I'll share with you what my son's pediatrician (a mom of a couple of little ones herself) told me, and it worked like a charm. When my son cried out a night, I was to go to him as soon as I could and stroke him, talk to him, and generally make sure he was alright. I was NOT to pick him up. Assuming he was alright, I was to leave, which is what I did. The next time he cried, I was to let him cry for about 5 minutes, return, stroke, talk, etc. -- but not pick him up. Each time, I could return, but again wait a little bit longer. The idea is that it teaches the child (and I'm talking here about a baby just a few months old) that you'll come if he needs you, which in itself is sufficient comfort. After a while, he'll only cry out when he needs you. Waking up a night isn't a big deal if he just turns over and goes back to sleep. If the child can't sleep without you holding him, he can't sleep unless you do just that. It took me about a week (and believe me it hurt me a lot more than it hurt my son), but he handled it beautifully. By the time he was four-to-six weeks old, he was waking only once at night for a feeding, and eventually that tapered off. He's slept through the night since he was four or five months old. Maybe my experience is unusual, because it was contrary to all the stories I'd heard about sleepless nights. But if it works, maybe it's worth a try. Lynn