Please don't hear me say you HAVE to sleep train. That's not the point of this post.  I just want to make sure you know that if you CHOOSE to sleep train, the research is on our side. 

 

We have lots of studies on sleep training, it's effectiveness and its outcomes. Could we use more studies? Sure! We can always use more information! But the info we DO have paints a good picture.

 

AND there is zero evidence that sleep training causes any amount of harm. ZERO. 

Read on to see what the research says about the following areas:

Effectiveness

Does sleep training even work? No doubt you've wondered this and maybe you've even heard that it doesn't work most of the time!

A review of 52 different studies on behavioral interventions for sleep issues was conducted. This review pulled all the data together from these separate studies and found that 94% of them reported significant improvements in infant & child sleep. The conclusion drawn was this was that "behavioral approaches produce reliable & durable changes in bedtime problems & night wakings."

So yes, sleep training does work and IS effective if you are dealing with sleep issues.

Child Benefits

Isn't sleep training kind of selfish? Maybe you've wondered this before. Apart from the obvious benefits of better sleep, we have data from 13 studies that measured daytime behavior in babies & children after sleep intervention.

This data paints a pretty great picture for children who undergo sleep training. Infants who participated in sleep interventions were found to be more secure, predictable, less irritable, and to cry and fuss less following treatment. Parents of older children reported improvements in their children's daytime behavior after participation.

Also important to note is that mothers indicated that sleep interventions had no effect on maintaining the practice of breast feeding or an infant's total daily fluid intake.

So the resounding answer is... sleep training is not done for purely selfish reasons! Your child can benefit as well!

Parental Benefits

We've seen that sleep training is not inherently selfish but let's be honest. You need and deserve sleep too! So even if you've got a bubbly & happy baby who doesn't seem to be bothered by broken sleep, that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't sleep train.

A review of 12 studies that measured parental outcomes after sleep intervention found remarkably consistent results across all studies. Parents exhibited rapid and dramatic improvements in their own mental health status, reporting fewer symptoms of depression, increased sense of parenting efficacy, enhanced marital satisfaction, and reduced parenting stress.

I'd say sleep training looks like a win for parents as well!

sleep training research

Long Term Impacts

Ok, I know what you're thinking.... you saw this article once online that stated that sleep training was damaging for babies and would have negative, long term effects. However, I can assure you that there is ZERO evidence of long term harm when sleep training is used. Seriously. The next time you see a claim like that, look for a link to peer-reviewed research. There won't be one.

This Australian study used 225 families to conduct a randomized trial (the gold standard of study design). Roughly half of the families used sleep interventions while the other half did not (the control group). 5 years later the families answered questionnaires, gave cortisol samples, and experienced a 40-60 minute home visit with researchers.

Between the group that used sleep training interventions and the group that did not, there were no significant differences in any outcomes, including emotional stability, conduct behavior, stress, parent-child closeness, conflict, parent-child attachment, or attachment in general.

The researchers concluded that behavioral sleep techniques have no marked long-lasting effects (positive or negative). Parents and health professionals can confidently use these techniques to reduce the short- to medium-term burden of infant sleep problems and maternal depression.

 

So there's the research! I encourage you to follow the links I've provided and do your own reading and digging. Don't feel like you must blindly take my word for it! And if this post helped you out, would you consider sharing it? There's so much mom shaming and fear mongering around sleep training and I'd love to do my part to dispel some of that.

Related blog that you might find interesting:

Sleep Myth: Sleep training is damaging

 

sleep training research

I remember when I was pregnant with my first son and the overarching advice I heard was, “Get your sleep now while you can because once the baby comes you won’t be sleeping for years!” I quickly became annoyed with this advice and had to refrain myself from rolling my eyes whenever someone would offer it.

 

Now, on the other side with 2 children, I can definitely appreciate this advice but I still have to stifle the urge to roll my eyes when others give this advice. Did you know that a study conducted in 2019 found that sleep for moms and dads had still not returned to pre-pregnancy levels SIX years after having their first child?

Yes, of course you will undergo sleep deprivation in those early months but as for years of sleep deprivation? That does NOT have to be our new norm Mamas! 

 

Let's talk about why YOUR sleep matters too. This first is a BIG one and hopefully it’s not too shocking…

 

YOU are a human being and just because you are a mom, that does NOT mean that your basic needs disappear. Sleep is a basic survival need along with food, water, and oxygen.

 

It’s crazy that this even has to be listed as a reason but so many voices out there are telling mothers that these are our new norm now and we should just embrace it and enjoy it because when our children are grown we will long for these sleep deprived days. I’m sorry, but I despise this message.

 

Not only does it invalidate a mother’s current struggle but it also aims to make a mother feel guilty for not enjoying every single second. As a mother, I can un-ashamedly tell you that I do not enjoy every single second and that’s okay!

Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to a whole host of health problems.

 

To quote Matthew Walker, neuroscientist and author of Why We Sleep:

“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease. Inadequate sleep- even moderate reductions for just one week- disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure… Sleep disruption further contributed to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.”

 

Now I think we can all easily get behind this list of reasons why sleep is important. But the trouble is taking that head knowledge and having the motivation to apply it. Just like I know that eating McDonalds every single day is not good for my health, it can be hard to break out of the habit if I’m just making the change for myself. This leads me to my next big reason why sleep matters for us moms.

 

YOU are a better parent when you are well-rested.

 

Besides the obvious that you are a safer driver for your children- drowsy driving causes more accidents than alcohol and drugs combined- you are also less irritable and less likely to engage in permissive parenting.

 

In addition, pediatrician Kathleen Berchman states that, “Without sleep it’s very hard to be attuned to kids, to provide them with the attention and positive parenting they need, especially in stressful situations.” 

 

Oftentimes I hear parents cite attachment theory as their big stumbling block for improving their child’s sleep and therefore remaining sleep deprived themselves. Parents can be hesitant to make any sleep changes or allow their child to be uncomfortable for fear of ruining a secure attachment. But the big kicker is that it becomes significantly harder to provide a secure and safe attachment for your child if you are chronically sleep deprived. Secure attachment has everything to do with being a warm, loving, and emotionally available parent and nothing to do with cosleeping, breastfeeding, and anti-sleep training ideologies. 

 

Back to my analogy of eating McDonalds every day… you may start to think twice about making that daily stop if your children are present in the car with you and observing your behavior. Will it be easy to break your habit? No. But you will be more motivated because you want the best for your children. 

 

I hope that if you know you need more sleep and have been putting it off because you’re okay with putting yourself last, that this helps you to see it’s also in your child’s best interest for you to be well-rested.

5 quick tips for better sleep as a mom:

 

1. If you need to make some positive sleep changes for your child before you can get better sleep yourself, do that. You can sleep coach on your own or you can hire a professional, either way will work!

 

2. Try to stick with a consistent bedtime for yourself. As moms, it can be easy to stay up super late some nights to finish off our to do lists but it’s much better for our bodies if we have a consistent bedtime.

 

3. Aim for 8 hours of sleep overnight. If you know your child will be up by 6am, then force yourself to go to bed by 10pm.

 

4. Add a sleep mask and a white noise machine to your nightly routine. Just like with babies and young children, a dark sleep environment and continuous white noise help us get better quality sleep.

 

5. Consider turning that monitor volume down or off. This can be a hard one for moms and definitely depends on the age of your child, but if you can hear your little one crying from their room without the monitor, try to turn it off. Babies and children can be noisy and if you are awoken by every brief waking they have, you will miss out on a lot of sleep.

 

6. If you are still currently feeding your baby overnight, avoid being on your phone as much as you can during that time. The blue light from your device can make it that much harder to fall back asleep once the feeding is over. Instead opt for a podcast or music that you can listen via headphones to as your baby feeds.