7. Do you believe in the "cry until he sleeps" method?

I didn't hear about this until I became a mom. Some people (like my dad) told me it's best to "let them cry it out" as early as possible. Others (like my cousin Mandy) said she could never do it. I personally had a really hard time with it when Slade was first born. I felt like if I ignored him for one second, didn't pick him up the second he started crying, or walked out of the room for a minute he would defiantly remember and think his mother abandoned him. As the weeks, and months went by i realized he isn't going to remember the time I left him in his swing for 20 minutes to take a shower. However, a lot of doctors and articles I have read say you should lay your baby down in his crib, happy but awake so they can learn how to soothe themselves. Dane and I were doing really well with those tips, but now we rock him to sleep every time and I'm starting to worry we are spoiling him. If he wakes up when I put him down I let him cry for a few minutes to see if he is just getting that last bit of energy out so he can soothe himself back to sleep. If he continues to cry, I pick him up, rock him, tell him its okay and its "night night time" and lay him back down either happy, or asleep and continue this pattern until he is really asleep.

so no, I don't particularly believe in the cry until he sleeps method. I believe in "cry until you can't stand it anymore" because it hurts to hear your baby upset! It's an instinct to soothe them!