A gentle guide to sleep training support: Extinction Sleep Training: What It Is and Why We Don't Recommend It

Extinction sleep training means letting a baby cry until they sleep. Here is what the research says and why we recommend a gentler approach.

Extinction Sleep Training: What It Is and Why We Don't Recommend It Extinction sleep training, often known as "cry-it-out" (CIO), is a method where parents allow their baby to cry for progressively longer periods, or even indefinitely, until they fall asleep without intervention. While some proponents suggest it teaches self-soothing, at Sleeping Baby Guide, we advocate for the Gentle Night Method, a responsive and attachment-safe approach that prioritizes your baby's emotional well-being and strengthens your bond. Understanding Extinction Sleep Training Extinction sleep training is rooted in behavioral psychology, aiming to "extinguish" a baby's crying behavior at bedtime or during night wakings by removing parental response. The core idea is that if crying does not elicit a desired outcome (parental attention), the behavior will eventually cease. This method can manifest in several ways: Unmodified Extinction (Cry-It-Out): This is the most stringent form, where parents put their baby to bed and do not re-enter the room or respond to crying until morning, or a predetermined wake-up time. The baby is left to cry until they fall asleep on their own. Graduated Extinction (graduated extinction method): Developed by Dr. Richard graduated extinction, this method involves checking on the baby at increasing intervals (e.g., 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes) without picking them up or feeding them. The checks are meant to reassure the parent that the baby is safe, but not to soothe the baby to sleep. The theory behind these methods is that babies learn to associate crying with parental intervention. By consistently not responding, the association is broken, and the baby supposedly learns to self-soothe and fall asleep independently. The goal is often to achieve longer stretches of sleep for both baby and parents quickly. The Research on Extinction Sleep Training: A Closer Look Research into extinction sleep training has yielded mixed results and is often a point of contention among parenting experts. Studies often focus on short-term outcomes, such as sleep duration and parental stress, while the long-term emotional and psychological impacts are more debated. Short-Term Effects Some studies suggest that extinction methods can be effective in improving sleep duration for infants and reducing parental stress in the short term. For instance, a 2016 study published in Pediatrics by Gradisar et al. found that graduated extinction and bedtime fading resulted in infants falling asleep faster and waking less frequently, with no evidence of adverse stress responses or attachment insecurity [^1^]. Some research has also indicated that babies undergoing sleep training might have lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, during the intervention [^2^]. Long-Term Effects and Attachment Concerns However, these findings are often viewed critically by proponents of attachment parenting and gentle sleep approaches. While babies may eventually stop crying, som