Sleep update

I figure since it’s been two months since I’ve posted, I’d better start with an update on Peter’s sleeping habits. Thanks for all your great comments and advice. Things are going much better now. I decided to work with Peter on a couple of areas to help this along. First, I took away his paci for good. I actually did it before his 6 month immunizations, and it was surprisingly easy. Since taking away the paci, he has started sleeping better and better. He started sleeping at least 6 hours again, so that was great!

After doing a lot of research online, I discovered there are a few different methods to sleep training. It seems to range from Dr. Sears’ technique of attachment parenting to Dr. Weissbluth’s method of extinction (essentially crying it out for as long as it takes for baby to sleep). I found that neither method worked for me, so I did something in the middle. I can’t bear to listen to Peter cry in earnest for more than a few minutes, which is lucky for us because he rarely does this. More often, he will cry in short bursts while whimpering inbetween. After his bedtime routine, we put him in his crib awake. Sometimes he talks to himself after we leave, sometimes he alternates between crying and whimpering, but he very rarely cries inconsolably. If he is too upset, I’ve decided to go in and pick him up for a minute and then put him in his crib again. I basically do this for as long as he needs to feel comforted, and then he decides that he can be calm enough to fall asleep. I generally have one night like this every two or three weeks. The rest of the time, he goes down without a hitch.

So what I’ve learned from this experience is that I’m sort of a softie with his crying, mostly because Peter hardly ever cries, so it’s hard for me to hear. But I’ve also learned that what works for one baby is probably not going to work for every baby, or every parent for that matter. If Peter were more persistent with sobbing every night, I'd probably be singing a different tune. But because he's generally pretty happy, I'm not bothered spending extra time comforting him if he needs it occasionally.

Now that more time has passed, I’m happy to report that now he generally sleep for at least eight hours in a row, and it’s even pretty common for him to sleep for ten! Yay!! Naps still aren’t great. Usually he sleeps for either 45 minutes 3 times a day, or 1 ½ hours once a day with a 45 minute nap later on. I figure I don’t want to fight him on this. I tried that initially, and it only resulted in tears and frustration for both of us for a few days. But, I’ll take what I can get. I am hoping that once Peter starts to crawl, he will expend more energy and start napping better. From what I read, that will probably be the case.