Should I pick baby up when sleep training?

When your family is facing any sort of emergency, you should always pick up your baby. But when there is no concern for safety, whether you should pick a baby up during sleep training depends on your family's goals.

Any sort of interaction with a baby during sleep training is an opportunity for confusion. If you think of it from a baby's perspective, the reasons for picking them up could be for feeding, playing, comforting, or to help them sleep. So, whenever you pick them up, they have to determine why you are picking them up. It's difficult for them to figure this out quickly. So the more interaction you have with them, the longer it will take for them to learn how to sleep.

If you want sleep training to go quickly, we advise that you do not pick them up during sleep training. However, if you are ok with going more slowly, then picking up is ok.

When you DO pick up your baby, make it clear to them that it's still sleep time. Some things you can do to signal it's still sleep time are:

1. Don't talk to them, only shush or (speak in a robotic, monotone voice)
2. Don't turn on the lights, keep them off
3. Don't put them vertical, only horizontal
4. Don't turn on music, keep the sound machine

These signals will help them understand faster that you are picking them up to help them sleep instead of picking them up for another reason.