How do you know what sleep training method is right for your family? What are sleep training methods anyways?

If you have a child who doesn’t sleep you are likely seeing lots of informatino about sleep training methods and all the various methods! It can be confusing! In this blog and video I’m going to break down what sleep training methods are available and help you understand what sleep training method is right for your family.

What is Sleep Training?

We cannot afford to be tired, exhausted parents. Our kids want to sleep so let’s live happy, healthy lives and get some rest!!!

In this post, I’m talking about sleep training methods. You probably have heard people talk about “cry it out”, no cry sleep solutions, and the Ferber Method. What the heck are all these different methods? I’ve got you fully covered and I’m going explain all the popular methods of sleep training.

Every day, I’m flooded with people asking me if I’m going to make their child cry it out, and they want to know how much crying is involved in sleep training. And you are a passionate, loving parent so I understand your concern. Let’s walk through every infant sleep training technique out there—and I’ll share my own sleep training philosophy that I think is best for your child!

The Spectrum: Sleep Training Methods

So in order of the most extreme to the least extreme sleep training techniques, you have the ‘cry it out extinction method’ and then you’ve got the no cry sleep solution.

These methods are completely different! And, in between these two polarized methods are a whole host of options in between.

You need to discover a plan that fits your family and understand where you might fall in the sleep training spectrum.

The “CIO” / Extinction Method

The first sleep training method we will discuss is The Extinction Method or “Cry It Out”.

When people say cry it out, most of the time they’re misinformed. They’re saying, “Oh, my baby had to cry it out.” But the reality is they let their baby baby cry for two to five minutes before intervening. That’s not CIO.

The real cry it out method is this: You put your baby down into the crib or the bed, you walk out the room, you close the door and they extinct themselves to sleep.

They cry it out all night long. You have zero interaction with your baby.

Unfortunately, I’ve heard of pediatricians recommend the cry it out method, starting from eight weeks old! This breaks my heart because at eight weeks old, your baby is still learning and grasping the difference between day or night. It’s not developmentally appropriate.

Now is cry out ever appropriate? Sure. Some families like this sleep training method! They like to be able to say, this is a one and done because it’s fast.

When you do it correctly, it’s a very quick method that just takes a few nights and things are good.

Controlled Crying / Checks / Ferber

The next sleep training method is called Controlled Crying. Other common names for this method are Leave & Check or even the Ferber method.

Controlled crying methods ask that you put thee child down into the crib and then you do physical checks to comfort.

There are differences between all of these variations!

The Ferber Method asks you to  increase the time between checks each time.

The Ferber method also emphasizes getting your baby drowsy, putting them into the crib, then leaving the room, and then maybe come back in two to five minutes.And then come back in seven minutes, in 10 minutes, in 15 minutes. So it incrementally gives you more time between your checks.

My personal problem with the traditional Ferber Method is that it invites inconsistency!  If you have followed me long enough, you know I love consistency. Incrementally changing how long you’re waiting to go check on your baby makes no sense to me at all. And it’s easy to just make up your own rules for the method as you go instead of following a rigid plan…which tired parents need!

I do believe in the Leave & Check method though! However, you will find that inside my Baby Sleep Training Course I provide a much more rigid step-by-step plan that is easy to understand when you’re exhausted!

The Chair Method / Camp Out Method

The next sleep training method is the Chair Method, sometimes also called the Sleep Lady Shuffle or Camp Out Method. At Little Z’s we call it the Stay In The Room Method!

It’s exactly as it sounds!!

You would put a chair right next to your baby’s crib or child’s bed, and help them fall asleep.

This is an ideal method to use for young babies, toddlers and preschoolers who are very used to having a caregiver provide full help to fall asleep.

The reason I like this best for these situations is that while change is hard, it’s less abrupt. When you use this method inside my Sleep Plans you’ll find that I provide a very clear path to understand how to talk with your child, how much support to give each night and most importantly: make a plan to get OUT of the room within one week!

Using this sleep training method with consistency you should see results within 3-5 nights.

Little Z’s Sleep Methods…

Here at Little Z’s I use the following methods by age:

• 4-5 Months Plan uses the Stay In The Room Method
• 6-16 Months uses Leave & Check Method
• Toddlers & Preschoolers use Stay In The Room Method

Ready to make sleep a thing?
Take my quiz and find out which program is right for you!

 

The No Cry Sleep Methods

Finally, let’s discuss a sleep training method that is usually described as “No Tears Training”. This is also called a “Waking, Sleeping Strategy” or the “Pick Up, Put Down”

The wake and sleep strategy actually asks you to nurse your baby to sleep, to rock them to sleep. They want you to vary up how you put your baby to sleep.

This is a method that I would not recommend for babies 4 months and up. Actually, I DO talk about using this method for newborns but we are never discussing it as sleep training.

Many families will choose this method if they have a baby under 12 months old and have many weeks and months to be consistent with this.

The premise of the Pick Up Put Down Sleep Training Method is to nurse your baby, rock your baby to sleep, and then you lay them down in the crib, and then you wake them up a little bit by ‘arousing’ them a little bit so that they can cry for a little bit and put themselves back to sleep.

Many families do use this method and enjoy it. However, it is the hardest to stay consistent with and see success over the weeks/months that it needs.

 

How quickly will my sleep training method work?

The fastest sleep training method is the cry it out extinction method. It’s fast— one to two nights, you’re all good. On the other end of the spectrum is the no cry solution and it takes months! When you are deciding on which sleep training method is right for you and your child, you need to decide how much effort, patience, and commitment you have to a specific sleep plan.

My Favorite Sleep Training Method

So where do I fit in? Well, I kinda already spoiled it— I’m right over between the leave & check and the chair method!

Yeah. I also use the camp out method, but only for certain ages. So for example, I do the Ferber method, but it’s not ideal for  a pre-school child. And I also already gave you the little hint that I think it’s weird and inconsistent to just randomly increase your intervals each time.

So my plans to my clients offer age-appropriate strategies that do involve protests. They do involve crying. I firmly believe that your child is totally happy and content with how things are now because they don’t know what’s on the other side!!

So when you change habits and routines, they’re going to protest. They’re not going to like it. But here’s the thing, you cannot spend weeks and months trying to be consistent and holding onto threads of hope. You’ve got to see change first. And when you do, your child actually wants to sleep.

I firmly believe it is never too late to teach your child how to sleep well.

Obviously, you’re here because your end goal is that your baby sleeps, your child sleeps, and as a family, you all get great rest.

By outlining all these different methods, I hope that you feel more clarified in what fits your family best. If any of these are going to help your child sleep well, that’s the end goal. That’s why if you’ve done no cry sleep solution and it worked in your kid’s sleeping 11, 12 hours, yay! I’m so happy for you. If you’ve done the extinction method and it works, yay! I’m so happy for you.

There are no secrets when it comes to sleep training.

I am so passionate when people ask me, what am I going to ask them to do? For example, they don’t want crying, but in reality, we don’t have an endless repertoire of methods to choose from. There are certain things that we can do to teach your child how to sleep.

If you resonate with my style and my sleep philosophy, I would love for you to take the next step and take a quick quiz to figure out which sleep training program that we offer is the right fit for you.

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