Am I the only mother in the world who doesn't practice the cry-it-out technique? Seems that nobody else rocks their babies to sleep. I keep getting asked if my son is sleeping through the night yet... um, no, he still gets up to eat about every 3 hours and I 'walk' him back to sleep. If I put him down before he's in a deep sleep he wakes up again and cries. I can't stand hearing my baby cry, it breaks my heart. To me, it's sort of cruel to let him scream when I know what to do to make him happy and get him the sleep he needs. But nowadays it seems I am the only one who feels this way. I guess we are supposed to 'train' our children to put themselves to sleep by letting them scream themselves into exhaustion assuming that eventually they will stop and start going to sleep easier. But what if it doesn't work? With my daughter everyone said "oh, she won't cry for more than 45 minutes or so." Yeah, an hour and a half later the poor child was choking on her own snot and soaked in sweat... as was I. I never could bring myself to try it again. Let me add that she eventually became a champion sleeper, putting herself to sleep by a year and sleeping for 12 hours. She still sleeps great and we never had a problem transitioning to the big girl bed or anything.
So here's my question... what do you all think? Am I doing it wrong by using the necessary means (ie swaddling and walking) to put my son to sleep? Am I doing him a disservice by not letting him cry? Do babies really need to 'learn' to self-soothe? After all I went through to get my little ones, I can't bring myself to let them cry when I can cuddle them and make it all better.
Please, comment and let me know your thoughts... and what did or didn't work for you.
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2 comments:
Well, you know my deal: CIO worked for us and I plan to do it again. It sucks in the beginning, but for us it is the only way my son would get the sleep he actually needed. And I got the sleep I needed, too. He started sleeping through when he weighted less than your boy and by ten weeks old we both were getting six to eight continuous hours of sleep almost every night. Doing all that crying work during the day made it so he slept better at night. He has also slept most naps and every night in his own bed for his entire life. Key for me.
But as I have told you, this is your decision and whatever decision you make is going to be the right one for your family. If you think CIO is cruel, you don't have to do it. I won't judge you for not doing it if you don't judge me for doing it later. You're the mama and as long as you feel good about your decision - even if it's hard to implement it - than that's all that matters. Good luck, honey.
NOPE!!! You are not alone....great topic by the way....I have never let my lil girl CIO...she is 2 now and I still struggle sometimes, but thats my choice. I am not one that needs 6 (8 or more is something foreign to me) hours of sleep, therefore I can handle it.
I agree with you completely, YOU did go thru too much not to cuddle with them and soothe them every chance you get!!! If you don't know already, you are a wonderful mother (one of the best), and you keep doing whatever you can to let both of them know you love them so much every day!!!!
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