Now, don’t run off on me. I know the term “extinction bursts” seems really clinical and cold, but don’t worry: we’re going to go over exactly what this term means, why it can derail even the best sleep training, and how you (the sleep-deprived parent) can deal.
Extinction Bursts: What They Are
The concept of extinction bursts isn’t just related to sleep training; it’s actually a psychological concept that extends to all kinds of behaviors. To understand this concept, we first have to define a few terms:
- A reinforcement is something that reinforces, or encourages, a particular behavior. This can be a reward for good behavior (think offering a sticker for good table manners) or parental attention for bad behavior (think mom or dad paying attention to a toddler when he throws a tantrum, OR, for a more “sleep-focused” example, think mom or dad racing into the nursery and picking up baby every time she cries during nighttime waking).
- Extinction is removing the reinforcement for a behavior that you want to stop (think ignoring your toddler when he throws his tantrum or not picking up your baby and rocking her when she wakes, but instead patting her back while she lies in the crib). Side note: this is why cry it out sleep coaching is often called extinction; you stop reinforcing your child’s nighttime waking by not coming into the room and offering comfort, and instead, you allow your child to fuss until she falls asleep.
- Extinction bursts are something that happen when you, the parent, stop reinforcing a behavior. Your child starts to realize that his behavior (whether it’s throwing a tantrum or crying at night) is no longer getting the response from you that it once did. So your child thinks, “Hmmm….maybe, in order to get mom’s/dad’s attention again, I just need to do this behavior longer and louder. Maybe that will get their attention and give me that response that I’m used to.” So the behavior – the tantrum or the night waking, in our examples – suddenly gets way worse. This is the “burst” in “extinction burst” — there’s a sudden and unexpected burst of the behavior you’re trying to get rid of.
Extinction Bursts and Your Baby or Toddler’s Sleep Training
Now that you have a feel for exactly what extinction bursts are, it’s probably pretty easy to see how they impact sleep training, right? Often, parents who sleep train see extinction bursts happen like this*:
Days 1-2: You begin sleep training. Your baby resists at first, but you hold firm and stay consistent.
Days 3-4 (or 5 or 6): Eureka! You start to see progress! It may be small progress, but it’s noticeable. This leaves you feeling confident about your plan and eagerly awaiting those sleep-filled nights you are sure are right around the corner!
Day 5 (or 6 or 7): Out of the blue, your baby suddenly starts waking often at night and/or resisting bedtime and/or resisting naps. The crying is so loud and long, and you are left wondering what on earth happened. You were making such good progress; why is your baby suddenly fighting sleep and resisting even your best and most consistent sleep coaching efforts?!
*Note: this pace is generally right for parents who are using check and console methods. Parents using cry it out may see this timeline happen faster; parents using gentle methods, on the other hand, may need to extend this timeline to have an accurate picture.
As you can imagine, extinction bursts are always confusing and discouraging for parents. How can your baby go from making noticeable progress to waking and wailing more often (and more loudly!) than he did before? This is usually the point when parents think to themselves, “This isn’t working.”
However, far from being a sign that your sleep coaching isn’t working, an extinction burst like this is actually a sign that you are on the right track! Extinction bursts are very normal, from a developmental point of view; your child is responding the way he or she should to the fact that you are no longer doing what you are “supposed” to be doing during night wakings or early nap waking.
So take heart; even though extinction bursts may feel tough to cope with, they are usually signs that you are getting closer to rested nights and peaceful naps!
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Whether you’re struggling with extinction bursts specifically or sleep training failure more generally, you are not alone; many, many parents struggle to get their babies and toddlers sleeping well. What you may need at this point is an expert to help you through the sleep training process. Connect with one of our expert consultants today; she’ll craft a Personalized Sleep Plan™ just for your baby, walk you through every step of sleep coaching and schedule-making, and provide detailed answers to your most pressing sleep questions.
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Stephani Howell says
So we did cry it out back when our baby was 6 months and it worked for about 7 months really well. When he turned 13 months he had really bad teething and woke up every night, the teeth came in and he hasn’t stopped waking. We’ve tried again, but he’s 16 months now and wakes every night and cross and screams for 30 minutes to an hour every night at least one a night until he either falls asleep exhausted or we go rock him. We’re so tired. It shouldn’t last that long, right?
Neosha says
@Stephani- Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. We’re sorry to hear that your little guy has started waking and crying in the night again and it’s lasted this long. We generally don’t see an extinction burst last for months so it’s possible that what you’re seeing is something else, unfortunately! Please let us know if we can be of any help to you as work on getting him back to sleeping better. We’d love to help you through this. Hang in there, Stephani!