I thought "controlled crying" was when you let the baby cry for a certain number of minutes (different books giving different minutes) and then go in and resettle them and then do it again and again until they go to sleep. I always wonder how they come up with the minutes. A mother I know said that some book she read (? Tizzy Hall) said that at 3 months they are given "8 and half minutes protest cry". I wonder why 8.5? Why not 8? or 9? Surely each baby and each situation is different it just highlighted to me how stupid those books are (in my opinion). But I have also heard a lot of people talk about doing "controlled crying" but basically meaning "cry it out" i.e. letting them cry until they stop.

I have never done the whole "whinge" before sleeping thing as I feed my baby to sleep and stay with him until he is sleeping. He does sometimes cry a bit then but I'm with him. Not saying it is wrong for others, but I think if I left him to go to sleep by himself the whinge would just escalate.

Do I ever leave DS to cry? Yes, if I am in the shower or on the toilet! (I read somewhere that this is referred to as the "sh**t it out" method LOL). I do try to go to him as soon as possible. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong to do different but for me I just want to get to him as soon as possible. Sometimes when my mum or other people have been over they say "why are you going to him straight away it won't hurt him to cry for a little bit". It might not hurt him but I also don't see the point in waiting.