I am a mother, grandmother and a pediatric nurse practitioner with thirty years experience with newborns. First, the “cry it out” method is a maximum of 20 minutes. Secondly, by four hours your child would absolutely need to eat. You cannot spoil a seven day old baby by picking her up. She is probably hitting the point of an increased appetite. She might have a painful gas bubble. Is she breast fed? Four hours is way too long at this age between feedings. If she is formula fed, she may need a new formula. She may have a wet diaper. Call your mother, grandmother, aunt or your baby’s healthcare provider. To quiet your infant you need to figure out why she is crying. Maybe she just needs a cuddle. How about having someone help you so you can take a nap.
Thank you to all of you who pointed out that “cry it out” is not for this age group. You are absolutely correct. It is used for tantrums. But the baby is better off in the crib crying if the mother is that frazzled. She needs help. Calling grandma or an aunt would help greatly. Other comments that deserve a response: It is perfectly okay if a baby cries just a bit. You can finish your sandwich and use the bathroom. I did focus on the mother. She needs help – and quickly. Either she is lost caring for a baby or she may have postpartum depression. Or maybe exhausted. Some help would go a long way toward improving adjustment for the mother-baby unit. Skin to skin is wonderful. I can still imagine my babies up against my skin. Co-sleeping has its fans and many of them are African or Native American. There are many benefits; however, there have also been deaths from mothers accidentally smothering their newborns. I love those new infant beds that attach to the mother’s bed. They offer most of the benefits of co-sleeping without the risk of smothering. Hopefully they will not find anything dangerous about them. Lastly, yelling about Children’s Services and telling mother to pick up the baby now will not help – this question was written at least several weeks ago. The advice I and many of you shared will likely help someone else.
My first. baby cried, wouldn’t latch and I was exhausted. Milk leaked all over. I cried and my baby cried. My mother told me to put him in his bed and lay down. She arrived twenty minutes later with a turkey sandwich, potato salad, a thermos full of coffee and – formula. A nice warm bottle and a good burp and we both slept three hours. (A breast pump helped, too and baby latched on nicely when he woke up.)
