i was a babysitter for 10 months between jobs (economy is rough fellas) and out of 40+ clients with kids from 6 months to 2 years old, id say 5 of them at best knew about the ferber sleep method my network recommended. most parents (at least the ones that hire a babysitter) are very doting with their children and respond to every noise, some babies are just crybabies and it doesnt change when they grow up and theres nothing the parents can do about it so they stress themselves to death over babies that get into a bad mood about everything. its funny because older kids can love and cherish their little siblings but they instinctively tune out the cries and protests.  in my personal experience, parents that let kids cry it out have more anxious kids, even the grown up ones, while parents that claim to stay in the room until the baby falls asleep have more kids that are very easy to pacify (but hard for me to put down for a mid day or late nap). sometimes kids are crybabies that get bad moods over nothing and what really counts is how receptive they are to being soothed. sometimes kids are just joyful playful angels because they won the cortisol lottery.
United States