Sleep Training – A Difficult Task for Parents

 

Sleep training by allowing babies to cry is growing in use, and it appears that infants can be trained to sleep through the night at an early age. Allowing a baby to cry for more than an hour may be necessary for sleep training, but most babies do not cry that long.  It does not negatively affect children’s long-term mental and physical health. 

If parents do not intervene when an infant cries at night, sleep training may be accomplished in as little as three days. Even though some pediatricians recommend that sleep training be tried at 4 to 6 months, many of them are finding both with patients and their own children that 2 months works well. If parents make checks, they should be quick with no lights or consoling.  Most of the time crying declines within a week, but sleep training may be harder on parents than the babies.

Studies have shown that parents who are quicker to respond to a crying infant are more likely to have children who are unable to sleep through the night.  Some parents prefer a very gentle approach, while others wish they had followed the advice regarding sleep training.  Both children and parents need to sleep.