If you have seen any of Ravenna's videos from the past few months you will notice that she loves to squeal. She doesn't really babble, just squeals. It is her happy noise and she does it very often to entertain herself. For example: If I run to another room to get the phone, I will hear her in the other room squealing happily, and return to find her playing with her feet or happily knawing on a toy (yes, she can knaw and squeal at the same time).
The other night Ravenna woke up in the middle of the night wanting to nurse, so I did the usual and brought her into our bed to nurse and snuggle, but instead of falling asleep as she usually does, she wanted to announce her happiness at having a full tummy by squealing. Although this is normally funny and endearing, in the middle of the night and when her Daddy is sick, it is less so. I tried to soothe her back to sleep, but she was having none of that, so I put her back in her bed happily squealing away and munching on her bear. I stayed awake to see if she would cry (so I could soothe her if needed) but for half an hour she squealed and giggled, blew bubbles and then fell asleep. Needless to say, I am certain that I fell asleep with a smile on my face. Take THAT, "cry it out!"
On a side note, I was reading Parenting Magazine the other day and found this interesting quote from Lawrence Balter Ph.D, a professor of child psychology at NYU: "Too much stress on an infant's nervous system-such as crying continuously-isn't healthy for her development." He goes on to say that it is NEVER a good idea for babies younger than 6 months to "cry it out." I think it is also interesting what the article says for after 6 months of age: "Even then, an older baby probably isn't capable of manipulating you to get your attention." Holy Hannah! I think this guy is on to something!
2 comments:
Before my babies were 6 months old, I could not stand to listen to them cry! I tried one night with Kallie to lay her in bed and then soothe her without picking her up. We were both in tears within a few minutes. After 6 months, my kids fussed from time to time after being put in bed. There was a HUGE difference between their cries, too, so I knew when it would end in 2 minutes or when they needed additional mommy soothing. Both of my kids are STILL really good at going to sleep.
I have a friend who used the Ferber method with her first, in fact, she SWORE by it at the time. But, later she decided that method had actually created a distance between her and her daughter as she got older. Her second slept just as well without any "help" from Ferber.
P.S. My verification word is "obvoprey." Seems like one of those people/animals who emit some kind of subliminal signal saying they're easy to defeat. LOL!
I totally agree with you about this. I never, ever let my babies "cry it out." I think we can develop strong bonds that last as they get older starting right now, when they are babies.
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