Pediatrician's Top Tips For Sleep Training and Teaching Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night

We all need sleep, and this week, The Doctors Bjorkman, a board-certified pediatrician and board-certified OB/GYN, are diving into the world of sleep training as they review the literature about possible benefits and harms from these methods of helping babies learn to sleep. They also share HOW to actually accomplish this with the 6 Key Things you can do to help your baby learn to sleep through the night!

0:00 - Intro
2:09 - Newborn Sleep
3:08 - Before You Consider Sleep Training
4:53 - What is Sleep Learning/Sleep Training?
5:56 - Does Sleep Training Work?
9:06 - Limitations of Sleep Training Methods
10:16 - Additional Benefits of Sleep Learning
11:17 - (IRL) Emotional Prep
14:17 - Can Sleep Training Harm Your Baby?
17:07 - Negative Effects on Breastfeeding
17:54 - Nighttime Feedings
19:40 - (IRL) Nighttime Breastfeeding/Pumping
21:41 - Weaning Overnight Feeds
23:07 - 6 Key Steps to Sleep Learning
31:51 - (IRL) Our Own Experience with Sleep Learning!

6 KEY STEPS TO SLEEP LEARNING:
1.) Daytime Nutrition
2.) Supportive Sleep Environment
3.) Have a Bedtime Routine
4.) Set Your Baby Down to Sleep
5.) Mid-Night Reassurances
6.) Be Consistent!

Other books/resources we’ve read along the way:

TakingCaraBabies — Cara Dumaplin
Baby Sleep Solution — Suzy Giordano
Cribsheets — Emily Oster
Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems — Ferber
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child —Weissbluth
Happiest Baby on the Block — Harvey Karp, MD
And probably others I’m forgetting but those were the big hitters!!

Studies on sleep training mentioned in the video:

— Mindell JA, Kuhn B, Lewin DS, Meltzer LJ, Sadeh A. Behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children. Sleep 2006;29(10):1263–76.
— Kerr SM, Jowett SA, Smith LN. Preventing sleep problems in infants: A randomized controlled trial. J Adv Nurs 1996;24(5):938–42.
— Hiscock H, Bayer J, Gold L, Hampton A, Ukoumunne OC, Wake M. Improving infant sleep and maternal mental health: A cluster randomised trial. Arch Dis Child 2007;92(11):952–58.
— Leeson R, Barbour J, Romaniuk D, Warr R. Management of infant sleep problems in a residential unit. Childcare Health Dev 1994;20(2):89–100.
— Eckerberg, B. Treatment of sleep problems in families with young children: Effects of treatment on family well-being. Acta Pædiatrica 2004;93:126–34.
— Gradisar M, Jackson K, Spurrier NJ, et al. Behavioral interventions for infant sleep problems: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics 2016;137(6).
— Price AM, Wake M, Ukoumunne OC, Hiscock H. Five-year follow-up of harms and benefits of behavioral infant sleep intervention: Randomized trial. Pediatrics 2012;130(4):643–51.”
— Blunden SL, Thompson KR, Dawson D. Behavioural sleep treatments and night time crying in infants: Challenging the status quo. Sleep Med Rev 2011;15(5):327–34.
— Middlemiss W, Granger DA, Goldberg WA, Nathans L. Asynchrony of mother-infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity following extinction of infant crying responses induced during the transition to sleep. Early Hum Dev 2012;88(4):227–32.
— Kuhn BR, Elliott AJ. Treatment efficacy in behavioral pediatric sleep medicine. J Psychosom Res 2003;54(6):587–97.

Intro Music: A WAY FOR ME - Nicolai Heidlas by Chem Ocampo

Keywords: pregnancy update, the doctors bjorkman, fourth trimester pregnancy, pregnancy vlog, new parents, newborn sleep, parenting tips, safe sleep

[andream]

We tried sleep training at 4 months, for 7 days, and it didn’t seem to work, and had me a nervous wreck listening to the crying - then we tried again at 6 months (when our babe was waking up once every hour) and it worked like a charm after 7 days! So, don’t be afraid to try again later if you abandon the first try.

[elizabethjones]

Seriously, can I send you guys a fruit basket or something? This worked NIGHT 1 with my 11 month old! She cried through the 5 min, 10 min and 2 15 min check ins and then laid down and slept through the night! Nights two and 3 she put herself to sleep and slept 12 straight hours. Amazed by how well this worked for her!

[janinemarish]

Thank you for this video! This gave me the confidence to sleep train my 4 month old. It was hard for about two weeks and slowly but surely she learned how to sleep on her own. We transitioned her to her own room when she was about 8 months. She sleeps through the night soundly and is able to get herself back to sleep on her own! Everyone comments on how lucky we are but I know it was the sleep training. I understand it’s not for everybody, but it was a life safer for me!

[lkathleenc]

We based our sleep learning method off of this video and it has worked very well. We started with a few weeks of 5 min checks with cuddles and hourly bottles then slowly transitioned to the 5-10-15-15 method with no bottles. Now he is usually asleep between 15-20 mins whether he is laid down awake or if he wakes up a bit after being laid down. Thank you for your guidance and research!!

[anniegoldblatt]

I kid you not I sleep trained my 6 month old baby and I was terrified. She screamed 45 minutes for 1 nap and then I never had any issues again. One single nap. She still wakes in her sleep at night every few hours but puts herself right back down. Best thing I ever did for my sanity, health, marriage etc.

[samanthag]

This is so hard. I teared up throughout this video. My 11mo wakes up every 2 hours and has pretty much since he was born. It’s time. I’m just so anxious. I’ve heard so many negative things and I was emotionally neglected as a child and I am scared to do this to him. I work full time and waking up every 2 hours is killing me, especially because now I’m 11 weeks pregnant with our second. So tired.

[kihembodoreen]

Listened to y'all my entire pregnancy.. Can't believe I am back here now that my son is one year old.. Thank you ❤

[blmdadventures]

This worked!! I used this method on my 5.5month old. Took 2 nights. I was holding her to sleep for the last month before that (she had a huge regression). Thank you for making such a helpful video explaining the training!

[madiArabella]

I like how they still lol at each other when one another is talking and still take each other in and validate each other while speaking I just love this couple

[HisBelovedCor_]

Do you know WHY your baby trained so easily? I’ve watched your newborn video, and I think it’s because you started teaching her how to fall asleep from the very beginning. You structured her days such that she slept, and then ate, then had wake time. You put her to bed awake, and the cycle repeated. Since you didn’t nurse, or snuggle her to sleep, she was learning to go to sleep on her own in her crib or bassinet from very early on. It paid off with big dividends when your nighttime sleep training officially began.

[beckt]

Thank you for this video! My baby was a good sleeper until 10 months. Sleep training changed our lives as we both worked early in the morning. I also reminded myself and baby he was loved, well fed and dry. Best wishes to all parents going through sleep difficulties. It gets better I PROMISE.

[mamabear]

Babies have not yet developed the ability to self regulate. That doesn't happen until at least 18 months up to age 3. They can start to link sleep cycles at 4 months but they still wake up and assess in between.

The studies done on effects of sleep training are inherently flawed. They rely on parents relaying information from a biased perspective, sometimes years after the fact. The follow up interviews are only after a few years and some of those are also from parents biased perspective.

When babies are in distress, they produce cortisol. There was a study in 2012 that proved that sleep trained babies stopped crying on the 3rd night but had the same level of cortisol as the first night when they were crying. Their behavior was conditioned but they were still in distress.

There have been no follow up studies on adults and how sleep training may have affected their social and emotional relationships. There have been no studies on any correlation between sleep training and the high levels of cortisol affecting cardiovascular health, weight, or even mental health issues in adulthood.

Research on sleep training has not proven a long term benefit for children either. The only lasting benefit is to the parents getting more sleep. If you have done all of the research and decided it's for you then good on ya. Just look into it first and realize it's biologically and developmentally normal for a baby over 6 months to wake in the night and to call out for their caregiver.

[mamabear]

You do you, but I'm glad you said it's not for everyone. It's good this worked for y'all but I could never. If my baby is crying, I will be there for him, I won't fight those natural instincts. The correlation between the rise in anxiety and depression in adults and when the Ferber method was pushed on parents is too strong for me to consider sleep training.

[kristinsong]

THANK YOU for making a comprehensive video on this touchy subject. I have a 3.5 month old who has to wake up 4-5 times a night to feed, and sleep training has been THE most confusing thing in parenthood so far. I was going back and forth between wanting my baby sleep through the night for my sanity and getting scared by other websites warning long term attachment issues and psychological damage by letting the baby cry it out. I love that you actually read the cited literature on which this claim is based and gave me some assurance that I’m not treating my child like a neglected orphan 😅

[amandacosnett]

Just wanted to say to any new parents out there: you do not NEED to sleep train if you don't want to. It is not some rite of passage that all families have to go through. And even if it's something you want to do, you can do everything "right" and everything that the books say to do and it could still end up not working. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you or your baby. In fact, it probably means your baby is doing what is biologically normal. Listen to your heart and intuition: if it feels wrong to you, you don't have to do it, no matter what anyone else (your parents or in-laws, some "sleep consultant, " friends, family members, "experts, " even medical professionals, etc.) says.

[kristenbunch]

Learning wake windows was the major game changer in sleep training for us! Everyone asks us ‘nap times’ or ‘bed times’ but I always gave them time windows.

[MeMe-hthd]

This channel is fantastic. I was afraid to go to the hospital as an African-American female because of the racial statistics of many African-American women dying after pregnancy. I went to the internet, which may not be the ideal location, and saw their hospital video about what to expect, and their films helped me. Thank you very much.😊❤+ 🏥

[tilaw]

Personally i went with the strategy of laying down next to the crib, getting up to comfort baby in ferber style intervals of time. I didnt leave the room until baby gave up crying & settled to sleep. I comforted her in ways that included picking her up. I never understood why theres no explanation on the recommendation to not pick them up & i didn't agree with that. This is the balance i found works so that i was certain my baby didn't feel abandoned or afraid. I was there fully for reassurance. It still took lots of crying but it actually worked. Whereas leaving the room resulting in 2hours+ of continued crying & i just made the judgement that this was causing to much distress. It genuinely isn't for every child.

[livyyybbyyy]

I really needed this today because we’re sleep training this weekend so I’m emotional hearing you guys say “you can do this” because it has felt like I can’t.

[malkablowy]

Thank you so much for this!! As a desperate mama of an 8 month old (who slept through the night until about 3 weeks ago), this video saved me. So informative, a ton of (backed up) information, and we're on day 2 and haven't had to intervene for nap time. I sincerely appreciate this!