Consider...Julien

It is 2 o’clock in the morning in a downtown high-rise apartment, and 4-month-old Julien is beginning to stir from a deep sleep. At first Julien’s cry is intermittent and quiet, but after 10 minutes Julien is fully awake and screaming. Julien’s mother and father are lying awake in their bedroom down the hall listening to his cries.  His parents believe that if they respond to Julien’s nighttime crying by soothing him or feeding him, that he will be spoiled and never learn to soothe himself to sleep. Julien’s mother tiptoes down the hall and peeks into his room to make sure that Julien is not hurt in his crib. Finally, after 30 minutes of screaming Julien falls back asleep only to awaken an hour later. This time Julien’s mother is exhausted and cannot bear to hear him scream, while she can hear banging on the apartment wall from her neighbours. This time Julien’s mother gets out of bed, makes him a bottle and rocks him back to sleep. After being fed and soothed, Julien settles but wakes again in another two hours.