03/12/2026
I get asked a lot why I don’t do formal sleep training in babies under 6 months. Here is one reason…
"Independent sleep initiation method at three months contributed to an increase in night awakenings at 12 months. . . [This] highlights the importance of having parental support in the first three months of life, which is different at six months of life, when infants start to be able to regulate their emotions without external support. This could be an important implication for the timing of behavioral techniques for sleep disorders in infants, meaning that early behavioral intervention before six months could be detrimental to sleep consolidation in infants."
Sette, S., Baumgartner, E., Ferri, R., & Bruni, O. (2017). Predictors of sleep disturbances in the first year of life: A longitudinal study. Sleep Medicine, 36, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.04.015