Sleep Training

Ah, sleep training. With an infant, there is always some sleep training involved. The biggest question is who is training who! Although I am a very firm and strict believer in the cry-it-out method, it is still not easy for me to listen to it. Due to hormonal fluctuations and other considerations, I have had a harder time enduring it with the two younger children. As I look back over the last few months, I really am not sure who was doing the training--me or Buster. In his life so far, sometimes he has gone down without complaint in his bed. Sometimes he has cried a little and settled down. For a while, he really wanted me right there next to his bed, ready to put the pacifier back in instantaneously. And sometimes he did great for his first nap and rotten for the second. He has also transferred very well in general. If I did rock or nurse him to sleep, I could put him in bed just fine.

About a week and a half ago, though, I spent the day at Ben's sister's house. I rocked him to sleep for both naps. It seems that ever since then, that is all he wants! And even if I do rock him to sleep and succeed in transferring him to his bed, he wakes up about 45 minutes later. He definitely had me trained. And stressed, very stressed. My house is a disaster area because this week, he has been taking one good nap a day, followed by a string of feedings, holding, crying, and cat naps. You can accomplish a lot with a baby on your hip, but it's no joke when they can't quite sit on your hip yet and weigh over 17 pounds. That's a lot of weight to support with an arm while keeping chubby little reaching arms out of everything.

I know I'm supposed to be consistent. For much of his life, I decided I could consistently sit with him while he fell asleep. Again, this isn't because I think it's best for him, honestly. It's just that I could not cope with a crying baby in one room and demanding children right around me. I found I could cope and be nicer when I sat with Buster for a while, leaving the kids to play. Happy baby, happy kids, happy mom. Now, though, that whole consistency thing is tough. Sometimes my nerves can better handle staying with him while he falls asleep or rocking him. Sometimes I'm so frustrated with him that he is safer in his bed while I stay with the other kids.

Last night I discovered something surprising, though. Although it isn't fun listening to him cry, I can actually cope with staying in the room where he can't see me. This minimized demands on me from the other children (which really stresses me out while he's crying), and although I'm not actually helping him, it helps me emotionally to not feel like I have totally abandoned him to his crib.

I think this week has been harder because he seems to be teething, and we also finally got him out of his bassinet into a crib.

Yesterday evening, he cried for 45 minutes before falling asleep for 20 minutes. Today he finally zonked after 30-45 minutes. Unfortunately, I need to wake him soon to feed him before getting his sisters from school. And letting him cry it out at night would involve removing either him or his sisters from the room they all share. I'm also not quite sure of how to break him of the very bad habit of nursing to sleep at night.

Ah, well, this too shall pass. Most of you probably tuned out halfway through the first paragraph, but that's fine. I just wanted to vent my frustrations about this painful rite of passage for babies and their parents. Anyone have any better ideas?