Waking up several times at night to nurse, clean up, entertain, rock the baby to sleep, or several other techniques to stop the baby from crying can take a serious toll on the adult. Most people tend to forget that adults need to be in proper physical and mental health in order to adequately take care of the child, and without sufficient sleep, no one can operate at their best.
As a result, sleep training is important for the child’s development as well as for the parent or caregiver.
How to Sleep Train
It is advised to start sleep training your baby when they are at 4 – 6 months old because that’s the age when they’re more likely to sleep through the night without needing to be fed again.
- Let them ‘Cry It Out.’
This is one of the most popular and oldest techniques of sleep training. For this method, all you have to do is let your child cry it out till they fall back asleep without making any gestures to comfort him or her. Once you’ve covered all the basics for safety and feeding, don’t go into their room or near the cradle when they cry, just let them cry it out. Although some parents frown on this method, it remains the fastest way to help them self-soothe, and usually, within 3 to 4 nights of letting them cry it out, they will begin to fall back to sleep on their own.
- Graduated Extinction aka The Ferber Method.
If you’re not entirely comfortable with just listening to your baby’s tears without intervening, you may want to opt for the Graduated Extinction method. It allows you to check in on him or her for a brief period of time after they’ve cried for a while. So, if your baby starts crying, you can leave him or her for 2 minutes, console for 30 seconds, and wait another 3-4 minutes before going back. As the training progresses, you can make your visits shorter and shorter, till the child starts to settle down and fall asleep without your presence.
- Adjust the bedtime schedule.
Another reason for your baby’s nighttime fussing may be that the scheduled sleep time is not the time they’re ready to sleep. Observe their sleep cues, like yawning and rubbing their eyes, in the evening and prep them for bedtime. Slowly adjust the bedtime every night till you get to your desired bedtime and by the time you have them sleep trained, their midnight fussing and crying would have reduced and they would be better able to self-soothe.
- Pick up, soothe, and put down.
This method is similar to the Graduated Extinction but, for this technique, you don’t have to use specific intervals when you go to check on the baby. Prep them for bedtime as usual and put them down while drowsy but not asleep. If he or she starts to cry, wait to see if they stop before going in to soothe and put them down again. Repeat this process for as long as you need to until the child finally falls asleep, but be prepared because it can take a very long time and it requires a lot of patience.
- The Chair.
Sleep training can tire you and your baby out but this method makes it a little bit more comfortable. You can get a chair and sit next to the crib while your baby falls asleep but make sure you don’t pick him or her up. Each night, move the chair further away from the crib until you’re near the door. By that point, the baby will be able to fall asleep without you and the sleep training will be complete.
You can start sleep training your baby with any of the following methods, or a mix of methods, depending on the ones that you are most comfortable with and your level of resistance to the nighttime tears.
SOURCES
Today’s Parent – https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/baby-sleep/most-popular-sleep-training-methods-explained/
Cleveland Clinic – https://health.clevelandclinic.org/when-and-how-to-sleep-train-your-baby/
Healthline – https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/sleep-training-toddler