No-Cry Sleep Solution

I started reading 'No-Cry Sleep Solutions', not because I am so hung up on getting my daughter to sleep through the night, if she wakes 2-4 times thats fine, but waking every 20-40 mins is probably just as bothersome to her as it can be to me on occasion.

What I love right off the bat is this book reaffirmed what I had been thinking all along, that night wakings were normal.


Babies have sleep cycles just like adults but theirs are much lighter and they shift through them quicker then we do.

 Often we wake and shift a pillow or roll over, same concept, except babies don't know how to just roll over and fall asleep and on top of that a lot of babies who are breastfed, bottle fed or rocked to sleep wake up with an added shock factor. I loved the example she used "You fall asleep in your nice warm bed, comfortable, your favorite pillow, then all of a sudden you wake up on the cold kitchen floor - you couldn't just roll over and fall back to sleep could you, you'd wonder how you got there and you would would want to be back in your cozy bed but be somewhat fearful you'd wake up in the kitchen again" (paraphrasing).

Babies are emotional beings, when left to cry it out they feel abandoned and can't comprehend why you are ignoring their cries.

 Parenting is a 24/7 job not a 12/7 job and its not like any of us were unaware of that. Some babies naturally sleep deeper then others thus having lengthier sleeps, and a lot of parents assume if one baby can sleep like that why can't all babies, but ever babies body functions differently.

I can't imagine how a baby left to cry it out feels, alone, scared, confused ..
They eventually give up in complete despair and sleep fairly well due to exhaustion, this is something biological our body does to help us cope with stressful situations. It has been proven that babies left to cry it out will have to go through that more then once, on a vacation, if they become sick, it ruins their sleeping pattern and thus they have to cry it out again. - Some babies left to cry it out become physically ill from it other babies cry for hours on end for countless nights - how on earth could a parent do that to their child? I'm sorry from my view point, its heartless to say the least.

I hate to sound judgmental, but way to detach yourself from your child emotionally. A lot of parents who allow their children to cry it out say it isn't that bad ... but for who?

Its a lazy excuse for allowing your child to lay there tired, scared screaming until hes too tired to scream, they look around feeling hopeless wondering why no one is coming. As if somehow the only sure fire way to get you baby to sleep is to but them through a great amount of physical distress, sounds selfish to me.

You will spoil her some say, better then feel I'm neglecting her needs emotionally. I want her to know I am there for her no matter what, my job is to meet her emotional and physical needs regardless of the time.

It is our job as parents to nurture them and make them feel safe and loved.

No one truly knows what the effects the cry it out method has on babies since they are all very different and other lifestyle factors will also mold them as people, but crying it out just doesn't seem to be in the child's best interest at all, hence why I bought the book.

Now to just finished reading and hope it give me some more insight and useful strategies to help my daughter sleep better and longer.

Wondering what I will do in the even it doesn't work, well I will keep doing what I'm doing, because thats my job, and she will be a teenager before I know it.

Oh Sweet Sleep

I truly believe sleep deprivation is a learnt skill, one you can master, live with ... only on occasion it will sneak up on you, but for the most part is completely manageable.

Once upon a time, not that long ago, a very short lived time but one that truly existed, my daughter woke up only twice a night - like clock work she was down at 7 up at 11 up at 3 and then up at 7.

More recently shes ;

down at 7
up at 7:30
up at 8:00
up at 9:00
up at 9:45
up at 10:30
up at 11:30

and so on and so forth .. until of course play time at 5 or 6 am.
It was like the moment she turned 6 months old she would only nurse to sleep and the majority of the time it's not for reasons related to hunger, and no I won't let her cry it out.


My sleep means much less then the emotional well being of my daughter, so I will never conciser letting her cry it out.

Personally I feel it breads insecurity, loneliness and a negative association with bedtime, a baby trusts that if they cry you will be there for them.


Keep in mind though, to me crying and 'fussing' are two totally separate animals.

 I know I need to do something for both of us - she associates sleep with nursing, she also refuses to nap unless nursed, it's a new thing but I know I have some how helped lead up to it.

I do however have no doubt the cry it out method it works for a lot of people, just like pacifiers for others, something which Sahar would never take, my feeling is she wouldn't take well to that method, and neither would I in all honesty.

So I'm looking at alternatives, I'm thinking of purchasing a book called 'the tear free sleep solution', and see how that goes. I want bed time to be relaxed, happy, restful - not the opposite with my daughter crying in her bed which I know as pathetic as it sounds would probably bring me to tears.




I don't want her to turn into a spoiled demanding child, but can you really spoil a child with love and comfort? Thats hard for me to imagine, with Sahar anyways, I just try to do what my gut says and balance that with logic and common sense and just do my best.

I've tried a few different things thus far, putting her down half asleep, shushing and patting her and similar ideas. Lately she has little interest in her 'ocean wonders aquarium', at one point it was a sure fire snooze inducer.

I feel like I should know what to do - I know why she wont sleep without nursing, it has become her sleep que the only way she knows to fall asleep and adults and children wake on average 4-6 times or more a night, most don't remember because we are accustomed to putting ourselves back to sleep with little or no thought at all, Sahar doesn't know how to fall back asleep on her own.

Babies usually create self soothing techniques to calm themselves and at times help them sleep.
Sucking on pacifiers, fingers, rubbing or scratching surfaces like blankets or making certain humming noises to name a few - Having said that, I'm still not aware if Sahar has one other then nursing thus far.

I just wish I knew how to make nights a tad less exhausting for us both.

Does/ Did your children sleep through the night?


Do they have a self soothing technique?

Did you let them cry it out?

What tricks helped/help your little one at bed time?

I'm always open to suggestions!