Anyone who has ever been to college (especially MMA) knows how amazing the nap is. Probably the single most powerful thing in the universe, its even more powerful when it is a baby. Right around 4 months our pediatrican, Dr. G, said that JW was really just crying to get attention and that, if we wanted to, we could start to let him cry it out a bit.
I know that there is a split in the parenting world about letting your baby cry it out. Some view it as harsh and think that it will build trust issues between baby and parent. I am going to call Shenanigans on that. Anyone who has been a parent for more than a month knows how drained and exhausting having to hold the baby at all times is. Yes its wonderful and fun, but it also can kind of suck. Being able to put him down, even for an hour, gives mommy and daddy a much needed rest.
We did a bit of a modified cry it out method. After we had our bedtime routine (food, bath, books, song, bed) we would leave the room, putting JW down awake. This is key to this method, putting them down awake starts to teach them to put themselves to sleep. Then he would cry....
Yes your baby will cry. No way around it there will be crying. At first there will probably(definitely) be a lot of crying. Then, as time goes on, the idea is that crying gets less and less. Eventually your baby will be able to put themselves to sleep. The thing that I have found is that its not the real time frame of the crying that should bother you, its the type of crying. Obviously 45 minutes of crying is a pain, but remember you can always go in and give him a pacifier or rub his back for a minute. The only time that you should pick him up is when his cry hits a level that you know he isn't going to go to sleep anytime soon. You can hear it in the tone of the cry, there will be a change. Once that change happens MW or I go in, pick up the baby, and burp and rock him for a minute then put him back down. Follow this routine and, hopefully, your baby will begin to cry less and go to sleep easier
Now here are some things that we read online that just don't happen (or didn't happen to us so really bank on them not happening. If they happen great!)
-Do not bank on your baby being able to put himself to sleep in a couple of days. Its probably going to take longer. Even if it doesn't take longer remember that things can change at any time and he could all of a sudden have trouble going to sleep again.
-Limit checking on the baby. It gets heart wrenching to go up every 2 minutes and try and put the pacifier back in. Don't do it! Try and wait at least 10 minutes before you go up and try to calm the baby. Also if they are just fussing a bit leave them. They won't learn until they practice and practice=time and crying
-Don't put your monitor on full blast. Monitors are great, but having the volume turned way up will just stress you out and make you want to go check on them more. Our model of monitor has a camera and a light that shows when the baby is crying, this has been great for us. I turn off the volume all together and turn the monitor off. This allows a quiet environment for the parents, but i can still see how much the baby is crying by looking at the light bar. I am not saying you have to shut off the volume, but the more relaxed you are the better.
Sorry for the bad writing/disjointed thought. Been a while since I wrote, but I will write more and hopefully it will get better!
Also I am going to write a couple more posts on naps, as they really are important!
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