"A young child cannot yet understand what is best for him, and he may cry if he does not get what he wants. If he wanted to play with a sharp knife, you would not give it to him no matter how hard he cried and you would not feel guilty ot worry about the psychological consequences. Poor sleeping habits are also harmful for your child and it's your job to correct them." Quote from Ferber
Yes it's MY job to correct my baby's bad sleeping habits. I shouted at my mom and an auntie on CNY Eve's.
My baby was crying herself to sleep. I was sitting on the bed beside her in case she flips and rolls down the bed or suffocate herself in the midst of the pillows. One auntie barged into the room and asked me to carry my crying baby up. I refused to. She raised her voice and repeated herself, "CARRY HER!". I said No. The next minute, she nudged me aside and carried my baby upright and was rocking her.
And when my baby was still crying, my mom took over - carried and rocked. I was so fedup that I shouted at the both of them, "she wants to sleep and she will cry, just let her be".
Both of them stared at me with disbelief, thinking that I must be mad.
I did the same to wean off pacifier and night feeds successfully. So i am doing the exact same thing for baby's sleeping habits. I agree that we shouldn't let babies cry excessively for no reason and once they are big enough for solids (5 months and above), I think they are also big enough to be trained to cry it out.
Letting your baby cry it out (from BabyCenter)
