#57 - Sleep Training is Not Harmful

For decades we’ve heard that treatments for infant sleep problems work.

The main issue is that they are challenging for parents to implement because they involve leaving the child for periods of time (aka, sleep training) - even all night (aka, cry-it-out) - to fall asleep by themselves.

This means there are periods where parents are hearing their child cry overnight.

We actually don’t have good numbers on how many parents begin these treatments and then don’t follow through with them.

But for those who do, the vast majority are rewarded with better sleep.

Similarly, we don’t know how many parents don’t begin these treatments, nor how many will never do them.

The main factor driving these families to avoid ‘sleep training’ may not be the thought of hearing their infant crying alone in the dark.

For years, there has been a theory that sleep training damages the infant’s attachment to their parents, as well as affecting their emotional and behavioural development.

This theory proposes that the ‘sleep training’ and ‘cry-it-out’ methods are so stressful to the infant that they produce elevated levels of the stress hormone - cortisol.

I even remember Dr Sears from the USA being interviewed about this theory, and at one point he was tapping his head with his finger and claiming that ‘cortisol attacks the baby’s brain’.

When these elevated levels of cortisol are chronic, then this results in attachment, emotional and behavioural issues for the child.

Various individuals touted this theory as if it were fact.

But the truth is - there was no direct scientific evidence to support or dispute the theory.

Until 2016 - when we published the 1st study.

So many people make a claim that is not true.

In fact, many people still do this.

And as you can see from the date of this blog, we have a prime example of a cluster of people who do not give a f#ck about evidence - whether it’s published in a scientific journal or considered by a court of law (or indeed, dozens of courts).

Being apathetic about important issues allows misinformation to thrive. And this not only affects people’s actions - but in the case of infant sleep problems - it fuels inaction.

I could so say much more about the scientific evidence related to sleep training - and I will in our free weekly newsletter to our subscribers - but this is where it stops in this blog.

Subscribe by this Sunday and here me describe how we translated this study into a 3-Step-Plan to improve infant sleep (even if ‘sleep training’ has been tried).

For now, click on the image below and watch our 2nd episode of What The Sleep - where we summarise our 2016 study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal (aptly named ‘Pediatrics’) - and further disseminated in over 200 media reports around the world.

• Prof Michael Gradisar

*If the Youtube link does not work - please click here.