@lyzza631 I get that, but eventually doesn't that have to happen either way? I guess that is my confusion. It just feels like it's delaying an inevitable discomfort that you'll have to deal with.
No it isn't fun and you don't feel good hearing your baby crying, but I don't see that as better than waiting until they're a toddler and having to hear a 18-24 month old crying. The crying and being unhappy about not having mommy/daddy be with you until you're fully alseep is going to happen either way, may as well try to nip it in the bud early if possible.
I feel like the job of parents is to set up guardrails and help the kid steer their own ship. Those guardrails widen as time goes on and eventually you get to a point where the kid is ideally steering their own ship without guard rails.
Yes a baby crying is saying "I need help" but if you've ensured they are fed, safe, the temperature is comfortable and they are placed in the crib properly it's less a need a more a desire. They want to be held, picked up and soothed. Just like we don't give our kid oreos at 8am (
which he asks for often for breakfast) because we don't want to set the habit, we didn't pick him up when he'd cry because we didn't set the habit that we'll soothe you to sleep, you gotta learn to do that on your own. We didn't completely abandon him but letting him cry 15-25 mins was normal and that time slowly decreased as we progressed in the training.
Them being able to get themselves back to sleep is a guardrail that they eventually have to learn how to navigate. I guess I don't see the purpose in delaying it longer than needed if doctors recommend starting around that ~6 month timeframe (
give or take).
