Do you believe in letting babies cry?

Question

I’ve had people and the pediatrician tell me if a baby cry a lot “just let him cry.” I just don’t feel right doing that because he is innocent and didn’t ask to be brought into the world. I pick him up as soon as he cry. I just feel bad by letting him cry for a minute or two like people have told me to do.
Edit: My newborn is 14 days old.

Answer

I’m all for the cry it out method to a certain extent. How else will babies learn to self soothe? If I’ve met every possible need for the baby and he or she continues to cry I’m going to let it cry it out. Sometimes babies cry bc they’re overstimulated and touching them only makes it worse.

Answer

Your baby is too young to cry it out. Like most people are commenting, 6 months or older is a better age to try it. Personally crying it out is not for me. Both my kids are super clingy and maybe that’s why? I tried for 5- 10 minutes once they were older babes but it never worked, it only made them more worked up and the crying got more intense. I always pick up my babies when they cried. I don’t even care though they are only babies for a short time

Answer

At that young, probably not. However we definitely got to a point where we had to let our daughter cry it out to fall asleep. To this day, if she’s having a rough night and we go in to comfort her, she just gets more riled up. We didn’t start CIO until 7 or 8 months though, when she was no longer eating at night.

Answer

A baby cannot self soothe and is not trying to trick you into getting something when they are that young. If they are crying then it is for a reason. Maybe the reason isn’t even something you can help with or figure out, but at least holding them and letting them feel safe and like you are there is the best you can do, especially when it comes to colic babies.

Answer

2 weeks old is just too young for trying to let them cry it out.. A little bit of fussing while you are busy is fine, but baby can’t be expected to self soothe at that age. The cry it out method isn’t supposed to be used on newborns... Once they reach a certain age, I don’t think it hurts to give it a try if there are sleep issues—but it really depends on the child. It worked wonders on my oldest—he’d cry for a couple minutes and then went right to sleep or found a way to soothe himself. My second two kids, it just didn’t work... they cried hysterically no matter what and letting them go on crying would just make things worse—so we avoided it.

Answer

I only did the crying it when my son was over 6 months and even then I didnt let him really cry. If he was whinning or fussing I left him to soothe himself. If he was bawling I picked him up. Babies under 6 months are not capable of self soothing and even those over 6 months can have difficulty learning to self soothe.

Answer

My doctor actually said not to let them cry it out, they are to young and are not used to our world yet. I never let him cry no more than 5 minutes and hes over 3m old. Plus it hurts me  hear it.

Answer

I'm a big cry it out fan. I've seen babies raised with both cry it out and several other methods (I work childcare 6w-6yrs) and I've just seen cry it out work the best for baby, parent and worker

Answer

In certain situations, crying is what they need. Heck, as adults, sometimes when we get stressed, we cry to feel better. Babies need that too at times. 
I have been around babies my whole life whether it be family, babysitting, church nursery, or multiple jobs at daycares. If I have exhausted every possibility (diaper change, feeding, napping, holding, rocking, etc.), and they are still upset, I will put them down and let them cry a little bit. Sometimes everything we are trying to do to make a baby happy is overstimulating all their little senses and they just need to be left alone (as in not touched, not unsupervised).

Answer

I used the cry it out method and it worked really well for us, but not until 6 months and I wouldn’t let him cry for more than a few minutes at a time. I wasn’t a monster about it, but it still really hurt! Overall I’m so glad I did it though because my son has been a great sleeper since I did that and he’s now 2.5.

Do you believe in letting babies cry?

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