“So he’s nights?” This is the recurring question faced by young parents! If you are looking for solutions to help your baby sleep, you have certainly heard of the 5-10-15 method. What is it and what should we think of? Decryption with Dr. Frédérique Aussert.
The 5-10-15 method was described and popularized in 1985 by Doctor Richard Ferber, founder of the pediatric center for sleep disorders at the Boston children’s hospital. It appeared at the time as a “revolutionary” method likely to allow any baby to make full nights quickly, after a few days or weeks. However, this method is increasingly controversial. We take stock with Dr. Frédérique Aussert, sleep specialist and coordinating doctor of the Morphée network.
What is the 5-10-15 method?
When baby wakes up or crying, this progressive waiting method is to wait 5 minutes before entering his room to reassure him. It will not be a question here of taking your baby in your arms or getting him out of his bed, but to soothe him with speech or a neutral gesture. The parent then comes out of the room and then waits 10 minutes before returning to see the child. Last step, if the child continues or starts to cry, you will have to wait 15 minutes.
What do specialists think?
Doctor Aussert, who defines this method as “Extinction behavioral therapy“warns against his abusive useapart from any more in -depth reflection on the family environment of the child, and especially if the needs of the baby are not taken into account: ” There is no miracle technique. Above all, it takes Understand the needs of the child and give him the feeling of security that will allow him to fall asleep alone “. If the specialist does not call into question the usefulness and effectiveness of behavioral therapies to support the child towards an autonomous falling asleep, it recalls, however, that they can only be carried out if certain conditions are met:”This method can be used if the child has difficulty going to bed or to go back to sleep after a night awakening. But only in the absence of problems in the family environment, family conflicts, depression in one of the two parents“. In these particular contexts, the ideal is to take advice as a first intention from the pediatrician who follows the child, then to contact a psychologist or a sleep specialist if necessary.
An increasingly controversial method
While neuroscience teach us that let a baby cry is not only bad for its brain development, but is also long-term harmful, the use of the 5-10-15 method is increasingly questioned. Spending baby and letting him cry would not have No educational virtue and would cause mainly at home Intense stress ! Doctor Aussert specifies: “You have to know what skills you can demand from a baby. Before the age of 6 months, the child needs the physical contact of his parents to be reassured, so it will be important to keep this contact to secure him. It is the parents’ mission to support the child so that he is comfortable in his safety circle “.
Attachment theory. Developed by the English pediatrician John Bowlby after the Second World War, there “attachment theory “ is based on the idea that the little human, to flourish fully, needs to be secure and put in confidence by his parents, called “attachment figures”. “If these attachment figures are present and meet the child’s reinsurance needs, he will then be able to calmly explore his environment:” I can go explore the world of the night because I know that my attachment figure is present, and will bring me the support I need if I am in difficulty. ““Explains Doctor Frédérique Aussert.
Before thinking about the night, Doctor Aussert recommends in the first place to ensure that baby’s day is well structured: “It is important to strengthen what are called time donors, who will help the baby’s watch/sleep pace to set up“. It is therefore necessary accentuate the day/night contrast but also Clearly alternate the activity and rest phases. From 3 or 4 months, meal, raising, sunset and nap schedules must be regular. Another primordial element: Baby must be able to enjoy your parents’ affection During the day, at least a little in the morning and a little at the end of the day. Otherwise, he risks wanting to catch up with lost time during the night: “A child who could not take advantage of his parents during the day will be very tempted to do so late at night or in the middle of the night when he opens an eye between two sleep cycles“, Specifies the specialist. In addition, the more a child will manage the separations and the moments far from his parents during the day, the more he will be armed to manage the separation at night,” she recalls.
In the evening, parents can set up routines : “It must, little by little, the activities are less and less awakening and stimulating. At the time of bedtime ritual“It is important that the bottle or evening feeding is dissociated from this ritual which will be used to prepare the separation. This is a moment of intimacy between the child and his parent. Each family will have their own ritual: a story, a hug, a kiss to the big brother. The most important thing is that this ritual is always the same, so that the child understands that it is time to go to bed and that it is limited in time (around ten minutes) “. Finally, if the child struggles to fall asleep, the parent can stay next to him, but without taking him in his arms, or for example behind the door.
Doctor Aussert does not recommend waiting for as long as the 5-10-15 method recommends. On the other hand, she advises to give the child for a few minutes so that he gradually learns to secure himself. The parent can then return to the room, reassure the child by placing a hand on his chest for example and calmly explaining to him that the bed is the right place for him, that everything is fine. It is therefore a question of inducing a behavior change while providing an answer to the needs of the child. The specialist concludes: “You have to give a secure framework to your child, showing him that his bed is the place where he can feel safe for the night. Accept that he can cry for a few minutes is also giving him the opportunity to develop other options to secure himself than the presence of parents, while remaining at his listening “.
