CIO

If you frequent parenting forums you know what CIO stands for.  If not it means "crying it out".  I have done this with all my kids.  Maybe it's because I'm a selfish mom.  I can't spend hours on end trying to get my kids to sleep.  Yes I understand "babies don't keep", but I hold her plenty throughout the day.  I treasure bedtime like nothing else.  Sometimes I have a lot of house work to do, other times, like tonight I just need to do something for me - blogging, facebook, a movie, a book, time with Aaron. 

I waited way too long with David.  He was 8 months old and could already pull himself up to stand.  It took a really long time.  Timothy was much easier, he was just a very laid back baby.  With Amy I was lazy again.  I got her to cry it out initially, but she woke up frequently throughout the night, and I would just go nurse her, or snuggle with her.  She is just now (at 4 1/2) consistently sleeping through the night.  So now that Melanie is 5 months old, and rolling all over the place, I decided she needed to learn how to get herself to sleep.  Especially with me needing to nurse her to sleep the previous 5 nights.  So Sunday night I just decided to do it.  I didn't even consult Aaron, I just did it.  I fed her at 7:30 before I put her down for bed, so I wouldn't worry if she was hungry or not.  I read her a couple of books, I sang her a couple of songs, and then wrapped her up and put her in her crib.  I stayed in there to help Amy deal with the crying, and to make sure she was safe.  She rolls around so much she kept getting her leg stuck between the slats.  She pushes herself backward sometimes.  I eventually gave up on the swaddling.  It only took 45 minutes for her to stop crying and fall asleep!  And she slept until 1:00 am!!!  I fed her and she woke again at 5:00am - that is a major improvement.  When she woke up at 6:15 this morning she was happy, and didn't need to eat, so I waited until about 7:30 or so to nurse her.

Tonight was a bit of a different story.  I followed the same routine, and it only took her 30 minutes to go to sleep.  However she woke at 9:30 and I nursed her.  She woke again at 10:30, and I checked on her, pulled her leg out from between the slats, gave her the binky, and patted her back and left.  She cried, but only for about 5 minutes.  Let's see how the rest of the night goes.