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Parents should not let their babies cry themselves to sleep. Babies have no way to communicate to their parents or caregivers except to cry. If they cry for several minutes alone in their crib and then it is quiet, how do you know they have gone to sleep peacefully at last or if something is terribly wrong and the silence is due to some horrible tragedy.

Babies cry to let parents be aware of their discomfort not to simply keep their parents awake. The baby is wet, he cries. The baby is hungry, he cries. The baby needs to burp, he cries. The baby doesn't feel well, he cries. Babies are not awake and crying at night only because they want to stay up late to watch television or play another round of video games. Babies have no secret agenda to make parents miss out on sleep. They cry simply because some need, they are unable to take care of by themselves, needs to be attended to.

New parents will probably be told by seemingly well meaning advise givers, that it is good to let them cry. I heard several renditions myself, including, "you will spoil them if you rock them to sleep", "it exercises their lungs to let them cry" "it teaches them independence". That is all nonsense. You will not spoil a baby by rocking them to sleep instead of letting the poor baby exhaust himself to sleep after minutes of heart wrenching cries. Lungs do not need to be exercised by an infant crying in discomfort! There will be plenty of time in your child's life to teach him independence in more loving, caring ways than when he is a baby crying in despair.

We, as parents, sign on to be this baby's caregiver, his support, his hero, his nurturer no matter if it is daylight, nap time, midnight or in the middle of a ballgame. Be a good parent, take time to just rock or walk your child to sleep. Do not let him have to fall asleep in the midst of tears. There will be plenty of times, you are a walking zombie but a crying baby confined to a crib crying himself to sleep is not going to restore your sleep deprived existence. They grow so fast, just take the time to satisfy whatever is bothering him, rock him to a peaceful sleep and you will sleep better also

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