What is Sleep Training?

Whether you are a first time parent, or you are on your 6th child, every parent forgets what a full night's sleep feels like and wonders if they will ever experience it again. I know I've been there twice so far. Let me reassure you, you will sleep again, I promise!

But how, you ask? That's where the topic of sleep training comes in. It's a pretty controversial topic these days with a multitude of options. But, for the sake of your sanity, I will try to keep it simple.

The definition of sleep training is encouraging your baby to sleep through the night. Yep, that's it! The How is where it gets complicated.

There are many different schools of thought as to how to help your baby sleep longer. They range from flexible (No Cry Sleep Solution) to strict scheduling (Babywise). I will give you a basic overview of three popular sleep training books and then it's up to you which path to pursue, if any.

No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.
This book is highly recommended by Dr. Sears and others. This method encourages parents to follow baby's natural sleep rhythms. I, personally, have not read this book, so I can only give you the description and reviews of others.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
This method is the middle of the road, and it encourages parents to follow baby's natural sleep rhythms, but also allow baby to possibly "cry it out" if necessary to teach him the ability to fall asleep on his own. This is my personal favorite, so I will have some personal review for you!

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam
This method is probably the most controversial of them all. It encourages parents to set a schedule that baby should stick to in order to regulate baby's sleep patterns. I have read this book and attempted it so I can share some personal opinions on this one as well.

Let's get started!

According to greenmomhappymom.com:

Pantley gives you 3 basic principles to work with.

• One is to understand how infant sleep patterns develop and what that means for a realistic night sleep for you and your baby.
• Two is to incorporate a “lovey” or comfort item.
• Three is to develop positive sleep associations, which in time will allow your baby to learn how to self sooth and fall back to sleep with out you.

Jennifer Hughes from Babble.com describes the No Cry Method like this:
The "Pantley Dance" involves about seven million steps to get baby to go from sleeping in your arms to in her bed. (It goes something like this: Rock baby in your arms while singing, then hold baby still and be silent, alternate singing and rocking with silence and being still, move baby into bed — make sure white noise is on!, put his feet in bed, wait, then lay the rest of him down, hold one hand on him, keep singing, lift one hand, then lift the other, wait, then sing softer, etc.)

Personal Review:
It sounds like a lot of work to me, and if you are up to the challenge then this may be the method for you!

This book is written by a pediatrician who spent years studying the the sleep habits and patterns of children. He actually goes into some scientific explanations of things which can be both confusing yet reassuring.

Weissbluth encourages a schedule of eat, play, sleep; however, if baby is hungry, FEED BABY and his most prominent advice is NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY. He also says that it's okay if baby is nursed to sleep.

This method asks parents to keep an eye on baby and follow his sleep cues. As soon as baby looks like he's getting tired, bring him to his room,make it nice and dark, pick some routines for baby, like singing a song, using white noise, something that baby will identify with sleep, then lay baby down drowsy but still awake. This is where it gets a little touchy with parents, but he gives parents the option of letting baby cry, or controlled crying, or no crying.

Personal Review:
I read this book with my first child and starting incorporating the sleep training around 4 or 5 months, as recommended by the author, and he was falling asleep on his own at naptime and sleeping through the night within a couple of weeks.
I attempted the Babywise method among others with my 2nd child and eventually remembered how much I loved this book. I thought my 2nd child would be waking up once or twice a night for at least a year, he was just not a "natural sleeper" like his brother, but I stuck with his schedule and following his sleep cues and by 6 months he was sleeping 12 hours a night!
We never made the kids "cry it out" at night, we only used that at naptimes and it didn't take long for them to get the hang of it.

Schedule, schedule, schedule. This method is all about the schedule! It also incorporates the eat, play, sleep schedule; however, is much more strict in it's implementation. Baby should only eat when scheduled to (growth spurts are taken into account and the schedule is edited) and should always be put to bed drowsy yet awake. If you want baby to start the day at 7am, then you wake baby at 7am. Schedule, schedule schedule!

Personal Review:
I tried this method and didn't like it, but I have many friends and acquaintances that used it with great success. I think this is a good method if you plan on going back to work and have to take baby to day care, since baby will have to get up at a certain time most days. If you are big on schedules, then this is the method for you!

Now comes the fun part where you try to figure out the best method for you and your baby. You need to take into account your baby's temperament, age, and also what you as a parent are willing to do. Are you able to listen to baby cry for a little bit? Or, are you up for the challenge of helping baby sleep without crying? Do you need a somewhat strict schedule? Or can you be more flexible?

These are all questions that only you can answer. And remember, if this is not your first child, you may need to tweak your approach. Every baby is different and what worked with one might not (probably won't) work with another. Ah, the joys of parenthood!

Good luck! And enjoy the journey!