Is it wrong for me to let my daughter cry??

Question

she is 6 weeks old, and ever since she was born she will not and refuses to sleep in her crib, she will only fall asleep in her carseat or if you holding her or sleeping with her, and i want her to sleep in her crib, i tryed swaddleing her tightly even in my shirts with my smell, after a bottle, and people tell me to put her in her crib and to let her cry, and i thought she had acid reflux but she doesnt, but she will cry for over an hour and i feel like a horrible mother, am i wrong for letting her cry in her crib, or is there something else i can do to help her sleep in her crib, and i dont let her fall asleep in my arms and then put her in i put her in there while she falls asleep..... any advice would help

hahah i have put her in the carseat and in the crib, and the gas drops and everything and whoever said the baby will get brain damage is an idiot

shes not crying for an hour straight and for those of you saying you are outraged oh f*kin well be outraged everyone has different parenting styles and i asked for ways to help her get used to sleeping in her crib not your critisism, she will whine stop cry stop she will cry for 5 min and stop and whine and just lay there stareing at the mobile so im not letting her cry for an hour straight geez

Answer 1

You'll have people that tell you either way. You are NOT a bad mother. In my experience, you'll sleep better if you're not worrying about having to hold and rock her all the time. She'll eventually learn. Maybe try the car seat for the next month or so and see if she'll fall asleep in there on her own. Then transition to the crib. I'd also try shrinking her crib down--move the bumper so that it's smaller and size-wise more like a basinette. You could ask your pediatrician, but I've seen parents also stack a few books under one side of the crib while the baby was too young to move around too much so that when they put their baby in, the head was elevated an inch or two higher than the rest of her body. Try one of those sleep positioners so that she's wedged in like she would be in the carseat. Good luck!

Answer 2

How do you know she doesn't have reflux? If she can only sleep in upright position this would be a possibility. She is too young to just have a preference. My daughter has reflux and swallows a lot of air which is very painful to her. I have to keep her upright for at least 30 min. I think you should take her to a GI Dr. to evaluate for reflux and keep her sitting up in a car seat or high chair or whatever you have. If she doesn't sleep in the crib right now its not a big deal. I didn't get my daughter into her crib until she was 6 months and was no problem.

Answer 3

it is not unusual for a baby that young to refuse to sleep in a crib. i would say that it's ok to let a baby cry it out, but an hour or more at a time is too much. and a baby that young doesn't have to learn to sleep in the crib right now. she just wants to be held. that's something that you can't rush. if you keep letting her cry while she's in the crib, she's going to associate the crib with crying and she'll never like the crib. that's just my opinion. my son was the same way. i would try to put him in there but when i saw that he wasn't receptive to laying in there i would pick him back up and hold him, which is what he wanted in the first place. if she wants to sleep in the car seat let her, it's ok. for the first month or so, my son slept his best laying on my chest or laying right beside me as close as he could

Answer 4

I feel there is crying because they want attention and then there is crying for emotional hurt, maybe it's a fine line for a 6 week old but you'll know when that baby needs you. if a baby's crying for over an hour at 6 weeks old and is not falling asleep then it's probably not tired... this is just my opinion. If you want some help there is this book my friend bought it's called Good night, Sleep tight (with alittle more to the title). She has the best behaved baby I've ever met. He falls asleep in his crib without a bottle or pacifier. She just lays him down puts a blanket on him and he just goes to sleep. So much of this she attributes to reading and putting into action this books teachings.
good luck!

Answer 5

Your child is too young to be put in her crib and let her cry it out. We held our little girl each evening before bed, and she fell asleep in our arms, until she was almost 2. I loved this time of cuddling with her and I never expected her to go to sleep on her own and alone. You have to remember that you are your baby's hero. They need you for everything. Try holding her until she goes to sleep and then put her in her crib. Maybe her crib is too cold. We had to put a blanket in the bottom of our daughters so it was warmer. You can also try elevating the mattress with a couple towels. And don't worry about her sleeping in her car seat. We've all done it. Just make sure she is close to you, away from animals, and buckled up. Good luck!

Answer 6

First: Cry It Out (CIO) is NEVER recommended for babies under 4 months old. At this age, they do not have any other way of communicating with you, and they haven't quite developed the skills of manipulation. Even the doctor who is credited with the 'cry it out' method recommends using it after about about 4-6 months.

A recent study has shown that CIO v. Soothing v. whatever all have about the same effectiveness rates. What really makes a difference is developing a certain pattern that you are going to use to get the baby to sleep and then sticking with that procedure.

Some babies cry because they are hungry, cold, hot, and some have more physical problems (such as an allergy to milk). Start to look for patterns in crying. If it is just the crib, then you probably aren't looking at an allergy. But if it is everytime in a certain room (that is colder) or everytime 20 minutes after feeding or some other noticable pattern, you'll have the kind of information your doctor will need to make an informed diagnosis.

If you want to learn more about CIO (I use soothing rather than CIO) check:
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/7755.html

If you want more general information on sleep habits of babies:
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babysleep/teachsleep/7651.html

Answer 7

Let her fall asleep in ur arms and when u put her in the crib make sure u put a blanket infront and behind her but not by her face. Make sure shes on her side. I went thru the same thing with my son who is almost 6 months old. When she is comfortable with her surroundings she will learn to sleep on her own and fall asleep alone. I know its hard but remember ur baby is in a whole new world now. Imagine how u would feel if u went to a whole new country and had no iidea what to say or do. Its scary. Good luck

Answer 8

At this age, babies need to eat very often, sometimes every forty five minutes.

You could try a swing- that usually will put a baby to sleep.
Car rides help also.

However, even a little baby can tell when it has trained its parent. If you've taken her to the doctor, she is not hungry or wet, and you have made sure to give her loving time, put her down to sleep. Some babies get overtired and have difficulty going to sleep then. A swing would definitely help in that case.

It's ok to let her fall asleep in your arms. She's only 6 weeks old. When she's a year old and needing that then that would be a problem. I let my daughter fall asleep in my arms up until eight months and she is totally secure now and understands that when it's bedtime, it's bedtime.

Answer 9

If your baby will sleep in her carseat, I'd let her.
I think she's too young to be left to cry it out.

My daughter is 6 months old & would ONLY sleep if someone was holding her or if she was in her carseat until she was almost 4 months.

Now she sleeps in her crib just fine!
I think it was the feeling of being confined & curled up that she liked. Personally, I think the carseat is fine if it works.

Answer 10

Here's what I got for you. At 6 weeks old, the infant cannot comfort herself. I don't think you should let her cry for an hour. That's awful. Let her cry for a few minutes (no longer than 8 minutes!) and then if she is still crying, pick her up, make sure she doesn't have snot all over her nose to where she can't breathe, let her calm down for a minute, then put her back down. I always rocked mine or held mine until they fell asleep and then snuck them into the crib. I had to keep my hand on them for awhile but after a few minutes I could walk away. At 5 months old, I think its okay to let them cry themselves to sleep. Not at 6 weeks. Hope I helped.