Some parents let a wakeful child cry after checking to make sure there’s nothing really wrong, and they say the crying shortens in duration over a few nights and soon stops altogether.


Make sure to check your clock rather than your gut feeling. It will always seem that they are crying longer than they actually are. Of course if you can’t bear to do that keep in mind that often rubbing a child’s back or reassuring him or her from the door every 5 or 10 minutes will do the trick.

By all means avoid picking up or rocking your child, and also avoid giving an unnecessary bottle. Children have to learn to calm themselves for sleep. If you choose to do it for them, they will choose to continue letting you.

Some great tips that will help:

If you feel you must give your child a bottle, and they already have teeth, make it plain water only. Milk or any sweetened drink will lead to tooth decay.

Keep several pacifiers in the crib surrounding your child, for easy access to a groping hand in the dark.

Satisfy a thirsty toddler by leaving his or her sippy cup in a car drink holder or similar device taped to the inside of the crib. They won’t have to wake you for a night-time drink.

Make liberal use of dim night lights (a bright one will keep them up), or a flashlight in the bed (with red cellophane taped over the light, the red light will be much less stimulating, believe me, it works!)

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