Each baby is different and each baby’s response to baby sleep training is also different. One of the methods used is crying it out method. It advocates the concept that during sleep training, babies can be allowed to cry for short time, before being soothed by parents. It is also known as Ferber’s method or ‘Ferberizing’, after pediatrician Richard Ferber who stated that crying is a part of sleep training for some babies.

If parents make it a habit to rock or nurse the baby to sleep, he wouldn’t get any chance to learn self-soothing technique or how to sleep on his own. So whenever he wakes up during night, he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep on his own. So crying it out method doesn’t mean that the baby should be made to cry.

It simply says that babies should be allowed t learn to sleep by himself. In doing so, some babies may cry for a while, till they get used to soothing themselves to sleep. But once they master the technique, they wouldn’t cry even when they wake up during night. So a few days’ crying can lead to a good sleeping habit in the long run.

Pediatricians other than Ferber also support the crying it out method for baby sleep training. Experts suggest that it is better to try this method when the baby is around 4 to 6 months old.

How to go about the ‘cry it out’ method:

1. When the baby is drowsy, but not asleep, he should be put in his bed.
2. After keeping the child, parents should leave the baby’s room. If the baby cries, he should be allowed to do so for a little while, around 2-3 minutes or the time period that parents find okay.
3. Then, again the parents should go in just to talk softly for a minute, but should not lift or hold the baby and should not linger for longer period. Even if the child continues to cry, still the parents should leave the room again.
4. The same procedure is followed again, but parents should keep away for a longer period before going in again to comfort the baby just by talking or patting.
5. The same pattern is repeated; each time slowly the ‘keep away’ period should be increased. This is done till baby sleeps on his own in the absence of the parents

This is continued on each night and generally within a week the baby learns to go to sleep on his own. If it doesn’t work even after a number of nights, then parents should try it after a gap of few weeks.

When the parents decide to try baby sleep training with cry it out method, they should consider all pros and cons beforehand and be prepared for some sleepless nights as well as for putting up with baby’s crying. It could be little hard on the baby and also for the parents to hear baby cry continuously.

Parents should take turns while trying this method, so each one can have some break. For some families this method proves very effective, whereas some babies keep crying, but still do not get proper sleep. Same method may not work for everyone.