Does Sleep Training a Baby Even Work?

Sleep training is a controversial method of getting a baby to sleep through the night. And we say controversial because it’s not something many people are willing to admit they try and it’s something a lot of people are willing to admit they look down upon. Here’s the deal; as the mother of four, my husband and I were VERY blessed. All four kids, the twins included, all slept through the night in the first two to four weeks of life, and they only woke up once during the night until that point to eat. We were just plain blessed. They’re great sleepers, and they always have been. We don’t question it, we don’t take it for granted. If our kids had not slept through the night, I don’t know what we would have done. Would we have attempted sleep training? I don’t know. I can’t say. It’s easy for me and my sleeping babies to say that we wouldn’t have done it, but we’ve never been there. We can put our kids to bed awake or asleep and they don’t fuss or cry, so I don’t know. But some people do it and they swear by it.

Does sleep training a baby actually work? My guess is that it does. I know that my pediatrician tells his patients that once a baby reaches 6 months of age it’s okay to let him or her cry for a few minutes in bed before tending to the crying. He believes that no more than 5-10 minutes is appropriate to let a baby that age self-soothe, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. But I’m not sure I could do it. But then again, if my kids didn’t let me sleep at night, I don’t know that I wouldn’t. Does sleep training work? Yes, for many people it does work. Is it for you? I don’t know. Are you tired? Do you need more sleep? Are you fine not getting decent or regular sleep? Do you even care? Are you okay letting your babies cry for a few minutes at a time for a few weeks so that you can train them? These are questions you have to ask yourself, but the simple answer is that sleep training does work for those who are disciplined enough to follow through the process.

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