I found it interesting and got some useful tips from it.

Little excerpt from the interview below and continued in the comments. Please, sort comments pressing on”NEW” comments first and then the oldest comment is where you want to continue reading from.

If you found this article interesting and want to read the rest of it, please, comment or upvote so I will post second half of the interview later.

Q: One of the most common questions that comes up for people after reading the book to ask is: Can you give me a detailed description of the pick up/put down (“pu/pd”) method?

T: Let’s start with age. So, the examples in the first book – one is based on a 3 month old perspective, and one on a child of 8 months. We did that because the technique is a bit different for the different ages. With a 3-month old, they usually don’t have a lot of motion in the process, so you can calm them to the right point in your arms and then put them down, whereas with an 8-month old you pick them up, and if you lay them straight back down, they can usually settle a lot quicker out of your arms. Generally if people are saying, well he gets more upset when I pick him up, you’re talking about a child who’s probably in that 5-8 month range. Because then they start doing some thrusting with their bodies and burrowing with their heads that we’ll talk about a bit more later.

First, the reason why we do pick up/put down is to completely reassure the child of our presence – and it’s usually needed in the beginning as a result of accidental parenting, and sometimes, either in the beginning or later because of missed cues. These are the reasons why we need to “resort” to this method. And the principle behind it is that we don’t leave the child to figure it out – there’s no “crying it out”.

How to identify when to use it is the main thing that parents need to figure out. If your child is fitful or you’re finding that you need to do “accidental parenting”-- which are things like feeding on the bottle to sleep, feeding on the breast to sleep, rocking/swinging the child to sleep -- as they get older and these habits start to establish, you can get to the extreme of driving in the car to get the child to nap or sleep at night. Now what happens is, then the child can only fall asleep with the “prop” that he associates with sleep. So when you start to take those things away from him, then you start to get opposition from him – he starts to get upset, and really what he’s saying is ‘what are you doing mum, we don’t do it this way’, and that’s where you hear sometimes the frustration of that from him. And that’s where the pick up/put down method comes in.

Now, how to go about it: You would always start with a routine. So your routine could be, for instance, at nap time, drawing the curtains, sitting in the rocking chair for a couple of minutes, and then proceed to take the child to the crib.

Q: Is this time in the chair spent rocking? Singing? Any kind of low-key wind-down activity, or just quiet and still?

T: These last couple of minutes should just be quiet and still. Any other things that are preparation would come before, as the wind-down from the activity time. Some mums can just walk in, close the curtains, lay them down and they’ll babble and what have you and go off to sleep. But it’s been my experience that just before they go down, and when I do it, 5 minutes of just sitting and being quiet, and saying “now you’re going to have your nap, I’ll see you when you get up.” And then put them in. Very low-key. The most important thing with routine is that it’s the same every time, so they know what to expect – it acts like a cue, “now it’s time to go to sleep.” But it should be no longer than 5 minutes. It’s just to separate activity from just popping them straight into the crib.

Now, if you’re a mum reading this who is doing something different and don’t have any problems, don’t change it! If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

Q: Okay, so you’ve completed the wind-down, and you’re ready to make the transition into the crib.

T: Now, when you’re starting out and this is a change for them, when you lay them down they’re going to cry, because they’re used to the old “prop”, which would be the bottle, the boob, rocking or jiggling or walking – whatever it has been. So you’re going to get resistance straightaway, because they don’t comprehend what you’re doing. So in that instance what you do is, you go ahead and you pick them up.

Before the age of 6 months, you pick them up and you calm them completely down before you lay them back down. And you’ll start to see that they’ll cry again – you pick them up, and you reassure them. Up to the age of 3 months, you would use the patting on the back, and the shh-shh, because a child under 3 months cannot hold 3 thoughts in their mind.

Q: That’s interesting to know about that age. So this starts to distract them from crying?

T: Yes, they can’t continue to concentrate on the crying whilst being patted and shushed, they’re incapable of focusing on all three at once, so they’ll start to focus on the shush and the pat, and eventually they’ll stop crying, it’ll calm them down.

The other thing to remember is that under the age of 3 months, they have no control over their arms or legs. So the other thing to do is to swaddle. I would suggest doing that prior to laying them down.

Q: So as part of the routine of winding down to the nap?

T: Yes, even prior to sitting with them before going to the crib. So, when you lay them down, continue to pat them. So what you’re going to do is, lay them down slightly on their side so that you can have access to their back. Continue to pat them and see if they start up again -- then you would pick them up and calm them down.

Q: Just so people can get a really good mental picture, can you describe in a bit more detail how to hold and position, and how to pat and shush?

T: Okay, you bring them into a vertical position, into your shoulder. And remember at this age it’s best if they’re already swaddled before first being laid down in the crib. So you’re holding them into your shoulder, and it’s also best with a young baby if you’ve got their face tucked into your neck or shoulder to block out the visual stimulation. Your mouth is near their ear, but you make sure the shh-ing goes past their ear, and not into it, because you don’t want to perforate their eardrums.

The patting needs to be quite firm, and you want to be in the center of the back, not on one side or the other, and certainly not as far down as their little bottom – because too far down you’re going go be whacking their kidneys. And bear in mind it’s more or less the center of the back.

And then, it needs to be in a rhythm of a clock. So it’s tick-tock, tick-tock.

Q: I’ve seen some people post that they find it difficult to pat on the back while the baby is lying down, and they will pat the shoulder or, very gently, the chest once the baby is in the crib – because of course they should sleep on their backs.

T: You can do that, but it’s not as effective. Once they’re down, and if you’re not picking them up again but calming in the crib, you can roll them gently to their side (if they’re swaddled this is fairly easy, and you can also use one of the wedgies) – and pat on the back. If you’re using a wedgie, it would be on their tummy, and I like to put my other hand on the chest, and then pat on the back. Because then you can go down to their ear and do the shh-ing without picking them up.

Q: And the volume of the shh-ing?

T: The volume needs to be quite loud.

Q: I’ve seen a post from someone who saw you do this, and compared it to a faucet on at full force, would this be about right?

T: Yes, perfect. You’re giving a feeling of comfort to the child, a “hey, I know what I’m doing here,” so it’s important not to be too timid and soft with the pat or the sound. You’re not thumping them and you’re not yelling, you’re just being confident with it.

And I usually say this – once I’m committed to the crib, I use the skills of patting and shh-ing to keep them in the crib. And I pat probably 7-10 minutes after they’ve calmed. As soon as they’re quiet I don’t stop, I keep it going until they’ve got that complete focus on it, and then I start to slow it down and slow it down and stop the shush.

Q: So maybe early on in teaching sleep, some people are stopping too soon.

T: Yes, because then what happens is they come back to consciousness. They go through that second stage, and jolt, and you have to start over again. And remember, once you have to start again, it’s a full 20-minute process. So it’s best to take the time, and know “I’m going to be in there for 20 minutes” rather than, “I’m in and out for an hour and a half, because every time I leave and think I’ve got it, he starts up again.” And they haven’t -- if you just make sure you have in your mind that you’re going to spend that full 20 minutes, then you can get that Y time, because you don’t have to keep going back in and out, in and out, which is more frustrating than just staying there. And if you’re there, you can see your child visibly go through the stages, which gives you another skill.