How mnay minutes do you let your baby ‘cry it out’. Our baby is 10.5 months old . Until now – I am assuming?

Is she crying at night time or during the day. If it as night, then I would just try to comfort her, if it’s during thee day, then I say 5-10 mins max. It’s good for them to cry, but she also needs to know you are there to take care of her needs. She could just be feeling a lil scared to be away from you now. I’m sure it will pass soon.

Good mothers do not fall prey to the absurd notion that an infant should ever be left to sob alone. 0.

I’m a firm believer in letting them soothe themselves back to sleep unless of course there is something wrong that needs addressed (fever, throwing up). I would let her cry it out until she self-soothes back to sleep. At this age, if you start going in and picking her up/entertaining her at 2am you are simply teaching her that when she wakes up at 2am and wants attention/interaction that she will cry and you will come. However, if you let her “cry it out” after a few nights she will then realize that her crying is not effective at what she wants at 2am and will simply go back to sleep on her own. I had the opposite situation…..my 11 month old was a horrible sleeper in the beginning (months 0-5) and I got no more than 4-5 hours of combined sleep (nursed every 2 hours also) and at 6 months I was ready to collapse and I read up on this topic and my husband and I put in a plan of action, which was the “cry it out” method. It sucked at first and was really hard to hear my baby in such distress, but after a few weeks of no mid-night attention he got it and sleeps wonderfully now. Do you do a bed-time routine? It helps if you do the same thing at the same time every night (for us it’s dinner at 6p followed by a walk/activity, bath at 7:15, books at 7:30, nurse at 7:45 and then in the crib, kiss goodnight and done!). Also, I read that when babies experience new milestones that it causes disruption in sleep. In addition, teething effects sleep as well (Tylenol/Motrin help w/this). Good luck and hang in there!!

I agree with many of the suggestions. Make sure you have a bedtime routine and stick to it every night. When I put my 10-month-old daughter down at night, I don’t even turn the baby monitor on for 15 minutes. If she is still crying after 15 minutes, I go in the room, keep it dark, do not make eye contact or talk to her (this will engage her), pick her up, check her diaper, give her gas drops, tylenol, orajel (if necessary), rock her for a max of 15 minutes and then put her back down. Then, I start the process over again with not turning the monitor on for 15 minutes. She hardly ever wakes during the night unless it is something really bothering her and she usually soothes herself within 5 minutes if she does wake. I agree that you may need to work up to 15 minutes or more and just up it by 5 minutes each time. Babies at this age are mentally able to pair their behavior with yours (she cries, you pick her up immediately so she thinks every time she cries this will happen). You are not hurting her, you are just helping her gain some independence and preserving your sanity.