Helping Babies Sleep (With Empathy And Compassion) Guest Post by Eileen Henry

Hi Janet, My baby boy is 6 months old, and we do all we can to make sure he is happy and healthy. We realize how important good, uninterrupted, restorative sleep is – both night sleep and daytime naps – and I wonder how you might respond to the philosophy of Dr. Marc Weissbluth (“Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”), who advocates letting a baby over 4 months cry up to one hour for naps and an unlimited time...

The Truth About Infant Self-Soothing

Infant self-soothing is often misrepresented by descriptive terms like tough love, crying it out, leaving babies to “deal with it” on their own, and even neglect. Apparently there are people who misunderstand the concept, or use it as an excuse to ignore a child. Perhaps it’s in reaction to those people, real or imagined, that others have wholly rejected the idea, shutting the door on the possibility that...

How To Help Your Baby To Sleep (Without Rocking)

Hi Janet, I am an ardent follower of your blog and always look forward to your posts!  My name is Mandy and I am a stay-at-home-mom to an 11 month old son who is extremely intelligent and aware.  He is able to play by himself for long periods of time and is generally a very happy little man.  Unfortunately, we have had some major sleep issues since he was 3 or 4 months old.  He typically needs 3 – 4...

Weaning A Toddler

Hi Janet, I am really enjoying your site. The RIE philosophy fits so well with the way my husband and I are trying to parent, and I am learning so much. One issue that we are facing now, however, is weaning from the breast, and I couldn’t find much on your site that gave any strategies of the best way to approach this with a toddler. My son is 19 months and still nursing frequently. For many months, the...

A Toddler’s Night Waking – A Mother’s Anger, Guilt, Confusion (Response by Eileen Henry)

I am growing so angry and tired from lack of sleep. I didn’t mind getting up during the night when my son was a newborn, but he’s almost 14 MONTHS, and we’re still up 2-4 times a night. Usually it’s 2-3. I have to rock him to sleep for naptime. It doesn’t sound so bad if all you know are other attachment parents, but most of my friends and family follow the Babywise cult and remark how...

Baby Takes A Stand Against Sleep (Advice from Eileen Henry)

Dear Janet, About a month ago my baby started pulling to standing, which is wonderful and exciting. However, about two weeks ago she started standing in her crib immediately after I put her down for sleep. She holds onto the side of the crib and screams and cries. I’m not comfortable letting her cry like this for more than 20 minutes (which feels like an agonizingly long time), and so after giving her this...

Baby’s “No Cry” Sleep Is Exhausting (More Wisdom From Eileen Henry)

Since sleep specialist Eileen Henry volunteered to answer parents’ questions here, I’ve received many. Sleep is undoubtedly the number one issue.  I could easily turn this blog over to Eileen and your questions, if she had the time. I’m trying not to overwhelm her! Below is a note from a parent (Masha) that I had forwarded to Eileen. As it turned out, Eileen’s private response to me as she considered...

Changing Toddler Sleep Habits (Guest Post by Eileen Henry)

Parents of infants and toddlers have a collective wish – a peaceful ending to the day. We deserve it. Our days are long, often taxing, and we hope our babies will fall asleep easily and stay asleep through the night. We don’t have the patience or the energy to deal with a fussy baby. Even though we sense that our child’s cries are a healthy release of tension, we’re too tired, too vulnerable to hear them....