I know most of you have children so here is the question i have for you..did you let them cry themselves to sleep? and if you did, at what age did they sleep through the night? I am just curious, I do not know that it will change how i do things, i am just wondering, if you ould leave your comments I was greatly appreciate it.
- new mom
Hey, Heather! I obviously don't know from personal experience, but I do know that my mom would let us cry after we were a little older. She said it was hard at first but we got used to going to bed when she would put us down and that way she could get some sleep too. Not sure what age she started doing that though. Probably not for the first few months? My sister in law does NOT let her babies sleep through the night and she is always awake with them. I personally don't think that's a good idea. Even the two year old hardly sleeps through the night because she know she can get up and be with mommy.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I have three kids and I let them cry it out around 5 months old. I just made sure that they weren't sick (of course) then I made sure they didn't take a really long nap too late in the day (I would keep them awake for a while before "bedtime". They would go to sleep around 10 pm for the night. I also made sure that they had eaten well. I needed my sleep, I love sleeping :) but of course this doesn't work for everyone!
ReplyDeleteYou know what's best for YOUR baby better than anyone. Listen to the way he cries. Sometimes with Mckenzi, I "teach" her that it's okay to cry it out. The few times I've tried teaching her new things, where she's been crying very uniquely to the way she usually cries, but I ignore it, there has always been a reason. Throw up all over her face, massive poopy explosion all over. Now don't get me wrong, I'm obviously not letting her cry and cry for hours without paying attention to her. Sometimes I just ignore the terrible crying, because I've been told that's what you should do to get over the hump of crying! Just listen to him. I think there will obviously need to be some crying as he adjusts to new schedules. Just set some guidelines and boundaries for yourself that you're ready to follow. For example, I give Mckenzi a certain amount of time to fuss and cry, before checking in and letting her see me. Sometimes that's all she needs - to see me - and then BAM she's out. At the same time, I think when their young, that's not necessarily the time to make them sleep on their own. Mckenzi is 6 months old now, and I finally feel like it's the right time. You'll know when it's right for Ethan. Let him tell you when he's ready. You'll feel it. Good luck! You're a great mom!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think motherly instinct trumps all other parenting methods. Like Wendy said, it's important to listen to your child. I would never let a child "CIO" based on someone else telling me I needed to. In my opinion, you should be careful about doing this too early, especially before 6 months. You CANNOT spoil a baby. They don't comprehend that concept. Needs and wants are both immediate needs to them. I would be especially careful about restricting food intake. If the baby is crying out of hunger (even if it hasn't been that long to you) you can do harm by not feeding when the baby's body is ready for it. The AAP (Amer. Assoc. of Pediatrics) recently came out against the "Babywise" method and it's strict CIO method for young babies. You can check out their findings here http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/babywise-linked-to-babies-dehydration.html (you can ignore the website, the article is accurate) One book I thought was great is called the "No Cry-Sleep Solution" This time won't last and he will sleep through the night in his own time when he is ready before you know it. My daughter didn't sleep through the night till 7 or 8 months and that's totally normal. She did it when she was ready. I let her cry on occasion when she was older, could communicate somewhat about what she needed, and was no longer needing to feed at night. Of course you will get both sides from different people. Many people swear by the CIO method. This is just my opinion. Go with what feels right to you. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI like this article on it: http://www.babycenter.com/404_are-we-damaging-our-baby-by-letting-him-cry-himself-to-sleep_2644.bc
and this one:
http://www.sleepnet.com/infant3/messages/534.html
It's worth it to try it out, because for lots of kids it totally works. For my little girl, however, it DIDN'T. She cried for 2 weeks straight with no improvement in her sleeping habits, and obvious emotional stress showing throughout the day. Every time she got hurt she thought she had to cry it out alone. She couldn't understand why we were abandoning her. (This is at about 1 year). So we were patient and at 16 months we moved into a 2 bedroom and all the sudden she decided to sleep through the night. That's her personality... she just had to decide. When my next baby is about 4 months (can't sit up or stand up in crib yet) we may try again with a more gentle approach, like wait 2 minutes, then 4, and so on. We'll see how it goes! good luck
ReplyDeleteSo I am obviously no expert, but I would always make sure that Lyla was all taken care of... fed, changed, burped, etc. Then we had a rule that we would let her cry for 20-30 minutes because she often put herself back to sleep during that time. If she wasn't letting up at all in that time, then we would go get her, hold her, love her, feed her more, and then try again. That is also how we did it when she woke up at night because we found she would often put herself back to sleep within the 20-30 minutes. She started sleeping through the night by 4 months and now she is THE BEST sleeper ever. But like the other mom's said, you know your baby more than anyone else and often times their cries give it away.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI posted about this on my blog awhile ago. You can check it out if you're interested.
http://threeboogers.blogspot.com/2010/02/uncanny-truths-about-motherhood-sleep.html