6 Most Popular Baby Sleep-Training Methods Explained

(also known as the Ferber method, graduated extinction, progressive waiting or the interval method)

There are many variations on the check-and-console method, but the general principles are the same: You want to continue to check on your baby at preset intervals but never feed or rock them to sleep, as that would mean they aren’t falling asleep on their own.

• After your bedtime routine, place your baby in their crib, leave the room, and wait for a set time, for example, one minute.
• Then go in and reassure your baby with words like “Mommy loves you” or some kind of touch, such as a rub or pat. McGinn says it’s preferable not to pick the baby up.
• Garden, on the other hand, reserves this method of sleep training for babies seven months and older. In her opinion, younger babies require a parental presence to know they haven’t been abandoned, especially if they’ve worked themselves up into a frenzy.
• Continue to leave and then check on them, increasing the time between visits until you’ve reached about 10 or 15 minutes. Then just keep at it until they fall asleep. When they wake up, you start the check-and-console intervals all over again.

This technique could take up to a week to work, but you should start seeing some progress after a few nights. Many experts recommend keeping a sleep-training log to help reassure yourself. Some parents find that going into the room aggravates the baby even more and might consider a more direct method, like full extinction.