P.U.P.D.

Our good little sleeper had a relapse and now fights it with all her might, and voice. So we've had some long crying sessions in the middle of the day and the middle of the night that leave us frustrated and tired. Her cry is a screaming cry that hurts your ears, not a whimpering sad cry.

I've never been a fan of letting infants cry it out. Their minds are not capable of abstract thinking, all they know is what's around them right then. That's why we play peek-a-boo with babies to teach them that even though they can't see you, you are still there. But until they learn that lesson, it seem a little odd that we would stay away while the baby cries for someone to come and soothe them.

I should add that as twins, there are many times when I'm feeding or changing one baby that the other has to cry for 5-15 minutes until I'm done. So I don't like not going to them when I could.

In her book The Baby Whisperer, Tracy Hogg explains her method of helping babies who are having trouble sleeping to learn to put themselves to sleep. It's the middle of the road between rocking them to sleep and letting them cry it out.

She calls it "Pick Up Put Down" or P.U.P.D for short. It is exactly what it sounds like. When they cry, you pick them up, and then when they calm down you immediately put them back down. She recommends this technique once babies are over 8 weeks old and not before.

We've been doing this with Alyna for 2 days and nights now and are already seeing dramatic improvement. The first night I did it we did P.U.P.D for 20 minutes. Every time she started crying I picked her up, held her to my chest, rythmically patted the middle of her back, and made long "sshhhh" sounds. (No rocking or bouncing.) She would start crying as soon as I laid her down. Eventually she'd go for 20-30 seconds after lying down before she'd cry. Then she whimpered herself to sleep on a final "put down".

She ate again that night at 3 am, and then woke at 4:30 am crying because she couldn't fall back asleep. So I did P.U.P.D for 10 minutes and she finally soothed herself to sleep on a "put down".

At nap time the next morning, I did P.U.P.D for 5 minutes, and then 10 minutes for the afternoon nap. 5 more minutes for the bedtime, and then 10 minutes at the 5 am feeding.

We're making progress, and I'm encouraged by the results. The night before I started this she had cried for an hour in our arms before finally calming down in the swing at 4 am. That was not fun.

After we have her sleep issues worked out, we're going to use the method to break Ryan of his pacifier.