how many of you out there?

Question

i need only honest parents about v this one.. do you let your kids cry them selves to sleep at 5 weeks old?

my son just cries , he needs to be picked all the time , and the funny part is he only does this at night never during the day

thank you every body who answered, i admit that i did let my 5 wee son cry so bad tonight, he did sleep though only got more and more frustrated, i feel so bad and i will never do that ever ever again, i thought he was spoiled because he will only sleep on my chest and all i wanted was to break the habit before it was late.
i was wrong for i am the one who introduced him to that in the first place, he is just a baby and knows nothing.
i talked to some people around me and they all agreed with you guys, he is still young and just a little little baby.

thank you all. i feel so guilty and i dont know what to do, i am such a bad a mother for even having let that happen.

Answer 1

5 weeks is a little early but I definitely agree with letting them cry themselves to sleep. They may be small, but they are very smart! I started putting my son to sleep on his own at about 3 months. He is 7 months now and at 9:00 bed time rolls around, just like his sissy. We put him in his bed, wide awake, turn on his mobile and a cd of lullaby music, turn off the lights and he usually falls asleep in 10-15 minutes. Sometimes he will cry but only for a short bit because he has learned that we won't come back in for him. Most of the time he just falls asleep on his own and I go back in a check on him after he is down and he will sleep 10 1/2 hours!

I completely agree with letting them cry because they do learn that you will come back and pick them up and they will get used to that. That will eventually lead to bad sleeping habits when they are toddlers and you definitely don't want that!! Good luck :)~

Answer 2

No, I would never let my child cry himself to sleep. Ever. He's 5 months old now & has never been left to cry. He never will be, either.

I know that there's a lot of support for 'crying it out' but the practice has been condemned by the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health. The only thing a child 'learns' from being left to cry, is that he can't trust his parents to comfort him & be there for him.

If you still intend to leave your child to cry, it should only ever be done once your child can understand what you're saying to him - so that you can tell him that you'll be back & he'll actually understand what you mean. And even then I think the practice is highly irresponsible and uncaring.

Babies, especially ones who are five weeks old, need to be close all the time. If this is happening at night, then your best bet would be to try co-sleeping. My son has never had to actually cry to bring me to him because I'm already there right next to him.

Attending to your child's needs doesn't spoil him. If a child learns that his needs are consistently met for the first 3 or 4 years of his life, he'll be free & confident to go off into the world on his own, knowing that mum is right behind him, ready to catch him if he falls.

Our society unfortunately has unfair expectations of babies. They don't have adult sleep patterns, and they're certainly not the devious, attention-seeking, manipulative little creatures that a lot of control-cryers make them out to be. Please just let your baby be a baby.

Answer 3

I wouldn't let him cry it out at such an early age, he's still too young to know right from wrong, all he knows is that he's not comfortable right now and crying is the only way he can express himself. At only 5 weeks he still doesn't know he can trust you to meet his needs. It's possible he may be colicky, it usually kicks in around 2 months of age and most often in the evenings. If picking him up makes him stop then I'd do it, my daughter was that way too at that age and it took me 3-4 hours a night to get her to fall asleep, I had to run the dishwasher a few times b/c without it she wouldn't stop crying. Good Luck with your son.

Answer 4

hi there

right to start with you are not a bad mother at all just a new one and we all make mistakes gosh i made loads and still do and my son is 17 months old, we learn by our mistakes Hun.

my son sometimes falls to sleep on mine or my partners chest and sometimes by his self.
5 weeks is a bit young for the 'let them cry there self to sleep method', i think that when a child can understand you fully and ask you questions (to an extent) thats when u can do the crying thing.

your son still looks at you for comfort and will do for a while yet, try to go with the flow of thing and when your son is about 2 months old things will start to fall into place without you realising it.

dont try to force falling to sleep on his own just yet, just try and enjoy the cuddles and closeness for now as they grow up too quickly

Answer 5

I only used the cry it out method to move my boy into his own crib. He adjusted within a few days. Since then we will let him fuss at night if he just doesn't want to go to sleep, crying means going in and patting him and soothing him without picking him up, hysterics means he gets picked up and calmed down. Of course this is only after he has been fed, burped, diaper clean/checked, made sure he is at a comfortable temperature, etc... We don't let him just lay there and cry if he has been asleep for over 15-20 minutes (babies have no sense of time, they don't know if they've been asleep all night or for 30 minutes), that automatically means we go in. If we know he is fine it's just a soothe, maybe turn on the aquarium again, offer him his suckie.

Try swaddling him real tight. Also make it either darker or lighter in the room he is sleeping in, he may be afraid of the dark or can't sleep because it's too light. Make sure he always goes to sleep in the same room (and if you rearrange furniture be prepared for a few nights of crying when he wakes to a "different" room) and have a strong bedtime routine. With my guy bedtime (and night feeds) are done in a special chair in his room and we have special songs we sing, and then we cuddle with him over my shoulder while I walk him back and forth in the dark and then he goes into the crib awake or asleep. In the beginning he should always be put down with his eyes still open so he knows where he is when he wakes up.

Make sure daytime naps are in bright noisy areas. This is to prevent him from confusing day and night.

Consistency and perseverance are the keys here.

Answer 6

NO, not at 5 weeks. They are too little. He may be hungry or need lovies. Maybe he has his days and night mixed up. Whatever it is, babies learn about trust when they are very young. So, teach him that he can trust you to be there for him when he cries. He is a tiny little baby right now. He needs you for whatever reason, so hold him and cuddle him. I slept with my son next to me at night and nursed him. You could probably do the same even if you formula feed. Let him sleep next to you so he doesn't feel afraid or alone. He was with you for 9 months in your tummy. Maybe he just needs to be near you for reassurance.

Answer 7

Try myclon drops. Maybe it is gas. I am pregnant with #5 and I don't know if I would let them cry themselves to sleep at 5 weeks but if you are just frustrated-I say Go Ahead! Just keep trying to console him as much as you can and try new ways too. There comes a time in motherhood to do what you feel is best and not what everyone else thinks!

Answer 8

I didn't do it when my daughter was 5 weeks old, I don't do it now that she's 10 1/2 months.

Babies ALWAYS cry for a reason, wanting to be picked up is nearly as important for a baby as being hungry or having a wet nappy.

Answer 9

Not at 5 wks. If his needs have been met, it's ok to let him cry for 10 or 15 minutes while you get something done and you know he's fine. He has his nights and days mixed up still. Make sure that during the day, you try to wake him often and keep things loud and bright. At night, everything is dark and quiet. When he wakes and cries, don't talk to him, just feed him and get him back to sleep. Nothing loud and he'll soon get things righted and he will start to associate night time with boredom and boredom with sleeping.

Answer 10

i couldn't let her cry herself to sleep. definitely check to be sure he has no gas, dirty diaper and all that, and hold and cuddle him! at least till he will settle. maybe lay him and pat his bottom, rub his back.. let him know you are there. i know it can be exhausting after a full day of a little one, but soon enough you will be wishing he would cuddle to sleep. mine is only 8 months old, and she wont sleep on me anymore. i miss it!!

he is still used to you. your heartbeat, all of that..

good luck!