Two years later (actually, a mere five days shy of two years), I gave birth to my second daughter. The cost of having two children in daycare was outrageous, so I'd become a stay-at-home-mom a few weeks earlier. This time around I felt I had more control and was truly able to do things the way I wanted, and I developed a bit of an attachment parenting style: exclusive breastfeeding, frequent babywearing, sleeping close (though not co-sleeping), and responding immediately to any cry.
But Baby No. 2 was a noisy sleeper. I heard every little grunt and squeak, and obviously every big one. And I'm not a great sleeper by any means, so when she was about 4 months old, I had to get her out of our room. She wasn't sleeping well in our space, so maybe she needed her own? Or maybe I needed her out of my space? Either way, at first it seemed to work. Since I wasn't hearing every sound that came out of that tiny body, I was sleeping a little better, and I think she was, too.
I never dreamed that four months later I'd be letting my baby cry-it-out in the middle of the night. Really, I didn't.
As the weeks and months passed, her sleep was ever-changing. She never really got on a roll with consistent wake-up times, and she almost always woke up three hours after going to sleep. That, my friends, made it very difficult for me to get out of the house, especially given the fact that she didn't (doesn't) take a bottle. She was up anywhere between two and five times a night. I grew, um, crabbier and crabbier; I realized it, but I couldn't help it. My patience -- something I lack anyway -- for the antics of my 2-year-old was at an all-time low. But because I prided myself on being someone who functioned well on little sleep, I almost refused to admit that my issues were related to hers.
I don't know what it was exactly, but last week it hit me: I needed to sleep train this child, and I needed to do it NOW. For my sanity, for her well-being, it needed to be done. And I truly believe that it's ultimately for her well-being, even though sleep training would involve letting her cry. She is such a happy child, but she wakes up crying and whiny every morning, and my guess is it's because of poor, interrupted sleep.
I'd read a bit about several different methods, and the one that caught my eye most was the SleepEasy Solution by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. But more on that later. Right now I need to get to sleep before I have to wake up again. ;)
But Baby No. 2 was a noisy sleeper. I heard every little grunt and squeak, and obviously every big one. And I'm not a great sleeper by any means, so when she was about 4 months old, I had to get her out of our room. She wasn't sleeping well in our space, so maybe she needed her own? Or maybe I needed her out of my space? Either way, at first it seemed to work. Since I wasn't hearing every sound that came out of that tiny body, I was sleeping a little better, and I think she was, too.
I never dreamed that four months later I'd be letting my baby cry-it-out in the middle of the night. Really, I didn't.
As the weeks and months passed, her sleep was ever-changing. She never really got on a roll with consistent wake-up times, and she almost always woke up three hours after going to sleep. That, my friends, made it very difficult for me to get out of the house, especially given the fact that she didn't (doesn't) take a bottle. She was up anywhere between two and five times a night. I grew, um, crabbier and crabbier; I realized it, but I couldn't help it. My patience -- something I lack anyway -- for the antics of my 2-year-old was at an all-time low. But because I prided myself on being someone who functioned well on little sleep, I almost refused to admit that my issues were related to hers.
I don't know what it was exactly, but last week it hit me: I needed to sleep train this child, and I needed to do it NOW. For my sanity, for her well-being, it needed to be done. And I truly believe that it's ultimately for her well-being, even though sleep training would involve letting her cry. She is such a happy child, but she wakes up crying and whiny every morning, and my guess is it's because of poor, interrupted sleep.
I'd read a bit about several different methods, and the one that caught my eye most was the SleepEasy Solution by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. But more on that later. Right now I need to get to sleep before I have to wake up again. ;)
