The Dreaded Sleep Training

We dusted off the sleep books last night. Something had to give. We've started doing the one where you go in after five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, and so on. My instinct is to write a big paragraph defending this decision, but I'm going to resist. It should be enough to say that for various reasons, we think this is the way to go for E and for us right now. He's just got to learn to go to sleep. And not wake up a bunch at night. So we're also night weaning. (I've only been nursing him once in the night, but still. It won't be easy.) His stamina and willpower have increased tenfold in the past week. It's NUTS. We can't ever rock him to sleep anymore--it takes forever, and multiple tries. Not a sustainable way of life. Nursing is the only thing that sometimes puts him to sleep peacefully, and that's not a solution. So here we are.

Getting him down last night was miserable, although luckily he went to sleep when TJ soothed him after the twenty-minute interval. So it could've been worse (not that we would've believed that last night). He woke up at 12:30 and 4:00. I went ahead and nursed him at 12:30 (not wanting to pull the rug out from under him all in one night) and I rocked him and rocked him at 4:00, but he woke up when I put him down. After that, I didn't go back in. He cried and played and cried and slept a little and played between 4:30 and 6:30, when TJ got up with him.

We'll see what happens tonight. I'll be on my own for most of it, but I feel like I can handle it. TJ and Joel are going to see The Hold Steady at the Parish. It's going to be a fantastic show.