Since the dawn of time there has been the long been the debate of whether to allow a baby to cry his/herself to sleep. From the beginning we have always relied on the ten minute method for our children to put themselves to sleep... until now.
As I have said before there are a lot of factors have changed between baby 4 and baby 5. We have definitely grown as people and as parents. Having two miscarriages after having four successful pregnancies was absolutely devistating to us. It made me more aware of myself, and once we were beyond the "scary" point with Lybertei we were a little more at ease. I believe that I have tried to protect her more than I did with my others, and I feel really guilty to be honest. I mean I don't like people to keep her, touch her, etc. Since the day she was born, all but one night of her little life I have rocked her to sleep... I would not change that for anything, but again I feel guilty. Mommy guilt I suppose. I have decided that this may be the reason that my 7 month old will NOT sleep through the night... She awakes every two hours. We have a solid bedtime routine which includes 2 jars of food and cereal for dinner around 7pm... followed by bath and nursing... hmmm I just am not ready for her to grow up and not need me anymore. I'm having serious issues with this, and to be honest I have no clue why.
So my question to you do you let your babies self soothe and cry or do you give in and hold them.
I have a 20 minute rule {it's a little longer now, because he's older} Usually if I go in to the room it just makes it worse because he gets so excited. If he's tired he'll go back to sleep and if not, we figure out what he needs {orajel, cuddles etc} In the end I think it's just important to do what's comfortable for you and your munchkin.
ReplyDeleteThank you... We are giving this a try. I just hate letting go.
ReplyDeleteI don't do CIO...we are practicing a Christian version of attachment parenting, and I help soothe my 4 month old to sleep every night. I think the key is to be consistent and to choose one method that you are comfortable with and stick to it. I don't mind at all spending 15-20 minutes putting the baby down, and since we co-sleep (he is in the co-sleeper next to us and I pull him into bed for nighttime feedings) I barely have to wake up when he nurses at night. I don't expect him to sleep all the way through the night until 9-12 months.
ReplyDeleteAll the families that I know that do this have kids that are excellent sleepers, and the ones that do CIO usually have sleep problems (whining and complaining at bedtime and continually getting up after being tucked in instead of settling and going to sleep).
I just stumbled across your blog and am enjoying reading your posts. I am a first time mom to an almost 5 month old(tomorrow she will be 5 months!) and she has been sleeping straight through the night since 6 weeks. Every now and then we have a fussy night... I tend to time it, and if she fusses for over 5 minutes, I can't stand it and have to go in to see what is going on! But typically, if she has a clean diaper, isn't hungry, and isnt gassy, she sleeps...I cannot say that I have rocked her to sleep though... I feel like a bad mommy for this, but I have never really had to. Usually she falls asleep on her own and stays asleep... She is completely and solely breastfed as well! I just have a lovely baby :) I am certainly blessed.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to check me out, my blog is:
http://clopperhousehold.blogspot.com/