Alyssa Longinotti

ATTENTION ALL MOTHERS: By my third baby, (It took me way too long to figure this out), I have
finally mastered the art of getting a child to sleep through the night! My first child Aden, love him to
death, was a NIGHTMARE. My goodness I was up hours each night trying to get him to fall back asleep.
It put a strain on his health, my marriage, and my mental sanity!! I swear his sleeping pattern sent me into
depression, I was so sleep deprived. My second child, Addison, was a little bit better. Maybe its a
genetic thing between boys and girls??? But by my third baby, Adele, I accidentally discovered the secret
of how to get your child to sleep through the night! There was one week when she was about 7 months
old where our baby monitor broke and I had no idea. So she would wake up crying and I was completely
unaware! (Mother of the year award, I know) But as soon as I got it working again, I noticed that she
wasn't waking up and crying as much as she used to. She was still waking up every hour and a half or so
but she would just whimper a little bit and before I got to her crib she was asleep again!! I realized its
because she learned how to self-soothe in that week when her Mommy messed up and didn't rush to
comfort her! I sound like a horrible mother I know, but ever since then she's been sleeping through the
night and her overall health and happiness has improved. I highly suggest that all mothers try this
technique of letting your children cry it out and learn how to self-soothe. It seriously changed my life.
Im expecting my fourth child (crazy I know!!!) and I will definitely try to resist the urge to run to my
angels side every time he or she (we still dont know the gender LOL) cries. The best advice I can give
as a mother whos been there, is to put your baby to bed the same time every night and try not to hurry to
their side every time they wake up in the middle of the night. Thanks for listening!

Hannah Middleton WOW!! Such an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing!

Kelsey Martin Alyssa, I am having the same problem right now. Lucy is waking up screaming
bloody murder at least 5 times a night and Ive hit my breaking point. I will definitely be trying your
technique, thank you for your post.
Amy Riele Hi Alyssa, Its very interesting hearing your perspective; however, I do not agree. Letting
your child cry all night just seems inhumane and quite frankly bad parenting to me. There is no
evidence that babies even self-soothe to put themselves back to sleep, I think its a wish-washy
argument.This being said, I hope that your children are doing well. Congratulations on your fourth,
that is truly exciting.
Alyssa Longinotti Hello Amy, Im sorry if Ive offended you, I just wanted to share my perspective.
Thank you for the well wishes!
Grace Franke LOL, thats so funny that your monitor broke, a similar incident happened to me! HAH!
Ive also been self-soothing since my first child was born and have had great success with the
process, Id highly recommend it to others. BTW, Lets get lunch soon. G2G, ILY.

The question looming over all mothers heads: Should I let my child cry it out and leave
them to self-soothe? Or should I rush to their side to comfort them? These questions have
created much controversy expressed in all forms of online mediums, including Facebook.
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of middle aged women that are joining the
online social media website, Facebook. These types of women are often referred to as
Facebook Moms and use the website for social support, as a parenting tool and a way to keep
friends updated on their busy lives. I took on the task of translating the scholarly article, Let
crying babies lie: Study supports notion of leaving infants to cry themselves back to sleep, in the
field of psychology into a Facebook post by a mother of three. This translation will benefit more
people in the new discourse community because it pertains to their everyday struggles and
choices. In translating a psychological article into a Facebook post I had to consider the new
audience and adjust the main argument and rhetoric of the original article.
I chose to translate the original piece, a scholarly developmental psychology article, into
a Facebook post because the new genre is the most practical way for the issue of whether to selfsoothe or comfort to reach the people who it affects the most. Like McCloud says in Writing
with Pictures; We want the audience to understand what we have to tell them and we want
them to care enough to stick around till were done. The new translated genre reaches the
people that care the most about this issue and is written simple enough for them to understand
the key points of the argument. The new audience of the Facebook post is all of the posters
Facebook friends; most likely including family members, other mothers and middle aged
women. This audience greatly contrasts the first articles audience being fellow developmental
psychologists, scientists, students and anyone interested in science. While scholars in the field of

developmental psychology may find this issue interesting, unless these scholars have children of
their own this topic does not directly affect them. Facebook is the best way to present this
finding because along with the issue reaching the right audience; the new audience will also trust
the source presenting this information and will be more inclined to listen. The post effectively
communicates with the new audience because the original poster is in the same situation as the
audience and is experiencing the same trials and tribulations.
While keeping the new audience in mind, I had to readjust the main argument in a way
that would resonate in the readers mind. Kerry Dirk points out in Navigating Genres that
there is no universal set of rules that applies to every genre and that the rules change as the genre
changes. Similarly, in translating a scholarly article into a Facebook post, I had to readjust the
rules and conventions for the new, and completely different, genre. I first took the new
audience into consideration and tried to incorporate all the aspects of the original study in a way
that the new audience would understand. I included the thesis from the article, majority of
infants are best left to self soothe and fall back to sleep on their own (Temple University 1), and
made this the central argument of the post; I stated, I highly suggest that all mothers try this
technique of letting your children cry it out and learn how to self-soothe. I waited to introduce
the central argument until later in the post because the new audience will be more likely to
support the mothers claim if they hear the back story which led her to this discovery. This
contrasts the previous genre which is more inclined to state the thesis and then prove it through
evidence and findings.
In addition to including the original argument, I also had to take the rhetorical tone of the
original article into account and translate it into my Facebook post. Janet Boyd states in

Murder! that choosing how to present information is just as important as the information itself,
so deciding how to incorporate the solutions and findings in the original study was paramount in
translating to a Facebook post. The psychological article suggests a practical solution to the
issue of whether to comfort or allow self-soothing and supports its claim with a study done by
Temple University. Similarly, the mother is offering her own advice in the translation and is
supporting her point of view with her own study that she conducted without her own
knowledge. The mother utilizes pathos and taps into the audiences emotional side. She
attempts to relate to and engage her audience by including side thoughts in parentheses and
saying I know after a few phrases. She also leaves her final suggestion at the end of her post
indicating that this advice is coming from a mother whos been there. The mother is
connecting and sympathizing with her audience while simultaneously gaining the readers trust,
making them more likely to adopt her theory for bed time habits.
Translating a scholarly article into a Facebook post does not seem like an easy task
however, using skills learned from the course such as reading like a writer, distinguishing genre
conventions, and deleting unnecessary words, made it easier. Translating this particular article
was important because so many mothers struggle with the issue of whether they should comfort
their child back to sleep or let them comfort themselves. This new translation presents an answer
to mothers questions in a way that is easy for them to understand and implement in their own
lives. Translating genres is a critical skill in the field of writing and when done effectively can
present necessary information, like letting crying babies lie, to an audience that will benefit more
than the previous.

Works Cited
Boyd, Janet. Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking). Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume
2. Ed. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. South Carolina: Parlor Press LLC, 2011.
87-101. Print.
Bunn, Mike. How to Read Like a Writer. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1. Ed.
Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Indiana: Parlor Press LLC, 2010. 71-86. Print.
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1. Ed. Charles
Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Indiana: Parlor Press LLC, 2010. 249-262. Print.
Temple University. "Let crying babes lie: Study supports notion of leaving infants to cry
themselves back to sleep." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 January 2013.