Some paediatricians and psychologists say that babies should learn what’s NO. If you go immediately to attend him when he starts crying then doesn’t learn to take comfort and they are completely dependents of their parents. They don’t learn to wait, to play alone, to sleep alone, etc.

On the other side, some doctors say that is better to attend the needs of babies as soon as you can. In this way, babies learn to communicate to their parents, because crying (their only way to communicate that he knows) get an answer. Also, reinforces their self-confidence because their needs are attended, they don’t feel helpless and understand that they can trust to other persons. They learn to be compassionate, because their parents are compassionate with them when they parents have tried hard in knowing what does it happen to their baby. And reinforces the attachment with their parents, because theyr are understood. These psychologists say that children who have not been enough attended in baby ages when crying, have problems to communicate their feelings and emotions, have lack of empathy and in general a low emotional intelligence.
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So I believe that is better to hug and to hold babies in arms or in the bag back as often as possible, help babies to sleep, to bring him to parents’ bed if necessary, giving meal as soon as possible when they're hungry, etc. In my opinion, Dr. Estivill's method is terrible, and all these methods that propose to let the baby cry during a growing interval of time so they get used to sleep alone. For sure that these methods work, but how will they behave when they will be older? What about their self-confidence, their attachment, obedience, respect to their parents? Are they going to be compassionate to the others if their parents weren’t compassionate towards them?

The way that I used with my children since they were 18 months old was to get them used to sleep alone was first of all to establish a routine of going to bed. It helps a lot to have a stuffy toy that substitutes mum, to leave a little light on, to turn on a smooth music for babies, to sing a song, to read a book, to take a relaxing bath, or whatever you prefer to relax your baby! Afterwards, to get shorter the time to keep baby company a little bit more every day, as well as the distance: begin stand by beside him, then some steps away, then next to the door, etc.

Gently, we don’t need hard methods that cause pain for parents and children. For sure they will learn to sleep alone, eat alone and play alone. They will take more or less time, but in some years they all get it sooner or later!


Sources:
William Sears, “The successful Child”
Asha Phillips, “Saying no”
Elisabeth Pantley "The no-cry sleep solution"
Dr. Eduard Estivill i Sylvia de Béjar "Nen, a dormir"