Disclaimer: I am not bashing any parent that chooses to sleep train their babies. I am a firm believer that every child and household is different and what works for one may not work for another. With that being said, Sleep training did not work for us, like, at all. Heres why:

• The “cry it out” method made us as parents very uncomfortable and 9 times out of 10 it led to Peyton throwing up. Hearing your child scream to the point of them vomiting is something that I’m personally not strong enough to go through. A baby has a natural and innate need to be comforted by their caregiver so for me to not go in and comfort my son was defying my natural role as a mother.
• It took longer for us to get him to go to sleep, which meant that we were actually losing sleep ourselves. With the bedtime routine that we had in place, it took us 25 minutes tops to get Peyton asleep and in his crib. When we attempted sleep training, it took us an upmost of about 2 hours.
• It interrupted my pumping routine. If you’re familiar with breastfeeding, you know that when your body is on a lactation schedule there’s really nothing you can do to stop it from happening; the milk is going to come out one way or another. At this point, I was already in a routine of pumping right after I put Peyton in his crib. When we were sleep training, I couldn’t do this because I had to go in and attempt to soothe him every 5, 10, 15+ minutes as was instructed by the sleep training guide we were following. So on top of the fact that my son is screaming bloody murder, I’m now dripping milk from my nipples like a leaky faucet. No. Thank. You.
• We missed out on bonding time. Bedtime was and still is my favorite time of the day with my son. It’s a moment when I get to see him in a happy and relaxed state and just be able to snuggle and love on him until he falls asleep in my arms. How could I give that up?

Basically, sleep training was a fail and honestly, I don’t care. Peyton is now 19 months old and sleeps through the night from 8:00pm to 7:00 am. Yes, I still have to hold him and soothe him to sleep. But what’s 25 minutes out of my night if it means that my baby gets a full nights sleep? Plus, Peyton is so independent throughout the day that I actually don’t mind the fact that he still needs me to go to sleep. When he’s ready to do something on his own he lets me know (trust me, there’s no mistaking when Peyton doesn’t want you to do something). So until that day, we have no problem putting sleep training to bed.