Dear Barbara, I came across your website completely by 'accident' (a divine 'accident'). I really appreciate your philosophy and the advice I've read on your site so far.
I could really use some perspective. I have the most amazing 16-month-old son ever. He's brilliant. He also perfectly fits the Sears' description of the 'high needs baby'. He has never slept through the night. He's had an 8-hour stretch on three different occasions, but of course I was so freaked out that I couldn't sleep. He starts the night in his crib in his room and comes into our bed after his first wakeup (which is usually after 1-2 hours, but sometimes less, sometimes more),
I know ALL the advice to try to help the situation (wean him from nursing to sleep, night wean, wean him completely, cry-it-out, modified cry-it-out, send dad in, put him down drowsy but awake, etc, etc, etc.) I have serious philosophical issues with a lot of those, and the others simply won't work with my son. We have been working towards him not nursing to sleep. I've been backing into it, sort of. In other words, I used to rock him for 5 minutes after he fell asleep before putting him in his bed, but we're now down to 1.5 minutes. I'm hoping eventually he will be able to fall asleep without nursing and then we'll be able to start backing out of the rocking. We'll see.
What I really need is to just hear that someone, ANYONE had a baby that eventually slept through the night on their own without crying it out. I have this little nagging fear that he will night-wean himself before he's sleeping through, and then how will I get him back to sleep easily?! At least I don't have to leave my bed now.
Thanks for listening (or reading).
Heather
While the whole attachment parenting philosophy resonates with me, I can't say that I applied it one hundred percent. To be honest - which I am compelled to be, lest other mothers judge themselves too harshly - I did on occasion let my children "cry it out." The good news is that all survived. And so did I.
But because I know I wouldn't/couldn't have reached the 16-month-old mark being 100% AP, I feel unqualified to answer this.
Perhaps there are readers out there with advice?
While the whole attachment parenting philosophy resonates with me, I can't say that I applied it one hundred percent. To be honest - which I am compelled to be, lest other mothers judge themselves too harshly - I did on occasion let my children "cry it out." The good news is that all survived. And so did I.
But because I know I wouldn't/couldn't have reached the 16-month-old mark being 100% AP, I feel unqualified to answer this.
Perhaps there are readers out there with advice?