Baby sleep training method: Cry it out

People often think this method of sleep training involves leaving babies alone to cry for as long as it takes before they fall asleep. But "cry it out" (CIO) simply refers to any sleep training approach – and there are many – that says it's okay to let a baby cry for a specified period of time (often a very short period of time) before offering comfort.

In his 1985 book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (revised and expanded in 2006), pediatrician Richard Ferber presented one method of getting children to sleep that has become virtually synonymous with CIO – so much so that you'll hear parents refer to any CIO method as "Ferberizing."

Ferber himself never uses the term "cry it out." And he's only one of a number of sleep experts who say that crying – while not the goal – is for some children an unavoidable part of sleep training.

What's the theory behind CIO?
The "cry it out" approach assumes that falling asleep on your own is a skill like any other and that your baby can master this skill if you give him the opportunity.
The idea is that if your child gets used to having you rock him to sleep, or he always falls asleep while nursing, he won't learn to fall asleep on his own. When he wakes up during the night – as all children and adults do as part of the natural sleep cycle – he'll become alarmed and cry for you instead of being able to go back to sleep.

By contrast, if your baby learns to soothe himself to sleep at bedtime, he can use the same skill when he wakes up at night or during a nap.

Crying isn't the goal of this sleep training method, but advocates say it's often an inevitable side effect as your baby adjusts to sleeping on his own. They say the short-term pain of a few tears is far outweighed by the long-term advantages: a child who goes to sleep easily and happily on his own, and parents who can count on a good night's rest.

Ferber is perhaps the most well known expert who advocates a CIO-style sleep training method, but he's not alone.

Pediatrician Marc Weissbluth, author of the popular book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, doesn't endorse CIO per se, but says that crying may be a necessary part of helping some children develop healthy sleep habits.

Sleep expert Jodi Mindell, author of Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep, is often called a kinder, gentler Ferber. Her "basic bedtime method" is a variation on Ferber's classic progressive-waiting technique.