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What age can I start sleep training?

Most guidance points to around 6 months as a reasonable time to start sleep training, once babies can go longer stretches without night feeds and are developmentally ready to self-soothe. Starting earlier hasn't been shown to help.

Some children may need extra time depending on temperament, feeding needs, and health, so talk to your care provider about your specific baby.

Strength of evidence

Good

Based on a Canadian paediatric guideline, a systematic review finding no benefit before 6 months, and a meta-analysis plus a long-term randomized trial on sleep training safety, though few studies test 'ideal age' directly.

What the evidence says

Canadian paediatric guidance suggests that around 6 months is a good time to begin gently encouraging your baby to fall back asleep on their own. At this age, if your baby wakes and cries, you're encouraged to check that they're okay, but then give them a few minutes to try settling themselves before stepping in, which helps them build self-soothing skills.

A systematic review looking specifically at babies younger than 6 months found that behavioural sleep interventions did not improve outcomes for babies or mothers at that early age, so most experts don't recommend formal sleep training before 6 months. Younger babies still have real nighttime feeding needs and less mature sleep patterns.

Once you start, research is reassuring: a meta-analysis of behavioural sleep programs found they reduced sleep problems and improved mothers' sleep quality, and a long-term randomized trial following children to age 6 found no evidence of harm to emotional development or the parent-child relationship from sleep training done around 7-10 months.

Every baby is different, and things like prematurity, reflux, or other health conditions can change the timing. It's always fine to check with your paediatrician about what's right for your baby before starting any sleep training approach.

Sources

✓Reviewed by CH, MD, FRCPC

Reviewed by a specialist physician certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, who has read this answer against the sources listed above and confirmed it reflects them. That is not medical advice about your child. How we review

Answer checked July 29, 2026

Educational information only. Not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and no doctor-patient relationship is created by using this. Founded Parent has not examined your child and does not know their history, so this may not apply to you. In an emergency, call your local emergency number. What Founded Parent cannot do

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