SLEEP.....

So today I was reading an interesting post at BabyCenter.com about sleep. It basically highlighted the fact that the idea of sleeping through the night is more cultural and not really a biological milestone at all. It went into a lot of detail and studies, but basically the modern West has an odd view of sleep. I know all parents have been asked the question of "is your baby sleeping through the night?", it's like if your child is you are a super mom or dad and have super kids. Well for starters neither Rob nor myself are excellent sleepers. We often wake during the night, so it's no surprise that our kids aren't the best sleepers in the world. I remember when Preston was a few months old people told me to but cereal in his bottle to make him sleep longer. After a ton of research on that topic I decided filling my baby up with extra calories to make him sleep longer was not something I wanted to do. I also knew that since he was breast fed, his body was breaking down the milk faster and he would become hungrier sooner than a formula fed baby. Then came our sleeping situation. Since Rob deployed shortly after I had Preston, I started co-sleeping with him and really enjoyed it. Once Rob came back home he was not a fan of the co-sleeping. It grew on him after a couple of weeks though and he started to enjoy it as much as I did. Well, I started to feel pressure from some family and other friends with babies to make Preston get on a schedule and to learn how to fall asleep on his own. This was around 7 or 8 months and since I could remember I would rock Preston to sleep every night or nurse him to sleep and a lot of times just hold him while he was sleeping.  I looked online for tips on how to make this transition and found a ton of methods, none that I really liked, but I was willing to try them all. I didn't want to be the "bad" mom whose kid couldn't go to sleep unless mommy was there. So we tried the cry it out, ugh this was pure hell, it lasted maybe 2 and a half nights before I could not take it anymore. It also took Preston almost 4 hours of crying to fall asleep. I was in tears and once he cried so hard he threw up I knew this was not the method for me. I went in the room and got him and held him all night! We also tried the no cry sleep solution, which resulted in me picking him up when he cried and putting him back in the crib after he calmed back down about 75 times. It also took all night to get him to fall asleep. I told Rob that this was not for me and I couldn't put myself or Preston through this anymore. He agreed and we retuned to co-sleeping. As of today, Preston naps in his own bed which is now in his room and will sleep in his bed from about 9 PM until 1AM. At that point he takes off looking for Rob. Rob usually cuddles up with Preston since I have Gracie on my side. Through my attempt at "sleeping training" I realized that it's not for everyone. It didn't fit into my parenting style and it was causing more stress than it was worth. I don't look down at parents that do the methods I tried but hearing my little baby cry and being so helpless broke my heart. It also seemed so strange to give him so much love and attention during the day and then once night time came to shut him off in a crib, in his own room, in the dark all so that I could sleep more....It felt beyond unnatural and I feel horrible that I even let him cry those couple of nights. Once Gracie came along, we didn't even bother setting up the crib. She co-sleeps and it makes me so happy! There is no better feeling than to wake up to my kids laughter and smiling faces in the morning. For all the people that told me not to hold a sleeping baby must not realize how quickly they grow up. I treasure every moment with these kids, even when they are driving me nuts! And who can resist holding a cute sleeping baby, they look so peaceful and make the funniest faces! I'm sure I will look back when the kids are teens and wish that they didn't sleep as much and would wake up!