How long should you let a baby cry.?

Question

I was just wondering how long you should let a 2 week old cry for when being put down for a sleep. She has been spoilt and picked up pretty much soon as she cries. Anyone have any good ideas for getting the baby to fall alseep by herself.

The baby isnt mine.
I've just noticed that soon as she cries she is picked up straight away. But when i've been looking after her and watched her, she may cry for a a bit becasue of a pain but then go back to sleep. It seems picking her up casues more trouble then good. Does that make sense?

I think my question was misunderstood. I'm not asking this question because i think the baby crying is annoying. I'm asking the question to help establish a healthy sleep pattern. i know a number of people who becasue of certain methods they used from the first night at home had there children sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. Yes, she's only 2 weeks old - but establishing a sleep pattern now will be very helpful when trying to put her to sleep later on?

Answer 1

No more than 15 minutes, and that's an extreme.
But beware that you will miss the times spent cuddling with your baby and, even though it's stressful now, your baby will grow out the crying, wanting to be held phase eventually. In a few years you'll be sad because they don't even want to be tucked in at night, and you'll wish they were still crying for you.

EDIT: You are right in the sense that you shouldn't pick a baby up at every little whimper. Often babies will fuss a little or moan in their sleep and if you pick them up right away, you are actually waking them from sleep. If a baby is fussing just a little, give it a few minutes to see if they are truly awake. But if they are actually crying and have woken themselves, it's better to pick them up and comfort them than to let them cry for extended periods of time.

Answer 2

A baby needs to be of course fed, dry, warm, and above all loved! It can sense if mom is stressed out and tired and won't get that sense of "security" it gets by being held calmly by a loving mommy so yes; if you are exhausted as many mothers do; get help and remember that baby might have cramps! and if so try rubbing the belly gently clockwise! or put baby on your belly! against belly as it were! and massage the lower back gently! I hope you'll get the rest you need and that baby and mommy will be just fine soon...

Yes it is possible that some babies just need a little robbing in the back to go on sleeping as they might be having a dream or cramps or something... and in that case, they often do go right to sleep just from you going pshhhhh, pshhhh... I've seen that a lot! yes! and you're right! that is different! but still better too much attention and love, etc., than not enough! especially at that age!

Answer 3

Check out this link hopefully this helps

http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-training-cry-it-out-methods_1497112.bc

Just to let you know biologically its virtually impossible for a baby younger than 4months to self sooth which is important because a baby needs to be able to self sooth them selves in order to be able to fall asleep on there own. A baby that's 2 weeks old is not biologically ready. My son sleep thru the night on his own for 8 whole hours at the age of 4 months. I'm lucky because 4 months is considered Early but I guess my son was biologically ready. My son cried it out uninterrupted the first night for a hour the second night for a half hour and every night after that he enjoys sleeping in his crib. Some times but very rarely he will cry for ten or fifteen minutes but than he will fall right to sleep and not wake up until 8 hours later. In the mean time if you want to save your sanity before the 3 or 4 month mark a good book to read is the happiest baby on the block or better yet the DVD is great it explains what you can do do help the sooth the baby, proven techniques that work and proven to save your sanity. Good luck let me know how it works out. This link has that book http://store.babycenter.com/product/code/6827.do?intcmp=Store_Contentsite_Global_Search

Answer 4

Allowing any baby to cry for an extended period teaches him/her that there is no one there to meet their needs, and they become even more clingy and dependent.
As everyone else has said, you cannot spoil an infant.
Tend to its needs and hold it as much as you possibly can to provide it with irreplaceable human contact and love.
To do otherwise is a form of abuse and will have lasting effects on the child's personality.
Do you or the child's mother have any idea what a blessing you've been given? There are some who never conceive and have an empty hole in their hearts all of their lives. CHERISH THIS BABY!!!

Answer 5

Cuddle baby.. Burp baby, check if baby is too warm, too cold. Check baby for soiled diapers.. feed baby, LOVE BABY.
Your baby is 2 weeks Old.. and you want her to be away from that comfort of mama with out having a fit?
YOU cant spoil baby.
You can make sure that you take the time to really get to know your babys needs because the better you can read baby, the better you can meet her needs.

and guess what. YOU DONT GET TO SLEEP.
thats just part of mother hood. Some kids dont sleep on their own at all, thats how my first one was.
You have to really give your 110% and understand that you are responsible for baby.
Her cries mean something, not just to annoy you.

Answer 6

My son's pediatricain said 5 minutes is the rule. Put him in his crib and if he starts to cry, let him cry for 5 minutes. If he doesn't stop crying .. pick him up and hold him for a while and try it again .. and repeat the process until he falls asleep.
(don't let them cry for more than 5 minutes at a time)
Also, there is NO SUCH THING as spoiling a 2 week old! They are SO new to the world .. they are too young to force any kind of routine on them.

Answer 7

She's two weeks old, it is impossible to spoil her.

You shouldn't let her cry for more than a few minutes. At this age she can only communicate through crying. She can't manipulate you, her brain isn't that smart yet. Pick her up, respond to her needs, otherwise you can do lasting harm to her.

Falling asleep by herself is a developmental step, it doesn't happen until they are around 4 months old, sometimes older.

If you are feeling wrecked and sleep deprived you need to ask your friends and family for help.

EDIT:
It's right and good that she is picked up straight away. What that does is tells the baby that the parents will meet her needs. That's how children learn to trust their parents. A few minutes of crying won't hurt, but long, sustained periods of crying is damaging. Children who are ignored and not picked up on a consistent basis grow up to have lifelong psychological problems.

Answer 8

At two weeks the baby wants very specific things... food, burp, diaper, love. you can't really spoil her YET. What I recommend is what I do... Do everything, feed, burp, diaper bed, over and over every time... they will sleep in their own bed as long as they are put to sleep there from the begining. It might be every time she's laid down she realizes she's gasy and as soon as she's picked up she feels better. Don't worry yourself about it if they baby isn't yours.

Answer 9

you CAN"T spoil a baby that young with love. babys at that age cry for a reason and its the parents or the care givers job to pick her up and find out why.

Answer 10

Totally agree with Maeg and Maria above!

Don't leave her to cry - she's a tiny baby.