Sleep Training, Night One

So, we've decided to work with K. on self-soothing, starting tonight! I'm nervous about my ability to follow through. First because I have a hard time tolerating crying. Second, because I do, most of the time, love sleeping with K. and could very easily be tipped into the "family bed" side of things, if only we had a king-sized bed. Third, because he's been sleeping fairly well lately (by this I mean one or two wake ups, back to sleep pretty easily). Fourth, because I'm such a deep sleeper that I have a really hard time handling things in the middle of the night. OK, I have to come clean. Derek just told me that he actually had to bounce K. for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night last night - an unacceptable amount of time - and that he tried several times to wake me to get me to help out and I refused to get out of bed. I do not remember this. That's what I mean by a deep sleeper. In the cave-man days my children would never have survived. Wild bears would have picked them off in the night. That's the kind of mother I am!

I digress.

We do think he needs to learn how to put himself back to sleep without our assistance, my love of the family bed aside. So, we are taking a mish-mosh of approaches. Part baby whisperer, part Dr. J*y G*rdon's night-weaning technique. Basically, our hope is to gradually wean him of nursing and/or bouncing in the middle of the night. There will doubtless be a lot of crying, but if this works we won't have to leave him alone in the room, which will be easier on Mama, I think. So tonight, I nurse him in the middle of the night, but put him back down still awake, and we just pat him and cuddle him and talk to him until he falls back to sleep. Even if this takes TWENTY-FIVE HOURS!!! (The method is that every three nights you take a bit more of the parental assitance away until the baby can self-soothe.)

If I/we can't stick to it, the worst thing that happens is that we give up and go back to the way things are.