Hudson Valley Parent

HVP September 2018

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26 Hudson Valley Parent n September 2018 version of cry it out sleep training if my husband wasn't so adamantly against it. Yet in the end, all turned out well, as Saige eventually did learn to sleep through the night without once having to cry it out. What is the CIO method? The cry-it-out (CIO) method of sleep training is one of the most contentious parenting topics today. Hudson Valley sleep specialist Dr. Priya Prashad recommends getting babies used to the idea of sleeping at night before parents begin to sleep train. This can be By JILL VALENTINO I n July 2006, I became a first-time mom with the arrival of my daughter, Saige. It was also when I learned the true definition of tired. Eat, grow…and sleep? At Saige's two-week appointment at the Children's Medical Group, I was quite close to bursting into frustration tears before Dr. Sieverding, our former (now retired) pediatrician, even entered the exam room. Upon his arrival, I explained my concerns about how this baby of mine just doesn't sleep. What was I doing wrong? "You are doing fine," Dr. Sieverding reassured me. "Saige's only jobs right now are to eat and grow." "And...sleep?" I pleaded. He shook his head and repeated himself. "Her job is to eat and grow." And eat and grow she did while I turned to Google to learn as much about infant sleep training as possible. I ended up trying just about everything I read, too. Well, almost everything. Since becoming parents, my husband Mike and I have learned many things about one another that we likely would never have found out otherwise. For example, my husband is dead set against letting any babies of his cry it out. "If Saige is crying, that means she needs us," Mike explained to me back then. "Crying is the only way she knows how to communicate right now, and I won't ignore her," he insisted. "Ever." And he never did. I would have tried some done by keeping the house quiet and dark at night, and brighter with a more typical noise level during the day. Prashad also stresses the importance of establishing a bedtime routine along with putting babies into their cribs drowsy yet awake to help them learn to fall asleep by themselves. The CIO method involves letting a baby cry until either they fall back to sleep, or incorporating a practice known as Ferberizing, where a parent returns at increasing time intervals during nightly wake-ups to offer comfort to the crying baby without picking them up. Dr. Prashad asserts, "The CIO method is not emotionally damaging and there are no studies showing any long-term detrimental effects." Babies cry for a reason However, many Hudson Valley mothers disagree. Kristine Hyland of Poughkeepsie claims she cannot listen to a baby cry. "I'll respond to every cry because crying is communication not manipulation," says Hyland. Heather Dini of Fishkill agrees. "Babies cry for a reason," says Dini. "They were snuggled up inside you for nine months hearing your heartbeat, each breath, and the sound of your voice. They felt safe. Then they come into this scary world and are put in a crib by themselves. That saddens me. Babies feel most safe in a parent's arms." On the Children's Medical Group (CMG) website, they, like Dini, discuss the importance of keeping babies younger than four months Should you let your baby cry it out? Parents and docs weigh in Heather Dini of Fishkill never let her children cry it out. She insists that crying is communication not manipulation.

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