Is sleep training necessary?

[bender]

Will a baby be able to put him/herself to sleep independently without sleep training of some sort? Is there a developmental time that it's more likely to happen?

A lot of my friends have sleep trained their kids, and I'm feeling sort of envious because their kid STTN and mine doesn't (especially my BIL's newest baby, who is younger and sleeps better than my 10 month old. sigh)

[bobandjess99]

for both my kids it happened at the 2 year mark.

[Kiwiontheloose]

I'm not there yet but from what I understand from reading etc somewhere around 2 or 3 or maybe a little older they start having the capatility to put themselves to sleep. (weather or not they do could be another story..)

My 1 year old will go to sleep with her paci and with me sitting next to her (not actually doing anything) on a good day, and we haven't done any sleep training.

remember its not actually normal for babies to STTN. Yes lots of babies do it, esp if sleep trained but its far from the biological norm.

[LadyCatherine185]

Totally depends on the baby. Some babies will, others won't until they are toddlers/children. We never did any harsh sleep training, but I did gently nightwean DS about 2 months ago (he was 18 mo) and moved him to his own bed. He went from sleeping 1-2 hours at a time, to sleeping EIGHT hour stretches, and only waking 1-2 times per night. Some babies will do this on their own while others need a little "push." We waited until we thought DS was ready, and did everything very slowly/gently and he did great. He does still need a lot of help to get to sleep though, and that is something I expect will be until he is closer to 3-4.

[treeoflife3]

I watched a friend do some sleep training with her daughter one night. It was horrible... she was up in her bed crying and crying and her parents kept saying she doesn't need anything, she just wants to stay up. Turns out she had a poopy diaper.

I can't bring myself to force my daughter to sleep like that. It broke my heart. As it is, once in a while I have to let my daughter cry for a couple minutes when she is crazy fighting sleep (and I'm certain that is the only issue) because nothing else will settle her down enough to nurse to sleep and she won't sleep without nursing and that kills me. I can't imagine doing anything more than that in terms of getting kids to sleep.

She is 14 months old and a few nights a week she will sleep her full 12 hours straight but she still wakes up once MAYBE twice a few nights too.

[kittywitty]

My ds did to himself. My girls were all difficult and my 3rd finally got herself to sleep at around 2.5 years old. My 4th is not really there yet. Sometimes she's so tired she falls asleep playing, but usually we cuddle together or she nurses.

[Louisep]

Yes it is possible without sleep training. It is very dependent on the baby's temperament. I know mothers who have sleep trained their babies and it works for maybe a month or two and then they get sick, or a tooth breaks through and they have to do it all over again.

My DS is almost there. I personally think he does put himself to sleep but I'm sure others won't agree. I just lay next to him, often he doesn't even want cuddling until he is asleep. He has done this since about 12 months and he was a baby who woke every 1-2 hours between 5 and 12 months. I will never ever regret our parenting choices to be gentle and follow his lead.

There is a great article another mama posted about baby-led sleeping. I'll find it and re-post it.

[Louisep]

Here it is, thanks originally to Altantafemme

http://attachmentparenting.org/blog/...aby-led-sleep/

[Bokonon]

Have you seen this article about crying it out (AKA "sleep training")?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/8636950.stm

[Baby_Cakes]

Eventually it'll happen w/o any sleep training. It might take longer, but the result will be a happy, well adjusted child who sleeps through the night. I think that's much more important in the long run!

[To-Fu]

Keep in mind that the "success" of sleep training is not so much that kids learn to fall/stay asleep on their own because it's developmentally right; it's because they've been taught--in the case of Cry It Out--that their cries will not be heard. They give up and go to sleep after feeling abandoned. This is dangerous for so many reasons! See some of the stickied resources at the top of the forum for more info.

My son is 29mo and he still needs help falling asleep, and that's okay with me. Honestly, I'd like a little help myself some nights.