Sleeping again?

As some of you know, our Goose has been sleeping through the night for a long time now, with episodes of regressions lasting, at most, a week. He would always return back to sleeping through the night with no real problems though.

Well 4 weeks ago TODAY, I jinxed myself. I made the mistake of telling other new mom's with children the same age. I remember in my head thinking, "Don't Brag!". And I didn't. But did I jinx myself just by the sheer act of telling someone? Possibly. Because that was the day everything changed.

Up until that night, we could almost always put GOOSE in his crib at night and he would go to sleep for several hours. But starting 4 weeks ago today, Goose began to scream - a lot. He refused to go to sleep on his own. He wanted to be nursed to sleep. Then he would wake up screaming out like he was in pain. So we finely bit the bullet and put him on Zantac. Which helped tremendously, for about a week. The painful screaming subsided, and he began sleeping again at night, but still would not return to his old way of falling asleep on his own in his crib. Then a week after that he decided he just wouldn't fall asleep at all.

I honestly became so worried for him. I know he can sleep well at night and I know he is happier when he does. But I just cannot figure out what is keeping him up. So yesterday we bought the Book, The Sleep Easy Solution, by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. I followed their plan, and Goose fell asleep on his own and stayed asleep for 11 whole hours!! This I found most impressive, because that is the EXACT length of time the authors said children his age should be sleeping at night.

This book is a middle-of-the-road book when it comes to crying it out. She calls it the "Cry-Least" method, instead of the "no-Cry" or "all-cry" method. That's what drew me to the book, because I just cannot and will not leave my baby in his room alone for hours to cry himself to sleep, with no help what-so-ever.

The book does use some crying it out, which I know, I know, I know, is controversial. I have had mixed feelings about it from the get-go. On the one hand, I believe in answering your child every time he cries, but then on the other hand, I think that when babies reach a certain level of ccomprehension, its time to take the lead on their behavior and TEACH them what they need to know. I have read so many reviews on CIO that say how neglectful parents are for letting their children cry. And to a certain degree that is true, but not when it comes to teaching your children something they absolutely NEED to know and they are only crying out in resistance to it. PLUS, as I said before, I chose this book specifically because you DON'T have to leave you child alone to cry for hours.

Now we DID have some crying: Goose cried off and on for 23 minutes last night before he fell fast asleep for 11 hours. Then this morning instead of crying for me to come get him, he woke up HAPPY, making cute noises. When I went into his room he grinned from ear to ear and seemed so well-rested. I can't wait for tonight see how he does. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! I definitely recommend this book to anyone at the end of their rope, with a frustrated child, that does not feel comfortable with the "Ferber" method.