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THE SECOND MONTH
So it’s your baby’s 2-month birthday—you have
made it so far! If you have been following my plan,
then you should be getting some good sleep
stretches. Correct? Or does it seem easier in theory
than in practice? Probably, huh?
I know a lot of you will have had a hard time listening to your baby cry for three to five minutes, but I personally would prefer to hear a younger baby cry for a few minutes as opposed to an older baby (4 months or older) scream his head off for an hour or more. Believe me, I have done both, and the younger baby’s crying is so much easier to handle—even for a seasoned pro like me.
Let’s just say that you have been rocking Baby to sleep for the past four to eight weeks, and now you decide that you would like him to be able to put himself to sleep. Here is what you should do: Rock him until he is drowsy and his eyes are just opening and closing and then put him in his bed. You can pat his little bottom for a minute or two and then leave the room. He will most likely cry—so let him cry for between three to five minutes. This is going to be hard, but remember what I said about older babies. The older they get, the harder it is to get them into a routine.
Now, if you wait until your little one is 4 months old or older, you’ll miss all that time of facilitating his good sleep habits—and remember that is a lifetime to a baby. So here you are, you are so (read: sooooooooo) tired that you just want him to sleep. You have read all the books, and they say to put him into bed awake and leave the room and don’t come back for five minutes, then 10 minutes, then every 15 minutes until he goes to sleep. Don’t forget that this can go on for two hours sometimes. Sounds unbearable, doesn’t it? It sure does to me, so just think about this the next time you put your baby down in his crib to sleep and he cries for a few minutes.
In my opinion, it is much gentler for your baby if you allow him to go to sleep on his own from the very beginning. Yes, that may mean that your baby may have to cry a little bit, but it is all worth it in the end. There are some experts who will say that your baby doesn’t have to cry to learn how to put himself to sleep, but that is not true in my opinion. Every baby cries when he is learning to go to sleep. It is totally normal and it doesn’t harm him or cause him any long-term pain. Crying is your baby’s only way of communicating, and all he is saying is, “Hey, Mom, come back in here and pick me up because I don’t know how to put myself to sleep.”
So the next time you feel guilty or nervous about Junior’s crib-bound year, think about what I have said. If you follow my advice, getting Baby to sleep is as easy as A, B, Zzzzzz.
Kathy Sinclair, CNCS, CPD, CLE, CHBE, graduated from Australia’s prestigious Charlton Brown Nanny College and began her professional career as a nanny in 1993. Kathy developed her specialty with infant sleep while working as a newborn care specialist in Los Angeles. Currently the founder of Baby Sleep Solutions, Kathy provides one-on-one individualized sleep consultations, leads Mommy & Infant groups for new moms, and lectures on sleep in and around Los Angeles. She lives in Ventura, Calif., with her husband and three dogs. She may be contacted through her website at www.babysleepsolutionsla.com.
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