Can someone explain the Baby Whisperer pick up put down thing to me?

[Bouj]

I have the book, but I can't make sense of it, on such little sleep! Do I pick him up and put him straight down? Say anything? And if he hollers straightaway, pick him straight back up? And more importantly, does it work? Aargh, am close to losing it! TIA.

[hermykne]

no pick up and sssshhhhhhhh consistly until he settles , keep ssshhhhinnnnggg then put him back in cot, see if he settles, but keep ssshhhhhiinnnggg, and keep going , its supposed to be easier on the child with the sshhhhhing sound as oyu can eventually withdraw from the room without lifting but just sshhhhhinngggg

[Bouj]

Thanks hermykne. That makes much more sense. Can I ask if it worked for you? And if so, how long it took, and how old your baby was?

[hermykne]

bouj ds was around 5mths when i started it, i wanted him in bed same time as dd 7.30. it took over a week to get it going but he was great and got the swing of it and has since then been a great sleeper. i breastfeed him too so he was feed round 11pm til about 7mths, but he settled quite easily then til morning.
the ssshhhhinnggg worked if ever there was a hicuup he associated it when calming down

[Parsnipillon]

check out this thread alot of MN doing PU/PD

[Bouj]

Sorry, only just got back to this. Still having no luck, so will check out the thread. Thanks.

[Scootergirl]

I think you're supposed to pick them up and soothe them until they stop crying and then put them back in their cot. If they start crying pick them up again and soothe them then put them down again etc etc. The theory is that they know you'll comfort them but they learn to go to sleep in their cots or wherever. The Baby Whisperer programmes used to be repeated a lot on Discovery Health and at least three of them had this in! Hope you had a better night x

[Bouj]

Thanks scootergirl - I remember watching them when in the UK, but am unfortunatley not anymore! At the time, paid blissfully no attention as ds1 was sleeping ok (for brief period!) Wish now I could see it in action again!

[Plibble]

You could have a look at this . See the section of the message boards on "general sleep issues" - the faqs set out how to do pu/pd for different age children and an explanation of sh/pat. It is clearer than the book, I think.
As I understand it, with pu/pd, you pick up the child when he cries and hold him (without rocking) until he stops crying. You then put the child back into the cot immediately. This way you are meeting the child's need for a hug, without encouraging him to cleep only when you are holding him.
Personally pu/pd did not work for us. My DD is far to easily stimulated and we found it was better to stick to sh/pat (patting her shoulder and shhh-ing in her ear) as she lay in her cot to settle her. Pu/pd is not recommended for children under 3 months in any event as it can wind them up.