What age for sleep training?

[Nix99]

DD is coming up to 4mo and everything I've read on the internet suggests starting sleep training at this age. However, I've been looking through old threads on here and it seems most people on these suggest 4mo is too young. What age did people start sleep training? Or did anyone not bother? And also do you start sleep training for naps at the same time as doing it for bedtime? I think dd will be ok at bedtime as she is a good sleeper at night but got a feeling naps will be a disaster.

We started at 6 months. I didn’t feel I could beforehand and we also waited until DD was in her own room as it felt counterproductive to try and do it when we were in the same room. To be fair, she never needed lots of crying it out time, she was more of a wingey baby and we just did intervals to stop us from rushing in every time she was unsettled. Worked in a couple of weeks and allowed us to break contact napping at the same time, she slept through pretty reliably from 7 months. She’s 13 months now and does wake in the night but knows how to self soothe. It was right for us but I couldn’t have started earlier, even though I was on the grip of my sanity during the 4 month regression

I didn't sleep train until 8 months.

Are you looking at US sites? Based on the FB group I'm on for a specific minor condition my DD has, they tend to sleep train much earlier there and Paediatricians regularly recommend it from 3 months. I was quite surprised as I don't think you'd see much support for sleep training before 6 months in the UK. Certainly not on Mumsnet anyway!!

In answer to your qu I tried sleep training for a couple of nights when my DD was about 9 months but it was unbearable, my DD literally cried from 8pm until 4am the second even though I was there in the room with her stroking and consoling her etc. We gave up!

What age did people start sleep training?

That's like asking "At what age did people start teaching their child?" While it's unrealistic to expect a 4 month old to be doing flashcards and learning colours, that doesn't mean that a 4mo is too young to learn at all. You may well be teaching baby to hold things, pass from hand to hand, learning to reach and roll, and so on.

"Sleep training" is the same as "learning" - there is age inappropriate teaching techniques, and there are age appropriate teaching techniques to help your baby learn to settle to sleep independently.

A dummy , for example, is a sleep training tool. It's a method of "sleep training" parents can use from baby being literally days old. Baby is never too young to learn. You just need age appropriate expectations. Leaving your 4moto cry in the hope that they learn to self comfort is akin to giving your 4mo a Sharpie and being frustrated that they won't draw a smiley face.

But there's lots you can do to nudge your 4mo towards independent sleeping. Doing nothing at all until baby is older, actually, is as unhelpful as forcing sleep training too early. Your baby needs to learn stuff and can be learning stuff to be better at sleeping independently.

What , specifically, is the problem with your baby's daytime naps OP?

Sleep training isn't mandatory. You don't need to start it at any age. If she's a good sleeper overnight then I wouldn't be messing with it 🤷‍♀️

Why do you want to sleep train? What is the issue?

Depends what you mean by "sleep training". I have been teaching my daughter to sleep by herself since birth e.g. by using comforters, white noise machine, bedtime routine.
I am planning to start night weaning at 18 months in the hope she will sleep through the night but if you already have a 4mo who sleeps pretty well I don't see why you would night wean them as they'll probably work it out for themselves before long.

Thanks everyone. The main issue we have is that, especially at nap time, it takes a lot of rocking, shushing, patting etc to get dd off to sleep. We watch wake windows etc and at night she seems ok tbf but naps just seem a struggle. She has never taken a dummy so that isnt an option so I just thought sleep training could maybe make the whole process easier.

What about doing naps in a bouncy chair or something that moves?

That is teaching her to go to sleep without being physically close to you, but while allowing movement for comfort.