People Love Fighting About Sleep Training. The Evidence for It Is Nuanced—but Very Clear on One Point.
Sleep training, a method used to help infants sleep better by allowing them to self-soothe, is a controversial practice among parents and experts. While studies show that parents report improved infant sleep and reduced depression after using sleep training techniques, most evidence relies on subjective, parent-reported outcomes. One objective study using actigraphy found no significant difference in actual infant sleep patterns between those who underwent sleep training and those who did not.
- ▪Sleep training often involves controlled crying, where parents gradually delay responding to a baby's cries to encourage self-soothing.
- ▪Multiple studies have shown that parents report better infant sleep and lower rates of depression after using sleep training methods.
- ▪A 2007 study of 328 mothers found that those who received controlled-crying advice reported improved child sleep and lower depression levels when their children turned 2.
- ▪A Canadian study using actigraphy to objectively measure sleep found no significant difference in sleep duration or night wakings between infants who underwent sleep training and those who did not.
- ▪The evidence for sleep training's effectiveness is largely based on parent-reported data, which may be subject to bias.
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Science The Truth About Sleep Training The controversial method for getting babies to sleep has one clear—and very important—benefit. By Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz May 03, 20265:45 AM Toa Heftiba/Unsplash Copy Link Share Share Comment Copy Link Share Share Comment Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Sleep is a Big Deal to new parents. I’m writing this with a 4-month-old asleep on my chest. She’s sleeping well right at this exact moment—but today she woke up every hour from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., at which point we all had to get up to get ready for the day. And she’s not even at the low end of sleeping practices for a baby her age: She sometimes manages to sleep five hours in a row.
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