Camila, yes, when your dd shows tired signs, you should begin the winddown. Soon, you'll begin to see her patterns and will be able to start winddown before she shows tired signs b/c you'll know how much A time she can tolerate and when she'll be getting sleepy. A dark room and white noise are suggestions. They aren't necessary for all babies, but they're worth a try. I make dd's room as dark as possible with a blackout curtain, and I run a humidifier to block out noise. Is the 5 mins a maximum you've set for winddown, or the max your dd tolerates? Sometimes it is necessary to winddown for up to 20 mins.
As for the pat/shh, my understanding is to do it only if lo cries, and do it until they are drifting into sleep. I have read that you can do it with lo over your shoulder with head burrowed into your neck. After you put her down, you can either stay in the room for a few minutes or leave. Sometimes, when sleep training, it could be beneficial to stay in the room in case she stirs around 30-45 min transition from deep to light sleep and you could be there to pat/shh or apply pressure to her back to help with the jolt in hopes that she'll transition back to deep sleep. However, since I am not a sleep mod and don't have much experience in assisting others with sleep training, I'm going to try and get you some more answers, possibly switching your post to the nap board.
