6 Most Popular Baby Sleep-Training Methods Explained

With the fading technique, continue with whatever method you were using to help your baby fall asleep (such as rocking or nursing), but decrease the amount of time you spend doing it until, in theory, you don’t have to do it at all. This is a great technique for minimizing crying, but unfortunately, many parents find it difficult to sustain.

“There has to be an end in sight,” explains Mitelman. “For example, we’ll meet this need for five to seven days, and then we’ll pull back a little bit.” But if you’re willing to stick to the plan and get your baby to the end goal of going to bed without your assistance, Mitelman says it’s worth a try.

“Whichever way the child can get to sleep independently is fine because that’s the key ingredient to sleeping through the night.”