Sleep Training Your Baby

In this guide: Sleep training methods, books, tips, and answers to the most frequently asked questions asked by new parents.

If you’re a new parent and haven’t slept through the night since your baby was born, you’re not alone. Almost all newborns and their parents or caretakers struggle with sleep to varying degrees. Fortunately, there are some proven strategies that can help your baby get to sleep and stay asleep.

Sleep Training Methods

Some sleep training methods involve the “cry-it-out” approach, while others favor a more gentle, drawn-out approach.

Here is a list of several sleep training methods to consider:

• Babywise Sleep Training

  The Babywise sleep training approach has been used for over 25 years and involves following an eat/wake/sleep cycle based on your baby’s age to establish a consistent routine to encourage more predictable habits and regular sleep.

• No-Cry Sleep Training

  If you don’t like the idea of leaving your baby to cry on their own, no-cry sleep training — also often referred to as “no-tears training” or “gentle sleep training” — is a great option. Keep in mind that this strategy involves lots of active participation on your part.

• Extinction Sleep Training

  Extinction sleep training has been used for decades and is essentially the traditional “cry-it-out” method. With the extinction strategy, you put your little one in their crib fully awake and allow them to cry until they fall asleep without your intervention.

• Ferber Sleep Training

  Developed by pediatric sleep expert Dr. Richard Ferber, the Ferber sleep training strategy offers an adapted version of the extinction method. With the Ferber method, you teach your baby to self-soothe as they fall asleep and throughout the night if they wake up during sleep.

Baby Sleep Training Books

Finding the right baby sleep training book that addresses your specific situation, preferences, and needs may take a little searching, but we’ve got some awesome recommendations to get you started. You may be able to borrow these through your local library.

Here are a few of the best sleep training books out there:

• The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp

• The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parent's Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep from Birth to Age 5 by Jennifer Waldburger & Jill Spivack

• Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth

• Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby by Tracy Hogg & Melinda Blau

• The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night by Elizabeth Pantley

• On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Dr. Robert Bucknam

4 Baby Sleep Training Tips

Whatever method (or combination of methods) you choose to follow, it never hurts to keep some go-to tricks and resources up your sleeve. Here are our top baby sleep training tips:

1. Sleep Training Clocks

   Sleep training clocks are designed to give your little one visual and/or auditory cues when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to rise and shine. Many work as nightlights and sound soothers, and some even have built-in baby monitors.

2. Teething and Sleep Training

   Babies can absolutely go through teething and sleep training at the same time. Massaging your baby’s gums before bed, sticking to a consistent routine, and administering pain medication (only after seeking advice from your physician, of course) can all help as you continue sleep training through the teething phase.

3. Sleep Training Naps

   Nap training is an essential part of sleep training, as naps allow your baby to recharge throughout the day. To make the most of sleep training naps, try to stick to a consistent daily nap schedule and keep your baby’s nap environment as similar to their nighttime environment as possible.

4. Sleep Training Twins

   Sleep training twins at the same time can be a challenge, but it’s very doable with the right approach. A good rule of thumb is to nap-train your twins separately but night-train them together. If possible, keep them in close proximity at night to encourage them to pick up on one another’s sleep cues.

What is Sleep Training?

Sleep training is the process of teaching your little one to fall asleep and stay asleep — or fall back asleep if they do wake up — without your help. That means you put your baby down for sleep while they’re fully awake. No need for rocking, cuddling, swaying, singing, or nursing.

The goal is to help regulate your baby’s sleep cycle. Sleep training isn’t always needed if your baby already sleeps well. But for babies who are struggling, sleep training is sometimes not just an option, but a necessity.

When to Start Sleep Training

Experts often recommend that you start sleep training between 4-6 months, but ultimately, the best time to start sleep training is when you and/or your baby need it. The decision about when to start sleep training your little one depends, to a large extent, on their individual pattern of sleep development.

How Much Sleep Do Babies Need?

It’s no secret that babies sleep a lot. In fact, newborns usually sleep 16+ hours every single day, but they tend to do this in short and often inconsistent stretches of just a few hours at a time for the first several months of life. Generally, at some point during your baby’s first year, they’ll start sleeping about 10 hours every night. But this doesn’t always come easy.

Need advice or help finding sleep-training resources?

Sleep training is a controversial topic and there are so many opinions as to the “right” way to go about it. We want to encourage you to find the best system (even if it’s no system!) for your baby and your family, and normalize that sleep training can look a million different ways. 

We’re here to help.

If you live near Portland, Oregon, and you’re a new parent who hasn’t slept in days, we’re here for you. Get in touch with a Portland-based postpartum doula who can offer caring support, advice, resources, and answers to your questions.