Sleep training often makes baby or toddler sleep worse
Many infant sleep programs don't identify as sleep training, but continue to offer selected elements of extinction or graduated extinction methods, at the same time as the approach is promoted as gentle or responsive. There is no evidence that these hybrid programs decrease frequency of night waking. In contrast, The Possums Sleep Program offers a genuine paradigm shift, because it's built from the foundations up on altogether different principles (with five preliminary evaluations showing efficacy).
How can sleep training make your family's sleep worse?
There are a number of ways in which sleep training can make your little one's sleep and your own sleep worse. Here are some examples.
Sleep training might result in
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Your baby or toddler waking more often in the night after a few weeks, because advice to lengthen daytime naps gradually disrupts the body clock. You can find out about this for babies here, and toddlers here
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You spending long periods of time trying to get your little one to go to sleep, when the sleep pressure isn’t really high enough yet - babies here, toddlers here
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You spending much of the day inside the house (if you're the primary carer) trying to teach your little one better sleep routines, which causes babies (here) and toddlers (here) to dial up, and makes the days miserable
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Your baby or toddler waking up and immediately crying or screaming in the night (often referred to by parents as "going from zero to 100" on waking), which I refer to as conditioned dialling up with night waking - babies here, toddlers here
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Your baby or toddler crying whenever you approach the cot, which I refer to as conditioned dialling up with the cot. You can find out about this here
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Your attention narrowing down more and more closely onto your little one's sleep, so that thinking about sleep quickly dominates the ways in which you live your life with your baby or toddler. You can find out about why this makes sleep worse here, and here.
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High levels of family stress and distress about sleep. You can find out about preventing this here.
The Possums Sleep Program is an entirely different way of thinking about your little one's sleep, which aims to make your days and nights with your little one as easy as possible, and to help you grow joy and enjoyment in your life together.
Growing enjoyment and ease is best for the flourishing of your little one's developing brain! And it's very good for you and your emotional wellbeing, too.
Recommended resources
Hannah explains how she used sleep training methods with baby Ben
What is meant by baby or toddler sleep training and will it help your little one wake less at night?
The historical context in which sleep training arose
Sleep training often makes baby or toddler sleep worse
Why watching for tired signs can make sleep worse when you have a baby or toddler
Our babies and toddlers don't resist or fight sleep, though you might hear this said
Do babies become overtired and overstimulated?
Do toddlers become overtired and overstimulated?
What is the Neuroprotective Developmental Care Contextual Model of Infant Sleep (NDC-MIS)?