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My son, Cal, is 20 months old, and so far, my husband, Patrick, and I have been too chicken to sleep train him. I have a sinking feeling it?s too late. While Cal?s sleep isn?t terrible, it?s not great, either?whether or not he?ll snooze until morning is pretty much 50/50. If he wakes up, a tummy rub while popping the pacifier back in always works like a charm. Plan B is rocking him back to dreamland and, on really rough nights (or just lazy ones), the last resort is letting him cuddle with us in our bed. It?s felt almost manageable, but not ideal.
Should we be OK with ?good enough? sleep, when, if I listen to my pro-sleep-training friends, blissfully restorative pre-parenthood zzzs are achievable with even just a little tough love" Maybe we should endure the short-term pain of cry-it-out (CIO) methods to secure the long-term gain of more sleep (and more sanity) for everyone in the family. Plus, learning to self-soothe and sleep independently is a great life skill. (Just ask an insomniac.) Those who are vocally anti-CIO may claim that only cold-hearted parents let their children cry, and that it causes long-term emotional scars. But the latest studies fall squarely on the pro-sleep-training side, promising quality sleep for both babies and parents, lower stress levels and a healthier body weight as a child grows.
What, exactly, is sleep training"
Sleep training and CIO aren?t the same thing. Cry-it-out is one method of sl...