Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

Miranda is 6 weeks old today.
I am starting to let her fuss a little (less than 5 m inutes or so) when she's in her bouncy or swing because usually she calms herself quickly and lots of times in the swing she will actually fall asleep.
I never let her actually cry and leave her there, I'm just talking fussing noises. I feel guilty though.
Am I wrong for doing this already?

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

Not at all. You can't run to them everytime they make a peep, IMO. I don't think it has anything to do with spoiling them either, I think it has more to do with teaching them how to soothe themselves which is a good thing.

Sometimes they need to fuss a little in the beginning to teach themselves to fall asleep when they are tired. If you run to her and lavish attention on her when she's fussing because she's tired, you are actually just keeping her up longer, making her more tired, and making it harder for her to fall asleep.

I used to do this with Jake and now 90% of the time there is no fussing before he falls asleep for a nap, and ZERO fussing before bedtime.

I know what you mean about feeling guilty though... you just can't help but want to run to them and comfort them when they seem the slightest bit unhappy.

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

I think 6 weeks is when I started to let my son fuss too. He is ten weeks now. In the beginning when if he fussed when I put him in the swing I would pick him up, now I find if I let him fuss he usually stops. He does it in the car too until we start driving. However if he is tired and is not in the swing, my arms, moving car and starts fussing I have to pick him up because he will scream and then it takes a while to cam him down. He gets overtired and does not know how to put himself to sleep!

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

IMO there is nothing wrong with that. I also think you will find (or at least I did) that your baby changes quite a bit once they hit 6 weeks - so there might even be less fussing.

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

I let them fuss. I can't jump everytime they want me to!

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

Don't feel bad... I do it often. Alex has a really hard time falling asleep, especially at night. If I got up everytime she fussed she and I would never sleep! For the last week or so I let her fuss on her own and now she is able to fall back asleep on her own eventually. I think it's really important for them to start learning how to soothe themselves to sleep. Just now I put her down for a nap three times because she kept waking. Finally I let her fuss a little and now she's fast asleep... it's not so much for me, but more for her because she gets so cranky and overtired if she doesn't get her naps during the day.

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

I agree there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Its so normal to feel guilty- If you didn't, then that wouldn't be normal...


I remember quite a while ago, (my son is 2 now) my son was starting to wake up in the middle of the night. It was fine at first, I would go in there, pat his back then he would eventually go back to sleep. Then it started to become an every night thing, so I asked the doctor what to do. He said, let him cry it out. He will still love you in the morning. Its to his own benefit to sooth himself back to sleep. My luck, the next night, I tried that, and it went on for well over an hour. So I finally went in there and oh boy! What a holy mess! He had poop everywhere! Up his back, all over his p.j.s... I felt SO BAD....

Re: Newborn, Do you let them fuss a little?

Posted by monkeybride

Miranda is 6 weeks old today.
I am starting to let her fuss a little (less than 5 m inutes or so) when she's in her bouncy or swing because usually she calms herself quickly and lots of times in the swing she will actually fall asleep.
I never let her actually cry and leave her there, I'm just talking fussing noises. I feel guilty though.
Am I wrong for doing this already?