Just a little follow-on from my last post, and taking the lead from my lovely wife and her blog (a link to which can be found on the left of this page), I'd like to declare myself firmly against sleep training. Sleep training can kiss my finely toned arse.
Allowing your baby to sit alone in their cot for any length of time while they scream at the top of their lungs because they think they're alone and because they really are almost completely helpless is heartless and cruel. I know parents will do it with the best of intentions and will feel terrible while doing it, but it's still cruel. It was cruel when my wife and I tried it one night. All I wanted to do was comfort my baby. I knew that if I went in there and comforted her she would be asleep within five to ten minutes. As it was, it took forty five minutes of constant screaming before she fell asleep. Neither my wife nor I felt accomplished or in any way validated. I felt like a shit. I felt like I'd failed as a father.
Given the choice between a slightly easier life, where I don't have to hold my little one until she falls asleep after a week or more where she has 'learned' she can fall asleep by herself, and a life where I may get less sleep or be on my feet for longer, I'll take the less sleep option please. My daughter is my priority, that means unless I'm about to fall unconcious from lack of sleep or back pain, unless my tiredness places her at risk, I'm comforting her and making sure she grows up knowing she is loved by her Mum and Dad, and that she is never, EVER alone.
Thank you. I shall put my pedestal away with my high horse now.
My take, "controlled crying" will one day be viewed as spanking is today. Cruel. Agreed.
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