The crying occurs most nights. Your child is held, rocked, or walked until asleep. Your child doesn't need to be fed in the middle of the night. Your child has awakened and cried at night since birth. The child's parents are tired, but the child is not.
All children normally wake up four or five times each night after dreams.
Because they usually do not wake up fully at these times, most children can get back to sleep by themselves. However, children who have not learned how to comfort and quiet themselves cry for a parent. If your custom at naps and bedtime is to hold, rock, or lie down with your baby until asleep, your child will not learn how to go back to sleep without your help. Babies who are not usually placed in their cribs while they are still awake expect their mothers to help them go back to sleep when they wake up at night. Because they usually fall asleep away from their cribs, they don't learn to associate the crib and mattress with sleep.