The past two days have been very tough. I've been letting my son cry it out. It tortures me and it really hurts my heart. However, the only reason I continue with this is because I'm seeing progress...lots of progress. The first night I made the mistake of staying in the room as he cried to sleep. First of all that was so hard for me to listen to him screaming at me. I hated it. The second reason that was a bad idea is because he couldn't really relax and fully fall asleep because he felt that at any moment I would disappear. The next night I did a calm down time with him before I put him in his crib, we rocked and read a story. I think this really helped me more than him because it was our little special time before I had to hear his crying. After our calm down time I put him in his crib, give him a hug and a kiss, and then I rub his back for a few seconds before I say good night. Then I leave and the crying starts...BUT...he's only crying for about 5-10 mins before he's out...AND...he's sleeping through his naps and the night. Seriously no waking up after the first night. It was amazing. However, I woke up at 4 am thinking, oh my is he ok, this is the time he usually wakes up, I wonder if he's going to wake up. But he didn't he slept from 8:00pm-7:30am. I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E! He hasn't done that since we transitioned him to the crib. I keep asking myself why I didn't do this earlier...but then I remember that I cherished every night and every moment that I got to hold my baby and comfort him as he slept. That was worth waiting until he was a year old to let him cry it out.
(my son cuddling with his elmo pillow, he's so cute!)Even though i know so many parents disagree with the cry it out method because of the possible side effects. But it's not like I didn't try all the other methods out there before I did this and I don't let him cry for as long as Feber recommends because I can't handle it and I don't want my son crying for that long. However, I'm grateful that we're going through this experience. I know that this might stress him out for a few minutes but he doesn't cry long enough for me to be worried. I also think that if I wasn't doing this and teaching him how to soothe himself it will be better for him when he gets older. Plus it takes me twice as long to get him to go to sleep if I was having to rock him or sitting there patting his back. I'm going to stick with this and hope that each night it takes less time for him to fall asleep.
