In plain words
Graduated extinction is a method of sleep training. A parent puts a baby down awake and leaves the room. If the baby cries, the parent returns after a set time to comfort briefly, without picking the baby up. The wait gets longer with each check. The method is also called the Ferber method, after the pediatrician who described its timed checks. Families use it when a baby wakes often at night or has trouble falling asleep. Pediatric sources usually describe it from about six months of age. Many families choose other approaches. The method is a family decision. For breastfeeding mothers, fewer night feeds can change milk supply, so sleep plans and feeding plans overlap.
The deeper version
Graduated extinction, often called the Ferber method, is a behavioral sleep intervention in which caregivers check on an infant at progressively longer intervals while the infant cries at sleep onset or during night wakings. Behavioral interventions, including graduated extinction and bedtime fading, are generally described in the pediatric literature as appropriate from about six months. In a randomized trial (Gradisar and colleagues, Pediatrics, 2016), graduated extinction and bedtime fading shortened the time babies took to fall asleep, with no detected differences in infant stress or at follow-up. Studies that measured attachment or cortisol found no demonstrated harm, though samples are limited. Night feeds and milk supply are a separate consideration for breastfeeding families. The controversy concerns long-term effects on infant emotional regulation and parent-child attachment, where evidence is limited and mostly short-term.
Where it comes up
- Night weaningFeeding Your Baby
- Breastfeeding and sleep: feeding to sleep, night feeds, and sharing the loadFeeding Your Baby
- Newborn sleep and safe sleepBaby Basics
- Sharing nights: shifts and systemsSupport, Home, and Village
What mothers here say about graduated extinction
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Sources
- Gradisar M and colleagues — Behavioral interventions for infant sleep problems: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 2016