cry it out

English

Verb

cry it out (third-person singular simple present cries it out, present participle crying it out, simple past and past participle cried it out)

1. Of a baby: to be left alone to cry until falling asleep (recommended in some approaches to parenting).
   • 2007, Bryna Siegel, Helping Children with Autism Learn:

     The same rules for maintaining sleep should be used for autistic children as for typical children—short interventions that are not repeated, and a period in which the child “cries it out.”

   • 2010, Cathryn Tobin, The Lull-a-Baby Sleep Plan:

     Clearly, crying it out is too brutal, and no-cry sleep solutions are too slow; the only ideal way to deal with sleep problems is to avoid them in the first place.

Related terms

• cry out