Is what I’m doing “sleep training”? Confused!

[Ohtheaudacity]

So DS2 is 11mo and has been an ardent contact napper until recently when he seemed too big and uncomfortable on me. So I tried putting him in his cot instead. I feed him then lie him down in his cot, where he cries for a couple of minutes while I pat his back. He then stops crying and needs another 10-15 mins of back pats and rubs until he falls asleep. I told a friend what I was doing and she was shocked as I’d “always been against sleep training” which is true. But I hadn’t even considered this may be sleep training in traditional sense of the word.

Whoops pressed send too soon. Just want to make it clear I’m pro-whatever-you-feel-comfortable-with when it comes to getting babies to sleep and am not trying to start a pro/anti sleep training debate.

I would say it’s gentle sleep training. I’m against leaving a child to cry but I believe what you are doing is fine.

Does it really matter? Different people have different definitions of the word. If you're comfortable doing what you're doing then carry on.

I wouldn't do a crying method where you time yourself and don't go in but I have waited to see if DC settle back down before going in to help as DS2 in particular often used to get unsettled by a wind bubble and go back to sleep once he'd farted, if I went in it would just wake him up.

Some people seem to get het up in a definition of sleep training which means any attempt to change the way you respond to sleep is forbidden, which seems ludicrously over the top. I don't like the label sleep training because I think it's misleading, but there are methods that are described as sleep training which is similar to what you're doing now.