Wednesday, December 21, 2011

For Crying Out Loud!

It seems many parenting techniques change all the time.

It used to be that your baby was to be positioned on their tummy; now it's their back. The time frame in which solids are introduced changes as well.

I think the key thing is to research. You have to know and understand the professionals. Will you agree with everything you read? NOPE!

Of course you get A LOT of opinions. Some wanted, some not wanted.

I have a family with a Grandma that was a nurse, a Mom that was a nurse, 3 Aunts that are nurses, a sister that is a nurse and 2 cousin's that are nurses. Needless to say there are a lot of opinions in my family. Even when I breastfed, my Mom and one Sister were very supportive, while the others weren't as much. Hard to believe that any nurse wouldn't be supportive of that. It is true that some are not. Usually because they never breastfed themselves, or tried it and were unsuccessful.

The "Cry it Out" sleep technique is now under the fire!

You can read a whole article on this topic here. Please read it!

I always felt uncomfortable letting my kiddo's cry and cry some more. It's one thing to let them cry for 15 minutes. There are times where I tried everything and it seemed nothing would calm my little one down. Usually I'd find out later that it was a tooth coming through or a nasty ear infection. Twice, if I would have waited to attend my babies, they would have been closer to death. When my youngest, Isaak had meningitis we acted quickly. We were told that, if we would have waited to get him in the emergency room, that would have been very bad for our 2 month old! My Father was the one who acted quick in regards to our oldest having a staph infection. He noticed Mica's neck getting large. I'm so glad he noticed that! If he was in a daycare, it might of gone unnoticed.

Some parents let their kids cry for hours. They believe in self soothing. That is what many articles talked about just a few years ago. The articles mentioned that if you picked your child up, that was spoiling them.

Think of it this way: Your baby has no way of communicating except for crying when something is wrong. There is no such thing as spoiling a newborn. As they get older, sure you should let them cry in their crib, but not for long periods of time.

Listen to your instinct.

Remember that your baby's only way of communicating to you that something is wrong is to cry.

1 comment:

Amanda McCusker said...

You are right about methods of raising kids changing, sometimes too much. Even in the two years I've been a mom it seems to have shifted. The cry it out thing we did, but not until our daughter was about 8 months old and could already sit and move about in her crib on her own. My doctor agreed with the theory that before 6 months a baby could not be spoiled that love and attention was only a positive thing and I was fine with that. Just over 6 months I began to notice the transition as she grew. Now that she is two there are definitely "crying it out moments" but at least my "mommy instinct" can tell the difference between emotionally upset and physically uncomfortable. It hasn't failed me yet. So I agree one hundred percent with your conclusion. Trust your instinct. And it's always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to little ones.