Sleep training is hard. You read the books; Baby Wise, The Happiest Baby on the Block and What To Expect the First Year. Really though, you read these books and pray they all work, but do they? We have tried everything with sleep training and have hit a road block and need your help.
When you have a baby you want to have it right next to you. You want to hear every single breath and make sure everything is completely okay with them. But there comes a time too when you need to take the co-sleeping to sleep training. For our family that has never been easy.
When our son was little we kept him in our bed because he was our first and we worried about everything. If we fell asleep and missed a breath, we felt like we missed everything. But once they get bigger you want to get them in their own bed. Maybe you’re weird though and enjoy a foot in your face or the entire middle of the bed taken by your child. For us, we’re not fans of that.
We tried everything: establish a regular nap schedule, put your baby to bed early, bedtime routine. But as a new parent you struggle making your schedule wrap around your child’s schedule. We tried it all and with no luck at all found ourselves at night bringing him into our bed.
This lasted for over a year. Finally, something happened and he slept through the night. But as a parent you find yourself NOT sleeping through the night because you think something must be wrong. Of course, this didn’t last for long and before we knew it we were bringing him back in bed with us.
Here is the thing, you put your child to bed and they sleep. Perfect! But 2:14 am happens and they wake up screaming. You’re supposed to just let them cry it out because apparently they have enough. We tried this, but when they are crying for hours you have to go help them.
One night we put him to bed and he was screaming. He just kept screaming and we waited to not go in there, but I finally caved. There he was with his leg stuck hanging out of the crib. For me, I was fine with having my kids sleep with me because I didn’t want them to get hurt again.
I understand, our kids are going to go through moments and we have to let them learn, but maybe I have a heart and can’t hear the crying. I just want to comfort them and make sure they know I am going to be there for them.
He now is sleeping in his own bed. But of course we have our daughter and the cycle has returned. Do I feel sleep deprived? Not as much I feel like, but really I would love tips that have worked for others. The same thing doesn’t work for every kid and family situation, but we can only try.
