So reading over the post I finished last night, I realized that it may have sounded like the decision we made to let our son “cry it out” was purely for selfish reasons (ie more sleep for us). While that is an added benefit… one which I may add has made me feel even more tired than before… it is not the reason why we went this route.
I know from the parenting board that I belong to that this is a controversial topic, you either believe in the crying it out method or you don’t. My husband and I both weren’t so sure that we believed… we felt that if our son was crying there was sure to be a reason for it. To some extent I still feel this is true, I mean crying is one of the ways our 9 month old communicates with us seeing that he can’t just come out and tell us what’s wrong.
It came to the point though that he was crying at night purely because he woke up and wanted us (well me) to put him back to sleep. He wasn’t crying because he was hungry or wet. Plain and simple…our child did not know how to self soothe… and why would he when I would run in and “save” him whenever I would hear him let out a whimper let alone cry. So we decided to try it out… again (because we couldn’t go through with it the first time we tried).
I’m happy to say that it worked this time and he seems happier too, because he’s getting a more restful sleep. He’s now waking up anywhere between 5 and 7am and I go in, get him, bring him back to our bed and he nurses and falls back to sleep… just like he did when he was waking up hungry at 4 am before the change. The only difference between then and now is that he is no longer waking up at 10:30pm, 12 am and 2 am only to fall back asleep as soon as I pick him up.
I don’t know why I feel like I have to justify our decision to those that don’t believe in this, but for some reason I do. We did not do this just so that we can get more sleep. If this didn’t work and he was still waking up and screaming in the middle of the night for whatever reason, I would still do whatever I could to make him feel better. We did not just put him in his crib and let him cry without making sure he was okay and all of his needs attended to. I was in his room with him the entire time he was crying the first 2 days and in looking back, I honestly feel that may have worsened the situation on Saturday.
At any rate, I am happy that we found something that works for him. I’ve also learned that although I am not a “routine” person, to some extent my son is. He did not have set times to eat and nurse, it was and still is on demand eating with him. The same went with napping and sleeping, but if I’ve learned anything these past few days it’s that the one thing that my son does need a routine for is his sleep… both nap-time and bedtime.
I guess in the end my “Mom” title has changed a little and I’ve added to it so that I’m now a “Baby-wearing, breastfeeding, at home baby food making, partial co-sleeping, Dr Sears method vaccinating, natural child birthing, German speaking and teaching, crying-it-out letting, stay at home Mama” and I proudly wear every part of it.