Should I let my baby cry it out?

For anyone considering using the CC or CIO methos please do some research first. (even just google controlled crying and cortisol) I have included a couple of links below that may be of some use: The Australian Association for Infant Mental Health Inc. (AAIMHI) (Position Paper on Controlled Crying ) http://www.aaimhi.org/documents/position%20papers/controlled_crying.pdf Science Says: Excessive Crying Could Be Harmful to Babies (Sears) http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/handout2.asp Ange

I agree with the poster below and would say - No. "There are experts on both sides of the cry it out issue." There are so called 'experts' (advocates of the CIO method) who use personal opinion and then there are the real experts that use evidence based research. Despite the popularity of controlled crying, it is not an evidence-based practice. Professor James McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioural Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and acclaimed SIDS expert, described controlled crying as ‘social ideology masquerading as science’. "Somewhere along the way, you have to realize they will cry or scream. " When a baby is left to cry or scream the hypothalamus produces cortisol. In normal amounts cortisol is fine, but if a baby is exposed for too long or too often to stressful situations (such as being left to cry) its brain becomes flooded with cortisol and it will then either over or under produce cortisol whenever the child is exposed to stress. Too much cortisol is linked to depression and fearfulness; too little to emotional detachment and aggression. "know that babies are developmentally not ready to sleep all night and self soothe until around four months of age. " An infant is not neurologically or developmentally capable of calming or soothing himself to sleep in a way that is healthy. The part of the brain that helps with self-soothing isn't well developed until the child is two and a half to three years of age. "They will eventually go to sleep; you just have to stick with it. " Yes they will eventually go to sleep. But at what cost? The baby who is left to cry in order to teach him to sleep will learn a cruel lesson – that he cannot make a difference, so what is the point of reaching out. This is what is known as learned helplessness. Ange

Absolutely no way. The man who invented the CIO/CC method Dr Ferber has changed his mind on this method also, "for a number of years even Ferber himself (the 'father' of sleep training, controlled crying and leaving a baby to 'cry it out') stated he would not repeat this with his own babies given what we now know to be true about the physiological, psychological, and emotional damage that CIO has on infants, children, and human development." There is a great book called The Science of Parenting that explains how the brain develops and what happens to it if their cries are not responded to. CC/CIO does seem to work but it's not because a baby has learnt to self settle, the baby has decided that it is no use to cry out as nobody will respond. All children will sleep through without intervention when they have reached that milestone. A bit like walking and talking. They don't do it until they are able. I don't understand how letting a baby cry to fall asleep encourages a calm and secure environment. My two have learnt to settle themselves without tears and they always go to bed with no trouble at all and now they are the best sleepers :)