I could not agree more

I found this article about "Are we damaging our baby by letting him cry himself to sleep?" Click HERE to read it. It's NOT the article that I agree with, it's the responses that I could not agree more with. As I read the article, I scoffed and hmmmphed, feeling sorry for the poor tired moms who are turning to the internet to find help with getting their babies to sleep, who might come across this article. Well, I am not a member of the forum that this article was in, so I could not leave a comment there, but the HUNDREDS of people that responded, said it all for me, in MANY ways. I was starting to fume at the idiocy of the person that wrote this article. ALL 5 of my very well adjusted children have cried it out and YES it is traumatic for everyone to listen to a tiny baby crying, but the result of a soundly-sleeping baby after only a few short days, is blissful. For example, Roxelle has been sleeping a FULL (not even waking to eat) 9 hours since she was about 3 weeks old. THREE WEEKS!!! She is not the only one. ALL FIVE of my kids have done this and it's not because it's in their genes, it's because I patiently and meticulously schedule their days from the minute they are born. We all know what to expect and it makes it so much easier to leave them with someone else because we can tell them exactly what to expect.

On another note, it is healthy for a baby to cry. I've heard that anywhere from 2 to 4 hours (not consecutively, of course) in a 24 hour period is healthy for a baby's lungs and muscle developement. It's pretty hard to "spoil" a baby, but it's important to tell yourself that a little fussing and crying isn't going to hurt them either. I remind myself, each time she cries and I can't get to her right away, that she doesn't lay and cry all day long and a little fussing and crying is actually doing her good.