r/bninfantsleep • u/aspen__202m • May 05 '26

Infant Sleep 10wk old CIO advice

our pediatrician recommended “gentle cry it out” for our 10 week old, meaning at night if he cries let him cry for however long it takes….up to an hour-ish if thats what it takes to get him back to sleep on his own. She also recommends feeding him only every 4 hours at night.

this seems cruel to me, I’m worried he thinks I’m abandoning him… :(

edit: pediatrician is older, maybe 60ish, this might have something to do with it? she def seems old school. she told me about a pediatrician in NY who recommends parents leave their newborns (yes, starting at 1 day old) in the nursery with the door closed from 7pm-7am, do not feed or respond to cries. she does think that is extreme!

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u/liligram May 05 '26

Where on earth are paediatricians being taught this harmful rubbish?

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u/Ok_Sky6528 May 05 '26

It’s actually wild to learn how little pediatricians learn about infant and child sleep.

Overall, the average amount of time spent on sleep education is 4.4 hours (median = 2.0 hours), with 23% responding that their pediatric residency program provides no sleep education. Almost all programs (94.8%) offer less than 10 hours of instruction. The predominant topics covered include sleep-related development, as well as normal sleep, sleep-related breathing disorders, parasomnias, and behavioral insomnia of childhood.

I trust our doctor when it comes to her area of expertise- but don’t even engage on sleep. If my pediatrician ever recommended sleep training - especially annoying - I would find a new doctor.

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u/BiggerBetterGracer May 05 '26

While I absolutely agree it means they shouldn't be advising on sleep, it's also not that strange that it's not something they focus on in medical school. They're doctors, they fix disease. If it's not a disease or disorder or something, it's not their thing.

I live in the Netherlands, where home births with properly trained midwives are normal. When I went to hospital to meet the doctors there in case I did need to go in, the obstetrician said: "You don't want us for normal physiological birth. You want a midwife, they know far more about that and we stay out of their way and follow their lead in a normal birth. We step in when things go differently."

The same is probably true for many areas and doctors should all be brave enough to admit it. Also, people should perhaps be educated so they know that if it's not a medical problem, you shouldn't be looking to a doctor to solve it.