Based on your quiz answers, the recommended sleep training method for you and your baby is:

• Mostly A’s: Pick up, put down and shush-pat or Fading method
• Mostly B’s: Check and console or Chair method
• Mostly C’s: Extinction, or cry it out (CIO) method

Read more about each of these methods below.

It’s important to remember that every child is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why we recommend working with a specialized pediatric sleep consultant like the ones at Live and Rest. Our consultants create a customized plan tailored to your family’s specific needs, blending the most common methods to create a plan that works for you and your baby. You get step-by-step instructions and support so you don’t feel overwhelmed or constantly second-guess your decisions. We know how challenging it can feel when your family isn’t sleeping well. It’s also not uncommon to feel a sense of helplessness. Don’t feel like you have to do this alone.

Set up a call today with one of our consultants to discuss your situation and learn more about the support options we offer.

Check and console

The check-and-console method, also known as the Ferber method, is a way to gradually help your baby learn to fall asleep on their own. It involves checking on your baby at preset intervals while never feeding or rocking them to sleep. Here’s how you do it:

1. After going through your bedtime routine, put your baby in their crib, leave the room, and wait a specific amount of time (say, a minute).
2. Then go in and reassure your baby with kind words like “It’s night night time baby, time to get some sleep” or some kind of touch, such as a rub or pat.
3. Continue to leave and then check on them, increasing the amount of time between visits until you’ve reached about 10 or 15 minutes.
4. Keep at it until they fall asleep. If they wake up, start the check-and-console intervals all over again.

This technique could take up to a week to work, but you should start seeing some progress after a few nights. Many experts recommend keeping a sleep-training log to help reassure yourself. If you find that going into the room aggravates the baby even more, you might consider a more direct method, like full extinction. Good luck!

Chair method. (aka camping, stay in the room)

The chair method is a sleep-training technique that requires a lot of discipline from parents. First, you prepare your baby for bed, but instead of leaving the room, you sit in a chair next to the crib. When your baby falls asleep, you can leave the room, but if they wake up, sit back down in the chair until they fall asleep again. Gradually, every few nights, move the chair further away until you’re out of the room. One advantage of this method is that parents are present for their baby, but there may still be some crying. Consistency can be a challenge in implementing this method.

For toddlers and preschool-aged children, parents may also use a reward and consequence strategy to encourage desired behavior.

Pick up, put down and shush-pat

For babies younger than seven months, you might want to try the pick up, put down, and shush-pat approach. This involves staying in the room without giving them too much help to fall asleep. For example, you could stand over their crib and shush them, pat their tummy, or apply pressure to calm and reassure them. Another option is to let them fuss for a bit but when they start to escalate, pick them up to soothe them but put them back down before they fall asleep. Remember, our job is to help calm the child, and their job is to fall asleep.

While these methods can work really well for younger babies, after six or seven months, your presence might make your baby more upset, and picking them up and putting them back down will likely be too much stimulation.

Bedtime-routine fading

The fading technique involves gradually decreasing the amount of time you spend using your preferred method to help your baby fall asleep (such as rocking or nursing), until you eventually don’t need to do it at all. This technique can be effective for reducing crying, but it can be challenging for some parents to maintain.

Bedtime-hour fading

Bedtime-hour fading is a sleep training technique that should not be confused with the bedtime-routine fading technique described above. With bedtime-hour fading, you put your baby into the crib at the time they usually fall asleep and make that their new bedtime for a couple of nights. Then, you gradually move the bedtime to an earlier time.

For instance, if you typically put your baby down for the night at 7:30 p.m. but they fuss or cry in the crib for 20 minutes or more until they finally nod off around 8 p.m., then 7:50 to 8 p.m. is actually their “natural bedtime,” even though you’d prefer it to be earlier. To determine when your baby naturally falls asleep, keep a diary for a few nights to track when they finally settle for the night (using a video monitor can help with this).

A few nights later, move the entire routine 15 minutes earlier. Continue moving the bedtime earlier by 15 minutes each night (if necessary) until your baby has shifted their old habits to nod off at the desired time instead of the later one.

Extinction, or cry it out (CIO)

The concept of extinction (or full extinction, to differentiate it from graduated extinction) is to eliminate a behavior (such as crying) by not responding to it. Similar to the check-and-console method, go through your bedtime routine, put your baby in their crib while awake, say good night, and leave the room. Depending on your baby’s developmental stage and what works best for the parents you determine what happens next. This is undoubtedly the most controversial sleep-training approach. Many parents are hesitant to use this method and are often concerned about how much crying may occur.

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