I am VERY passionate about this issue and very opinionated on it as well. We have never and never would let a baby cry unconsoled. Forcing a child to cry to "learn to sleep on its own" is a cruel thing to do. Babies are so needful of love and attention and little for such a short period of time, that doing such a thing is just plain old selfish in my opinon. When you have children you must put yourself and your neds aside for their good. Does a child sometimes cry till the parent can finish using the bathroom or having to throw up? Yes, it is just an unfortuante part of life, but allowing a child to cry to "train" them is an awful practice.
Just like any other human being a child has emotional, physical and spirtual needs. We must be there to help meet those needs untill that child is capapble of handeling that on their own, which is not at only a few months or even years of age. Perhaps the baby is overtired and needs more help to calm down and relax to sleep, maybe their need for feeling secure is higher than expected and they need to be held, rocked or cuddled to sleep. Maybe they just have the need to be near another person and enveloped in love for a while longer.
The simple fact is that life in this world can be, and often is harsh, rough and difficult. Sadly so many people believe that we must introduce this fact to children far too young to comprehend it, much less deal with it. Let's let our children be children and give them the mose comforting, safe and secure environments possible and not worry about making our lives more convenient, or easier.
think of thos little arms reaching up to embrace empty air, or that little heart breaking because momy and daddy will not respond to them. What does that teach the baby? Nothing good. It jsut breaks my heart that so many children are treated in this manner, and that so many books, peds and so-called "experts" not only suggest it, but push it like its the only way to go.
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