sleeping baby swaddled in white blanket
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Think your baby is ready to sleep through the night? Welcome to the wonderful world of sleep training! It may seem counterintuitive that we need a plan of action to train little ones how to sleep, but there’s a whole industry built around this part of their development.
“The hardest part of sleep training is not the specific method you use,” says Funke Afolabi-Brown, M.D, a sleep medicine expert and member of BabyCenter’s Medical Advisory Board. “It’s trusting that you are making the right choice in teaching them how to sleep independently to set them up for success.”
Ahead, we’ll teach you all about sleep training, the various methods, and how to select the right plan for your family.
Key Takeaways
Sleep training, methods caregivers use to teach babies to sleep on their own, can start around 4 months of age.
There are plenty of methods, including cry it out, the Ferber method, and the wave. Choose a plan that feels right for your family.
Routines and consistency are key when it comes to sleep training, but don’t be afraid to try a new method if what you’re doing isn’t working.
All babies are different, and you may not even need to do formal sleep training.
What is sleep training?
Sleep training is the process of helping a baby learn to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night without you comforting them. The goal of sleep training is to help your baby learn to self-soothe when they’re put to bed awake and when they wake up in the middle of the night.
Some babies do this quickly and easily. Others have trouble settling down to sleep – or getting back to sleep when they’ve awakened – and need help along the way.
Sleep training, especially the methods that involve some amount of crying, can be especially challenging for parents. But it’s often worth the struggle because of the many potential benefits. Following successful sleep training, babies will:
Take less time to fall asleep
Wake fewer times during the night
Learn how to fall back asleep on their own when they do wake up
Have better-quality sleep
Meanwhile, parents will:
Sleep more
Get higher-quality sleep
Be in a better mood
Sleep training also encourages a secure attachment between babies and parents – in fact, some research suggests the baby-parent bond is slightly improved after successful sleep training.
