Here is an overview of the 6 most popular sleep training methods. I encourage you to choose one that fits both your child’s needs and your parenting style.

1. Cry It Out (also known as extinction or CIO)

There is a lot of controversy around the CIO method. It basically means letting your baby self-soothe himself to sleep by crying at bedtime or in the middle of the night. The idea behind this method is that by leaving the child to cry, he will eventually learn to fall asleep on his own. This sleep coaching method is not for everyone, is often criticized and, in truth, a lot of people simply don’t agree with it. Some experts claim that it can cause psychological damage, and yet, others swear by it.

2. Ferber method

This method is often confused with the cry it out method. It is based on the 1985 best-selling book, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problem by Dr. Richard Ferber. His technique states that the parent should prepare their child for bedtime/nap time as per usual, place the child in her crib while she is still awake, and leave the room. The parent is then instructed to return to the room in specific time intervals (eg: every 2 minutes the first night, then every 5 minutes, then every 8 minutes, etc.) to comfort the child. The time intervals are gradually increased. This sleep coaching method is also known as the gradual extinction method.

3. Wake and Sleep Method

Dr. Harvey Karp is a pediatrician and author of The Happiest Baby on the Block. He believes in waking your baby up ever so slightly when she is in her crib in order to teach her how to fall asleep on her own. For example, if you are nursing, rocking, or bouncing your child to sleep, gently jiggle the crib as you put her down so that she begins to wake. From this in-between state of being awake and being asleep, she is more easily able to return to sleep on her own. The assumption is that she will then create an association with the feeling of falling asleep, and eventually she will be able to do it herself, without your help, at any time.

4. Pick Up Put Down

Tracy Hogg, in her book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, advocates using a gentle method to sleep train babies. Essentially, her sleep training method involves putting your child down in her crib while she is still awake. If she is crying and upset, pick her up for a minute or two and then settle her back down. This process is repeated until she falls asleep.

5. Chair Method

In this technique, the parent sits in a chair next to the crib while the child falls asleep. The parent then gradually moves the chair away from the crib every few days. Kim West, known as the Sleep Lady, is the pioneer of this technique. It is a very efficient, gentle, and caring sleep training method. You are reassuring your child by using your words or your touch to offer comfort. Every few nights you move the chair away from the crib until you are eventually out of the room with no need for the chair.

6. No-Cry Method

The last sleep coaching method I want to share with you is from Elizabeth Pantley, author of the book The No-Cry Solution. Pantley believes that the parent should identify what their baby’s needs are to fall asleep and to address those needs first. Does your child need to be nursed to sleep? Rocked to sleep? Once this has been figured out, the parent replaces this action with another one (eg. bounce or walk). One key thing to know about Pantley (3) is that she works with a child’s natural sleep patterns, not against them.