Should You Let Your Child Cry It Out?

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Using cry-it-out sleep training does not address or solve the child’s real underlying sleep issues. It assumes that all children are exactly alike and refuse to sleep because they are stubborn, and if we ignore them (allow them to cry to sleep) then the problem is solved.

The truth is that there are many different reasons that children won’t fall asleep easily, or stay asleep, and sleep issues are com mon. One in three children under the age of five have disturbed nighttime sleep, an even greater percentage fight naps. Dr. William Dement of Stanford University , who is often called the world’s leading authority on sleep, says in his book The Promise of Sleep “With young children sleep problems may be the rule rather than the exception. Sleep problems in these early years are so com mon, in fact, that people should think of them not as sleep disorders but as normal manifestations of childhood.”

Children do not sleep like adults. Their unique needs and problems should be taken into consideration. “Sleep at all costs” is not an effective or com prehensive solution.