How to get your baby to sleep through the night
“I let my baby cry it out”
By Sasha Emmons
?Mommy, I love sleeping,? my five-year-old son, Julian, said the other night as I tucked him into bed. I arrange his stuffies just so and turn off the light, knowing that in all likelihood I won?t hear a peep from him for the next 11 or so hours.
When Julian was five months old, I spent a week sleep-training him, using the good old cry-it-out (CIO) method my paediatrician recommended. I caved once or twice when the sobs went on too long, but generally, I carried out the bedtime routine (nursing, plus a few rounds of ?You Are My Sunshine?), closed the door and then didn?t go in again until morning, even if I stood just outside his room crying along with him. At that time, we lived in the attachment-parenting capitol of Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I?m pretty sure the other members of my moms? group thought I was barbaric. There were plenty of books and blogs that told me the same. But by this age, we were down to one nighttime feed and my paediatrician said Julian was big enough to go for longer stretches without eating. I firmly believed we?d all be better off with a full night?s sleep and, as a second-time mom, I was already comfortable making decisions for the good of my child that were not particularly appealing to said child. Besides, I was usually on my own at bedtime, and was finding it increasingly difficult to occupy my four-year-old daughter while rocking Julian to sleep for half an hour. I needed him to fall as...
-------------------------------- |
|
COMPETITION: Win a 5-star Family Holiday in Limassol, Cyprus
27-04-2024 08:05 - (
moms )