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There is nothing wrong with letting baby cry for a few minutes at a time. It is letting baby cry, but using a controlled technique. When my daughter was a newborn, I began this technique from day one. I guarantee you results, but it requires a lot of patience and commitment. I needed my husband to support me on this, as many times he helped me stay on track. When I put my daughter to bed, I wouldn't let her cry herself to exhaustion until she fell asleep. I let her cry for ten minutes (It takes at least ten minutes for any baby to settle), then repeated the whole process all over again. Taking her out of the crib, rocking, nursing, soothing, then putting her back down again.

After putting her down, we increased the time. Giving her twelve minutes to cry, and then repeating the whole process all over again. Rocking, nursing, then back to bed, and waiting another twelve minutes. Sometimes this process was repeated up to five times, taking hours. BUT, worth every minute. It all payed off in the end.

As she got a little older, I was making less trips into the nursery. She was soothing herself to sleep much quicker. Instead of five times, we were down to two. This was something my daughter had learned on her own over time. That when I put her down to sleep, I was not abandoning her, and I still responded to her cries, but in a controlled manner. It is important for babies to be able to self soothe themselves to sleep. Which really came in handy for night wakings. Up until six months old, I always nursed my daughter in the night when she cried. I met all of her demands, until solid food in place. After six months, when she woke to be fed, I made slight changes to our crying technique. Instead of picking her up and feeding her, I simply went in and rubbed her belly, avoiding looking into her eyes. 'Shhhhh', I gave her some comfort to let her know I was there, and walked out. Returning again ten minutes later, and repeating the process. The first night took forty-five minutes for her to settle. The second night only twenty and she has been sleeping through the night ever since. Now I put her to bed and she either goes right to sleep with no fuss or she may need that one extra cuddle.

The point I am trying to say is that you shouldn't have to let a baby cry it out all the way, but in a controlled manner. Otherwise how will they ever learn to soothe themselves? Especially for the night time wake up calls. Babies wake themselves up several times in the night, in the same way that adults do. Imagine yourself waking up, and not being able to get back to sleep. Imagine never learning that technique of self soothing.

Why wait until your children are older to instill a skill that will be much harder later on?

Learn more about this author, Michelle Arthurs.
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