Infants have a strong sucking reflex and therefore many people choose to give their baby a pacifier. Some parents warn against it, encouraging you to have them "attach" to you rather than an inanimate object while other parents warn that if you don't give him a pacifier, you will become his "pacifier". Who's right? No one! It will be up to you and what works for you and your baby and what works for others might not work for YOU. When to introduce a pacifier If you are formula feeding, you
Sleep Training
Cry It Out Age, Method Explained, and How to Do It Safely
Cry It Out is a sleep training method that gives babies space to learn how to sleep in longer stretches at night and take longer naps, but at what age to try it? Cry It Out is also called Extinction or Controlled Crying and there are a variety of ways to implement it. In this post, you will learn more about this method, what age to consider trying it, and how to do it safely. Cry It Out Defined First, let me define what I mean by "Cry It Out" because in my 10+ years as a sleep consultant,
How To Handle Teething and Sleep Training
Babies can begin to teethe as early as just a few months old, but it might take a while before the actual tooth even appears. Some babies never show any signs of teething apart from drooling and chewing on everything. Others will get fussy and cranky as the tooth is popping through. Some babies will sleep through it all while others will have numerous night wakings. Some experts have said it will not disrupt sleep, but I wholeheartedly disagree. As with everything else, all babies are different
Will Cry-It-Out Change Your Baby / Child’s Personality?
I happened upon an article where a woman (and husband) was against cry-it-out and specifically, The Ferber Method, but ended up doing it anyway because it was what worked. In that article, Confessions of a Ferberizer, she said that, in the end, her son stopped wanting to be rocked or cuddle. She did not seem to regret doing cry-it-out, I don't think, but reading the article reminded me that many of us wonder whether doing cry-it-out will change our child's personality, so I thought I'd reflect
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 6
If you are just joining us, you may want to start with Part 1 of this baby sleep training series. In this final part of the series, I am going to share my story. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons. First, I want you to get to know me and my story, so I'm not just some name on the internet claiming to have gone through something similar to what you might be going through. I want you to know you aren't alone. Sure, I suppose, I could be making up my story, but believe me I wish I were, but
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 5
This article will outline two sleep training methods, including what many people know as "The Ferber Method". If you are just joining in, you may want to start from the beginning at Part 1 of my Baby Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) series. You may be interested in reading about the age to do cry-it-out and how cry-it-out will not change your child's personality. The Ferber / Check-and-Console Method(aka Ferberizing) This sleep training method entails allowing baby to cry while
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 4 – The Chair Method
If you have not read the other parts of this sleep training series, I suggest you start at Part 1. In part 3 of my sleep training series, I went over the Fading method, a no-cry (or limited crying) sleep training method. Today, I will discuss "The Chair Method". This is the first of what I would call a "crying method", however, you don't leave your baby unattended in the room at all. The idea is that you start by doing your normal bedtime routine and putting the chair very near the crib and
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 3
In this sleep training series, so far I've talked about the importance of a bedtime routine and gone over how you can sleep train while co-sleeping. In part 3 of this series, I will be discussing the "fading" method of sleep training. Fading, The Method This method I would consider one of the no-cry (or very little cry) methods. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, when you change the rules how baby falls asleep (usually by breaking a sleep association), it is usually not done without some
Sleep Training (From No Cry to Cry) Series – Part 2
Part 1 of this series I discussed why it's a good idea to sleep train your baby and the bedtime routine, your first step. Now I will discuss the various methods to help your child learn how to fall asleep without your "help". Co-Sleeping Co-sleeping is not a "sleep training method", but I wanted to talk about a way you can sleep train your baby but still co-sleep. Remember, sleep training is not cry-it-out (CIO). You can sleep train without letting your baby cry. Co-sleeping works for many