Babies cry. Being a new father I have discovered that babies cry a lot. They cry when they are hungry. They cry when they have filled a diaper with grossness. They cry when they are bored. They cry when they have to watch Vampire Diaries…oh wait, that’s me. Recently Monica and I read that sometimes babies cry because it’s simply fussy time.
Now here are a couple of observations that I’ve recently had about babies crying. The first is that I can’t imagine waking up crying. That would be awful. The second thought is that babies scream when they cry. They really need to learn how to cry quietly like the rest of us. Even with an ugly cry most people cry rather quietly. Not babies. They scream out “WhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Monica and I are trying to live out the principles in the book Baby Wise. One of the hardest things that this book recommends is letting your baby, or in our case babies, cry. After you have fed them, changed them, and put them to bed if they start crying then you are supposed to let them cry. Now when a baby cries it’s so unnatural to not run to their rescue. Everything in us wants to make them stop crying. I think the same thing happens with adults.
To Be Continued…at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on May 17.
You guys are great parents!
SUCH a great book. It will be worth it to follow it!
Totally agree w/ the other Lindsay here…just try to stick to it, you'll be so glad you did!!! It is really hard sometimes, I remember sobbing in bed watching Ethan cry it out on the video monitor, but it was worth it after a few weeks, he was sleeping through the night by 3 months 🙂
I haven't comforted our kiddo once – top that!
Of course, after it's born, I may ruin that track record…
Looking forward to a two-entry day from robshep. As for me, I never subscribed to the let 'em cry philosophy with my daughter. We did not find out until she was old enough to communicate more effectively that she was allergic to her mother's milk. She was crying because she was in pain. My instincts told me to comfort her when she cried, and I am glad that I tended to her.
Impressive…most impressive.
Agreed. We check on them first and if the cry is not a cry of pain then we let them cry.
You have a video monitor? Jealous am I. We didn't want to have to buy two so we just have the old school audio monitors. We are hoping that the twins will be sleeping through the night by week 8. That's the goal.
Will do.
Thanks Susan!
We also did the Baby Wise, let him cry approach. Our boy started sleeping all night at five weeks and never looked back. He's almost two now, bedtime has never been a problem.
Jared, thanks for stopping by. 5 weeks? That's impressive. Ours are at 7 weeks tomorrow. The book says by week 8 but if they are preemies then it could take a little longer. Here's to hope that it happens by week 8.
My point was there was no way to tell what was wrong. Our pediatrician advised to let her cry, but my spider senses were tingling and I did what I felt needed to be done.