The Estivill method
Standards and routines outlined, supported by pediatric, psychological, and pedagogical scientific societies, to address behaviorally caused insomnia in children.
In 1976, Dr. Eduard Estivill began studies on sleep disorders in children. In the scientific field in general and in the field of infant sleep, in particular, scientific discoveries, always endorsed by publications in prestigious medical journals, have made it possible to bring together knowledge from such varied areas of knowledge as neurobiology, pediatrics, neurophysiology, pedagogy and psychology.
In recent years, scientists have provided data on how the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (a group of cells, located in the brain, that acts as our biological clock) matures and evolves in the first months of life. This has allowed us to understand how babies’ sleep has different characteristics depending on their age.
In addition, various phenomena, hitherto considered “unsolvable”, such as the awakening of children during sleep, have been understood. In the same way, psychology and pedagogy have provided data on the configuration of habits and routines.
All this information has led Infant Sleep Medicine specialists to provide parents with guidelines and advice to improve infant sleep situations.
The first books published for this purpose date back more than 20 years. Richard Ferber, pediatrician and head of the Pediatrics Service at Boston Children’s Hospital, USA, was the first to publish a modern treatise on sleep disorders in children, which Dr. Estivill prefaced in its Spanish version.
Richard Ferber was one of Dr. Estivill’s teachers. He encouraged her interest in this field and is one of the scientific references of our daily work.
Since 1989 we have been providing consultations on children’s insomnia problems. The experience accumulated with more than 15,000 patients and the publications we have published support the reliability of the concepts expressed in our books on how to treat children’s sleep problems. We are scientists and we only express what science discovers, we do not give personal opinions.
“It has been 20 years since I first published the guidelines for teaching children to sleep. Parents ended up calling this compendium of recommendations and rules, affectionately, the “Estivill method”, but I have to remind you that it is not my invention.”
In 1996 we published a compendium of standards expressed in an easy-to-understand form, based on new scientific advances. We were not inventing anything, we were not proposing empirical theories or dictating dogmas, we were simply providing knowledge to the many parents who have children with sleep disorders. This materialized in the book Duérmete Niño ( Editorial Penguin Random House Mondadori).
The effectiveness of the proposed standards and the support of parents, together with the recognition of the majority of the pediatric, psychological and pedagogical scientific community, led to a rapid dissemination of the suggested standards, as has happened in many parts of the world with other books that disseminate the same scientific knowledge.
To date, more than four million books have been sold and it has been translated into twenty-two languages (Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French, Portuguese, Brazilian, Icelandic, Croatian, Slovak, English, Dutch, German, Japanese, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Greek, Chinese, Russian). This can only be explained by the solvency of its contents and the effectiveness of the recommendations implemented by the parents.
The book Duérmete Niño has an updated and expanded version that offers parents new knowledge that complements those previously published. For example, we have made advances in the understanding of fetal sleep. And this has allowed us to suggest rules for teaching sleep from the first day of birth.
New time table
Recent studies carried out on these techniques recommend this table of waiting times (replaces the one found in the book SLEEP CHILD. It is just as effective, and more bearable for parents. (Minutes are replaced by seconds)
1st WAIT
2nd WAIT
3rd WAIT
SUCCESSIVE
FIRST DAY
20 sec.
25 sec.
30 sec.
30 sec.
SECOND DAY
30 sec.
35 sec.
40 sec.
40 sec.
THIRD DAY
40 sec.
45 sec.
50 sec.
50 sec.
FOURTH DAY
50 sec.
55 sec.
60 sec.
60 sec.
FIFTH DAY
60 sec.
65 sec.
70 sec.
70 sec.
SIXTH DAY
70 sec.
75 sec.
80 sec.
80 sec.
SUCCESSIVE
70 sec.
75 sec.
80 sec.
90 sec.
The Estivill Method: Science, Evidence, and International Support
Scientific approach to the Estivill method
What is the Estivill method based on?
Current scientific evidence
Numerous recent studies demonstrate that behavioral methods for improving children’s sleep are effective, safe, and beneficial for both children and their families:
- A study published in Pediatrics (Gradisar et al., 2016) showed that babies aged 6 to 16 months who followed graduated extinction techniques fell asleep faster, woke up less, and showed no negative effects on either their emotional development or their attachment to their parents.
- Canadian research (Hall et al., 2015) found that after a brief behavioral intervention, babies slept more and mothers experienced less fatigue, better sleep, and fewer symptoms of depression.
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Meltzer & Mindell, 2014) confirm that these methods significantly improve the quality of children’s sleep and do not cause emotional harm.
- Furthermore, long-term follow-up studies (Price et al., 2012) conclude that children who have followed these methods do not show emotional or behavioral differences compared to those who did not follow them.
What is the Estivill method based on?
The main pediatric and sleep societies agree in recommending these types of behavioral approaches as the first line of treatment for sleep disorders in childhood:
- The Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) emphasizes that behavioral interventions, along with good sleep hygiene, are “the most effective in the long term.”
- SEPEAP (Spanish Society of Primary Care Pediatrics) recommends establishing routines and placing your child in their crib while still awake so they learn to fall asleep alone.
- International institutions such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) support the use of these structured methods in babies older than 6 months.
- Centers such as Harvard University and Oxford University have also researched and validated these techniques. For example, Harvard Health Publishing published an article explaining that babies taught using these methods did not experience more stress or emotional disturbances than those who did not.
And the comments on the networks?
FAQ’s
Frequently Asked Questions about the Estivill Method
What is the Estivill method?
Does it involve letting the baby cry inconsolably?
Can it affect attachment?
Does it work for all children?
Why do some people criticize the method on social media?
Criticisms often arise from parenting models derived from psychoanalytic theories, which reject any intervention. We respect these opinions, although many have no clinical or scientific basis. Our recommendations are not criticized within the scientific community.
From what age can it be applied?
From 6 months to 4-5 years, always with a professional assessment. Before 6 months, sleep is still developing, and we use other strategies. It is also useful for premature babies and twins. In these cases, the recommendations are more specific to the characteristics of these children.