Last night I was up with Julianna 4 times. Since she's had a cold, she's been waking up more because of the stuffy nose and coughing. And I didn't want to let her cry because she would just cough more. But now that the cold's pretty much gone, I have to make a choice. Do I do the "cry it out" method or the "non cry method" to get her to sleep through the night and get herself back to sleep? The "cry it out" method is just how it sounds. When she wakes up in the night and cries I would just let her cry herself back to sleep. The idea is that she will eventually cry less and less and be able to sleep on her own. The "non cry method" is when she cries I would go in and pick her up and comfort her but put her back down before she is back to sleep. I would have to do this every time she cries even if I have just put her back to bed. This method is supposed to teach her that it's bedtime and I'm there for her but it's time to sleep. I used the "cry it out" method with the boys and they have both always been pretty good sleepers. And they don't seem to be scarred for life because I let them cry. So what do I do? She'll be six months old next week and it's time for a good night's sleep for the both of us.
By the way, I totally jinxed her sleeping through the night between the ages of 1 month to 3 months. I was bragging to anyone who asked and now I'm paying for it. So I'm not going to mention that she is finally starting to take a pacifier instead of using me as her human pacifier. Wait. Did I just jinx that, too?
3 comments:
We used kind of a combination of Cry It Out and Pick 'Em Up--I think it was called the Ferber Method. When they cry, you go in and comfort them by talking to them or patting them, anything but picking them up. Then you leave. The next time you wait five more minutes before going in, and the next time five minutes longer.
The idea is that they know you're still there and not ignoring them, but they learn that crying won't make you pick them up, so they eventually just decide to give it up and go to sleep.
We did this with both kids and it took just a few days each time for the crying at bedtime to stop altogether.
Hope you hit on something that works for you!
When Lily was younger, if I tried to let her cry it out she would just freak out and take hours to calm down. But now she occasionally will be over-stimulated or whatever and too agitated to fall asleep and she'll need to cry for a while. So my official opinion is to let your mommy instincts guide you :) That isn't very helpful I suppose :)
Yikes. I couldn't do the cry it out way...but now that I think about it I am still up every night all night comforting a five year old. Coincidence??? I think not.
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