What You May Not Know About The Cry It Out Method...
What is the cry it out method? Cry it out is the practice where you allow your baby to cry for a specified amount of time before offering comfort. Many people including some pediatricians view any form of cry it out to be unnecessary and potentially damaging to baby.
Dangers of cry it out?
- Babies grow from being held. Their bodies get dysregulated when they are physically separated from caregivers.
- Babies indicate a need through gesture and eventually, if necessary, through crying. Just as adults reach for liquid when thirsty, children search for what they need in the moment. Just as adults become calm once the need is met, so do babies.
- There are many long-term effects of undercare or need-neglect in babies (e.g., Bremmer et al, 1998; Blunt Bugental et al., 2003; Dawson et al., 2000; Heim et al 2003).
- When a baby is greatly in distress it creates conditions for damage to synapses, network construction which occur very rapidly in the infant brain. Cortisol is a neuron killer and is released in excess when baby is in distress. [1]
What do you suggest I do if baby won't sleep instead of CIO?
- Set up a bedtime routine, such as: Taking a bubble bath, reading a story, & singing songs.
- Rock baby to sleep, My baby didn't like to be rocked so what worked for us was laying baby on his belly, across your legs, and rocking your legs up and down. Most babies love that and it could also help with gas.
- Sometimes babies, especially newborns, have stomach pains when you lie them down. Try gently massaging their belly, and bending their legs into the scrunched up position and back out, repeat that several times, as it may help relieve some of the gas.
- Try co-sleeping or bed sharing, sometimes baby just wants to be near their parents.
- Make sure you have burped them, I know I couldn't get comfortable having to let out a burp, but not being able to do so.
- Put on some classical music or a natural sounds CD like the sound of a waterfall, forest, or rain. I put on a fan for my son the white noise helps him fall asleep faster and if mommy and daddy want to stay up they don't need to worry about keeping the rest of the house super quiet, because the sound of the fan usually will drown out the noise going on in the rest of the house.
