Ok, so how many times have you heard "babies need to cry...it's good for their lungs" and "if you run every time she cries she's going to be too needy" and so on? What a crock!

Babies don't cry for no reason. They cry for lots of reasons:
*i'm hungry
*i'm wet/poopy
*i'm cold/hot
*i've got gas/colic/reflux
*i'm uncomfortable (sitting on something, diaper pinching)
*i'm lonely
*i'm scared and need to feel you and smell you
*i'm tired and can't fall asleep by myself
*i don't know what i need...but you holding me is good

After 9-10 months inside of you warm and safe, the world can be a really scarey place for a new baby. There is absolutely no justification in my opinion (and in the AP philosophy) for allowing a baby to cry unconsoled.
I've heard moms say "she's dry,warm and fed so she's ok". Are you always ok just because you're dry, warm and fed? Do you remember a time when you cried yourself to sleep and no one came to hold you..remember how that felt?

Ferber and Ezzo make me absolutely queasy. They want you to believe that your baby can be "trained" to sleep by crying.They tell you to put your baby in a crib in another room and leave them to cry it out! They tell you to go in and talk to your baby or pat your baby and say "there there", but DON'T pick up your baby.What kind of nonsense is this? Of course the baby will sleep... they will cry themselves into a total state of exhaustion and pass out! I've done it and I'm sure you have too! It's a horrible experience and I'd hate for my children to go through it.

Just like on my page about sleeping with baby, I wonder what kind of society have we become when we'll allow our new baby to cry alone in another room because we want to MAKE him or her sleep so we can get some rest ?!! We knew when we chose to have children that babies don't sleep through the night for the first several months of life. Personally I wake up at least twice a night to use the restroom or  get a glass of water. Why should I expect my baby to sleep through? And if she wakes and has a need - I'll be there to meet that need. Day or night.

I've heard moms say that nothing consoles the baby...so they put baby in a swing and go take a shower so they don't have to hear him/her crying. There is no better place for a sad/uncomfortable/hurting baby then in a parents arms. So your back hurts from holding her for hours, so you are tired from walking round the house, your voice is sore from singing... this is our job as a parent. They are only babies for a short time, this won't last forever, but by going to baby as soon as they cry and holding them and helping them the baby learns they can depend on us to be there for them anytime, day or night. They learn to trust us as their parents and become more secure people as they get older.

Please answer your child when he/she cries.

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