Frustrated

This came out of my most recent issue of Parents magazine. I only semi like this magazine, I do not pay for it, I have been getting it free for about 3 years I think from Motherhood Maternity, and when the subscription is up I will not be renewing it. If you want to get a parenting magazine get Mothering.

The main reason I'm writing this is because this magazine is read by thousands of new moms and moms-to-be and this Janet K. Kennedy, Ph.D., a founder of a sleep-consultation service is telling these women that it's okay to let the babies cry it out. She even admits to doing it to her own daughter! I guess it must be okay then..."It took a couple of days and was really brutal at first..." Here's my thought, if it was brutal for her, think of how brutal it was for her sweet baby daughter who had NO idea what was going on!

I'll admit, when Char was a baby I was afraid to tell people she wasn't sleeping through the night, I thought there was something wrong with me, I must have been doing something wrong. "Let her CIO" people would tell me, my own mom said, "That's what I did with you." So I gave it a whirl, I let Charlotte CIO one evening, against my gut instinct. She cried for an hour or more, not just crying but screaming, she finally settled down and I didn't hear another peep out of her. Wow, I thought, it worked! So when I went in to get my gorgeous girl in the morning what horror did I find? I found she had thrown up from crying so hard and then slept all night in it. I was beyond mortified. I vowed never, NEVER to do it again, ever.

I'm by all means not a doctor, heck, I'm not even the perfect mom, but I do know that CIO should not be an option, if your child is crying go and soothe them, comfort them, love them. Don't leave them in their huge dark room to wonder if you're ever coming back for them. It is not a baby's mission in life to disrupt your sleep schedule, they have no clue what you are doing, where you are, that you're tired, you had a bad day, blah blah blah. They do know that they are hungry, wet, cold, hot, lonely, and they also know they are tired but sometimes need extra help getting back to sleep. Believe me when I say, your baby will eventually sleep and then you'll be fighting them to wake up in the morning, just be patient and have compassion and read this.