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Sleep training

Whether and how to teach your baby to fall asleep and stay asleep on their own. Methods range from letting them cry for set periods to gradual, parent-present approaches to none at all.

Should we sleep train our baby, and which method?

In short: Parents choose between 6 main approaches: Extinction, "cry it out" (Weissbluth); Timed checks (Ferber); Parent-present fading (chair method); Pick-up-put-down; "no-cry" gradual change (Pantley); None. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: 0–6 months.

Evidence
Your call
Best settled
0–6 months
Part of
Pregnancy to first birthday

Sleep training: what are the options?

Parents usually land on one of these 6 approaches.

  1. 1. Extinction, "cry it out" (Weissbluth)

    You put the baby down awake and do not go back in until morning or a set time, even if they cry.

  2. 2. Timed checks (Ferber)

    You let the baby cry for short, gradually longer intervals, checking in briefly between them.

  3. 3. Parent-present fading (chair method)

    You sit beside the crib at first and move farther away over several nights.

  4. 4. Pick-up-put-down

    You pick the baby up when they cry and put them down again when calm, as often as needed.

  5. 5. "no-cry" gradual change (Pantley)

    You change sleep habits slowly, without leaving the baby to cry.

  6. 6. None

    You do not sleep-train.

Sleep training: what does the evidence say?

Your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

Two randomized trials give the core evidence. In an Australian trial of 326 children with sleep problems at 7 months, behavioral techniques taught over 1-3 nurse visits at 8-10 months showed no differences from usual care at 5 years in emotional and conduct behavior, sleep problems or parent-child outcomes. A 2016 trial of graduated extinction and bedtime fading found better sleep and, at 12 months, no differences in emotional or behavioral problems or attachment, with small-to-moderate drops in the stress hormone cortisol. Oster's review reads the trials the same way; an organized movement opposes the practice anyway, so the method is a values choice, not a safety one

Sources

What else is worth knowing?

Sleep training means teaching a baby to fall asleep without being fed, rocked or held. Methods differ mainly in how much crying is involved and how present the parent is. It is usually considered from around four to six months, and plenty of families never do it.

Questions to ask each other

  • How do we each feel about letting a baby cry, and where do those feelings come from?
  • What would we have to be seeing to decide it is time to try something?
  • What would we do if we disagree, and how would we both feel about the first night?

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First published 2026-10-03. Last updated 2026-10-05. General information, not medical advice.