Is 3 months old too young to "cry it out"?

Question

People are telling me to let my fussy 3 month old "cry it out" at night?!!?!? Isnt that way too young? When he does cry, his cry is terrifying!!, You'd think he was dying, nothing like his twin who is more calm.
Is 3 months old too young to expect to sleep through the night? If not, How did you get your babies to sleep through the night at this age?! We're in desperate need of sleep!! But when it comes to letting him cry well I just dont think I can do it, he still seems so small to me..?

Answer 1

no its OK to do controlled crying 5Min's then 10Min's and so on and soothing with out picking up my daughter slept through from 8 weeks and i have never had problems even when she's teething she is a happy baby and I'm a happy proud mummy xx crying out does not increase the rick of physical abuse how dare you suggest that i have never been abusive to my baby what a terrible thing to suggest!!

Answer 2

Depends on child - sleep through the night. From experience most babies sleep through the night past 3 months old if they are comfortable & hasn't got an underlying medical condition plus has a set routine. Best tip for crying infants 0-6 months old is from Dr Priscilla Dunstan:

Neh= I'm hungry
Owh=I'm sleepy
Heh=I'm experiencing discomfort
Eair=I've lower gas
Eh=I need to be burp

Take care. 99

Answer 3

I don't believe you should EVER allow your child to cry it out at any age. It raises their blood pressure, increases their risk of SIDS, and it increases the chances of physical abuse at the hand of the parents (I'm not saying you would do this, but it's true).

Waiting for a crying baby to fall asleep can be madenning for a parent. For your sanity and the health and safety of your baby, I would not let them cry it out.

If you're breastfeeding, take the baby to bed with you and cosleep. You'll get some sleep this way, and your baby will be comforted at the breast.

Any time the baby is sleeping, make sure you're sleeping, too. It might be a few months before he sleeps through the night.

Answer 4

Actually, studies do show that the number one cause of infant abuse is caused by the parents losing control when their baby just won't stop crying. This doesn't happen to everyone, but you will be suprised at how quickly you can become violent when your baby just won't stop crying. I highly recommend the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution". It will help you get a good bedtime routine down that doesn't involve letting your baby cry it out.

Allowing your baby to cry it out can cause numerous health problems - increased risk of SIDS, high blood pressure and rapid heart rate are some of them.

This website has some more great info on helping your baby sleep.

http://www.askdrsears.com

Answer 5

My son is 4 months and I just cannot bear the thought of letting him cry it out. Everyone tells me his lungs wont develop properly if I don't let him cry, but I was the same way with my daughter and believe me her lungs are just fine! Besides it takes me long enough to get upstairs to the nursery, that's seems like plenty of crying to me.
Believe it or not but my son has been sleeping through the night since one month old and i breastfeed. However my daughter didn't sleep all night until she was around 9 months.

Answer 6

well as far as you need desperatly to sleep, i think i'm not alone when i say welcome to parenthood. your baby is too young to cry it out. but letting baby fuss and cry for 5-10 mins at a time won't hurt anything. especially if you feel you can't take anymore. take a walk around the house with the monitor, on mute of course. i see the "we" in your question though and well take shifts. i know it's difficult. we had a very very very coliky 3 month old. she cried for 15 hours straight at 10 weeks of age, and pretty much stayed awake crying almost nonstop for 48 hours another time. and very shortly after the 15 hour stretch. of course his cry is terrifying to you, it's supposed to be your his parent. don't be afraid to ask for help from family and friends. he's old enough to be left at home with a trusted friend or relative for a few hours. his cry won't be as terrifying to them. very few babies sleep through the night at this age. mine would have scared me to death if she'd done this at 3 months. i would have woke her up. every baby is different. some only need one feeding at this age during the night. if it makes you feel any better, think of me. i didn't have a "we" my husband was in the hospital for a week recovering from surgery while our daughter went through this 15 hr cry festival. i was stretched inbetween visiting my husband, and caring for our daughter. think of me around hour 10 walking around our house (in the dead of a midwest winter mind you) crying myself, while i could still hear her crys from the house and the monitor lights were red constantly. i would do this at least once a night. for 10 mins. i felt better, refreshed, well 10 below will do that to you :) and ready for another hour or two. this went on for 4-5 weeks. even with my husband home he wasn't able to help much. she's a year old. sleeps 10 hours a night and two good naps a day. and i'm still alive. it's called parenthood. take a break and leave him somewhere safe for 10 mins or so. sit on the comp, take a walk, whatever clears your head. get the other part of "we" if able to take a shift while you sleep somewhere you can't hear baby. a tub will do, trust me. and make sure you do the same for your partner when your time is up and you're on duty again. your baby needs to know you are there for him right now. you are building bonds that will last a lifetime. yes it's awful, yes you're drained, yes you don't think you'll ever be right again. but you're a parent and that's the territory. i'm sorry i don't have any real words of wisdom except suck it up, get back in the ring and be a parent. good luck. wait until they're teenagers, doubt we'll sleep then either. lol

Answer 7

A 3 mo. old baby's needs are as important as when they are first born. A baby (at any age) cries when something is wrong. Esp. one at 3 mo. It could be anything from needing a changed diaper, to a fever. It could be the colic. And they will cry & cry over that one! It could only be from a bad dream, or needing to be burped. Sometimes they just want to be held by their mommy. But if a baby cries all night long, esp. for a long period of time, I suggest taking the little one to the doctor to get an opinion ASAP. You don't want to take any chances on something being really wrong. Go with your instinct. ;)

Answer 8

You're not supposed to let them cry it out until at least six months.

Meaning, I believe, it's a bad idea to repeatedly allow a young infant to lie untouched and alone crying for a long time, waiting for it to fall asleep. However, I personally don't think it'd be a big deal to let him cry for 15-30 minutes, if you're nearby and - this is the kicker - if he fell asleep at the end of it. My daughter would only rarely be in that kind of a mood -- she'd usually escalate into a sleepless, gasping, tearsoaked froth and have to be consoled. But sometimes, she'd just cry tearless, monotonous wails and then drop off asleep (but that was only in her swing). If the baby won't cry himself to sleep (with monotonous, tearless wails) then you are stuck - not because you shouldn't let him cry it out, but because it won't WORK for that child. We had to nurse, swing, or carry to sleep almost every time at 3 months. Now, at 8 months, I wish we'd been more willing to try just a little bit of crying it out (15-30 m) because now I can see that at 3 months, the child is (1) more likely to easily form sleep habits and (2) less likely to be traumatized by a moderate amount of crying -- because an infant that young doesn't really understand what's going on! They don't even distinguish between mom and other people yet, really. They have a seven second memory. Crying it out (moderately!) won't hurt him as much as your instincts are trying to tell you.

Above all keep in mind - there MUST be some sleepless nights. A growing baby is changing constantly, and next week will be different. You won't really sleep well again for years, so try to accept it for now, for your own emotional peace - it gets better. I recommend a white noise machine, really highly, for both you and the baby ... I think it really helps.

Answer 9

I never let my 3mth old cry out at all. I let him sleep with me/hubby and we sleep through the night. He'll drink once or twice without waking up cos I'm nursing lying down. All of us wake up feeling fresh and happy.

Friends told me it's not good to sleep with the baby but as long as I'm happy, my husband's happy and my baby's happy, I don't really care.

Answer 10

all babies cry a lot you just have to get on with it or he might need to be in the same room with you because i have a friend that has had a baby and if the baby is not in the same room it will cry till 3 in the morning try that
good luck