contact, and tune into their child’s cues during the evening wind-down, the signs become a tool for connection rather than simply a communication shortcut. Parents who view signing as a quick fix for bedtime battles may miss the deeper benefit.
How Baby Signing Reduces Bedtime Frustration and Tantrums
The pre-verbal period, roughly from eight months to two years, is marked by a frustrating gap: children understand far more than they can express verbally. At bedtime, when fatigue lowers everyone’s emotional reserves, this communication gap often erupts into tears and tantrums. A toddler who wants one more book, needs a drink of water, or is scared of the dark has no words for these feelings. Signing provides an outlet. Research from the Baby Signs Program documents decreased frustration and tantrums as a primary benefit, and parents frequently report that bedtime specifically becomes easier when children can signal their needs.
The sign for STARS or MOON might let a child ask to look out the window one more time. The sign for LIGHT communicates fear of the dark without requiring verbal expression of something as abstract as fear. For example, a parent might establish that two books are the limit each night, and teach the child to sign BOOK when requesting them. This creates a framework where the child feels heard, even when the answer is “we already read two books, now it’s time for SLEEP.” The limitation here is that signing does not eliminate the need for boundaries. Children who can sign MORE may use that sign relentlessly, and parents must still enforce bedtime rules regardless of how clearly a child communicates the desire to stay up longer.
Introducing Bedtime Signs: Practical Steps for Parents
Introducing bedtime signs works best when integrated into an already-consistent routine. Choose two or three signs to start, typically SLEEP, MILK, and I LOVE YOU, and use them at the same moments each evening. When offering the bedtime bottle or nursing session, say “time for MILK” while making the sign, which involves opening and closing the fist as if squeezing an udder. Repetition at predictable moments helps the child connect the gesture to the meaning. The Baby Signs for Bedtime board book uses photographs of actual babies making signs, which serves a dual purpose: it teaches parents the correct hand shapes and gives children models who look like them.
Looking at the book together during the bedtime routine reinforces the signs while adding a calming pre-sleep activity. Some families find that the book itself becomes a requested part of the ritual. A comparison of approaches: some parents prefer to teach American Sign Language signs exactly as they are used in the Deaf community, viewing this as providing a foundation in an actual language. Others use “baby-friendly” modifications that are easier for small hands to form. Both approaches work for communication purposes, though parents interested in giving their child a head start on ASL should seek resources designed for that goal. The Baby Signs Program uses a mix of ASL and simplified gestures.
Common Challenges: When Bedtime Signing Doesn’t Go Smoothly
Not every child takes to signing readily, and bedtime presents unique challenges. Tired children have less patience for learning new skills, and parents may find that their exhausted toddler simply stares blankly when shown a sign rather than attempting to imitate it. This is normal. Signs introduced during morning or afternoon routines often transfer to bedtime more easily than signs taught exclusively at night. Another common issue: one parent signs consistently while the other forgets or feels self-conscious. Consistency across caregivers significantly affects how quickly children adopt signing.
Grandparents, babysitters, and daycare providers who do not use the signs create gaps that slow acquisition. The Baby Signs Program has been part of the UC Davis Center curriculum since 1990 partly to address this through institutional consistency. A warning for parents with high expectations: signing does not make babies sleep through the night, self-soothe, or stop wanting parental comfort. These developmental milestones unfold on their own timeline. A signing baby who wakes at 2 AM can communicate more clearly what she wants, but what she often wants is her parent, and no sign changes that fundamental need. Parents who expect signing to solve sleep problems may feel frustrated when communication improves but sleep does not.
The Baby Sign Industry: Understanding the Commercial Landscape
Baby signing has grown into a substantial commercial enterprise. According to Gallaudet University President Roberta Cordano, the baby signing industry is estimated at $25 million, part of a multi-billion-dollar signing enterprise that includes DVDs, classes, apps, books, and certification programs for instructors. The Baby Signs for Bedtime book, available with ISBN 9780060090760 from HarperFestival and ISBN 9781616813123 in an alternate edition, is part of a series that also includes “Baby Signs for Mealtime,” “Baby Signs for Animals,” and “My First Baby Signs.” Parents should understand that basic baby signing requires no purchased products.
The signs themselves are freely available online, including through ASL dictionaries. The value of books like Baby Signs for Bedtime lies in their curated selection of routine-appropriate signs, baby-friendly photographs, and physical presence as part of the bedtime ritual itself. Whether that value justifies the cost depends on individual family preferences and budgets.
Looking Ahead: Baby Signs as Foundation for Later Communication
Children who learn signs at bedtime often expand their signing vocabulary into other areas of daily life, and some maintain interest in sign language well beyond the pre-verbal period. The foundation of visual communication can support later learning of ASL as a second language, strengthen memory for spelling through finger-spelling practice, or simply persist as a family tradition of signing I LOVE YOU across crowded rooms.
The research showing IQ gains at age 8 suggests that benefits may extend well beyond the toddler years, though as noted, methodological questions remain about these studies. What seems clearer is that the bedtime signing routine, when practiced consistently, creates opportunities for calm connection that serve families regardless of measurable cognitive effects. The signs themselves may fade from use as verbal language emerges, but the habit of evening communication often persists.
Conclusion
Baby signs for bedtime offer preverbal children a way to participate in evening routines and communicate needs like hunger, tiredness, and the desire for comfort. Research from the Baby Signs Program suggests benefits including reduced frustration, enhanced parent-child relationships, and potentially faster language development, though some studies have methodological limitations worth noting. The specific signs for SLEEP, MILK, BATH, BOOK, and I LOVE YOU map directly onto common bedtime activities. For parents considering bedtime signing, the practical approach is straightforward: choose a few signs, use them consistently at the same moments each evening, and maintain realistic expectations.
Signing enhances communication but does not replace the patience, boundaries, and attentiveness that bedtime requires. Resources like the Baby Signs for Bedtime book by Dr. Acredolo and Dr. Goodwyn provide structured starting points, though the signs themselves can be learned freely from ASL resources. The evening ritual, whatever form it takes, benefits most from presence and consistency.