Can I stop sleep training if it becomes too difficult for me?

Can I stop sleep training if it becomes too difficult for me?

Gary Feldman (Medical Director, Stramski Disorders Center, Miller Children's Hospital ) gives expert video advice on: Will sleep training affect my child's attachment to me?; What are common mistakes during sleep training? and more...

Once you start this process, there is no stopping, because the child is going to try or going to fuss, and is going to do their absolute best to get the parents to resume the old habit. One has just got to remain consistent. If you're inconsistent and you eventually give in and say, "I just can't take it any more; I'm going to pick up my child," then what you've done is you've rewarded the child for the prolonged crying. So, when you decide that we're going to start again and do the sleep training, you've made the child much more robust, and in fact before, when they could cry for 10, 15 minutes, they're now feeling the power to cry for 30 minutes before they can ever show any signs of thinking about "Maybe this is not a good idea. Maybe I really should go to sleep on my own." Once you start, it's like a golf swing; you've got to swing right through.