Letting baby cry a bit?

[anita665]

DS is 6 weeks old now and I have two others under 5 so things get a bit crazy here sometimes.

When everyone is wanting my attention at once and baby starts crying I often don't know quite what to do first.

Much of the time I find myself rocking him in his swing with my foot while cleaning my toddlers sticky fingers before he spreads something all over the furniture again and trying to do something else for my eldest.

I try to prioritize but when baby is crying, is usually means he wants a cuddle or a feed which takes a while so I try to sort the other two out first or they will be complaining all the way through the feed. This often means baby is crying for a few mins before I can deal with him and I feel terrible about it.

Does anyone else do this? Is there any other way? It worries me because some people say its harmful to let them cry.

 

[MLC20]

Wow, hectic. Sounds like you need a baby carrier. LO is my first but, a lot of people have said that the carrier was the best thing when they had 2 young children. Good luck

 

[lisareece]

I've got a 22 month old and an 8 week old (also n 11 year old but obviously he's not a problem). If I'm changing the older ones nappy or something I have no choice but to let little one cry for a few minutes, I don't think it's a problem, although I do feel bad and hate to hear her crying.

 

[KittiKat76]

You have 3 beautiful children under 5?? At some point one of them is going to cry for a bit. And as mum you will know who is priority (lo with sticky fingers!!!).
Lo will be fine. They will not grow up and hate you for it!! the only way someone with 3 kiddies can honestly say their child hasn't been left to cry for a bit is if they have 3 sets of hands!! don't worry x x

 

[Twister]

It's fine and completely understandable, it's only a concern if you let LO cry for no good reason to try and "teach" them something. But obviously with 3 young kids you're going to have your hands full at times and there's not much you can do about it. I wouldn't worry

 

[erikab922]

When I was in the hospital after having had LO I was a petrified wreck, I hardly ever left the room because LO was crying about this or that. One of the midwives sat me down, gave me a big hug and said 'no baby has ever died from crying'. That was SO what I needed to hear. LO will be worse off having a stressed-out, frazzled momma than by being left to cry for a few minutes. Crikey, you are doing a great job of it all!

 

[hel_5]

Yeah sometimes there's not much else you can do, it gets easier, I just try and talk/sing to LO, it's normally only for a minute or two so I just try not to worry xxx

 

[overcomer79]

I have a 3 year old as well as LO. I have had to let LO cry. I don't listen to the garbage "it's harmful"...sometimes it just can't be helped.

 

[Scally]

I have a three old and a 3 month old- sometimes the 3 month old has to cry a bit. When the 3 month old demands my attention it usually involves something that takes time, so i do what the 3 year old wants me to do first as its usually quicker!
x

 

[aliss]

Eh, they'll be fine. You're not an octopus. I'm not an octopus. I am about as "attachment parenting" as they get, but my baby has to deal with the fact that I need to take care of his brother too, eat once in a while, and I'm not going to wear my sling when taking a dump. He, like the billions of other children on this planet who were not the first born, will cope just fine.

The whole "no cry because it causes damage" thing has been taken a little extreme on the internet these days. We're not talking Romanian orphanages here, we're just trying to live our lives.