What does "Crying it Out" mean to you?
Hi.. please help.. my 3 1/2 month old DD is progressively becoming a worse sleeper. She had been, more often than not, having nighttime sleep stretches of about 8 hours. Lately though she's been getting up once per night usually around 3. I'm not that worried about this b/c I think she is either going through a growth spurt or didn't have quite as big a last meal b/c of a mild reflux/digestion problem. Also, when she wakes in the middle of the night she eats and immediately goes back to sleep. The real problem is initially getting her down for the night. She scream and screams. I've just started researching sleep aid books to buy and read. So far, I've skimmed "The Baby Whisperer". I really don't want to let her CIO, but I also believe that you have to do what works for the individual child. She used to go down without a problem but now it's such a struggle. She is obviously so tired and will fall asleep in my arms but when I put her in her bassinet she opens her eyes and eventually starts crying. The few times I've tried letting her CIO (which was never more than a few minutes) she wailed. So much so that she started sweating and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. I really don't think CIO is an option for us. She gets herself so worked up that it's so much harder to get her back to sleep than just picking her up and soothing her in the first place. I hope I haven't already started too many bad habits (I really didn't think she was old enough to form habits yet), but I'll often let her fall asleep on the breast or in my arms, and if all else fails, and she isn't asleep within an hour, I completely give in and let her co-sleep with me for an hour or two and then finally put her in her bassinet. I don't even know how I feel about co-sleeping. Part of me loves it, but part of me (b/c of what everyone seems to be telling me) is affraid if I let her sleep in our bed now, she'll never want to sleep alone nor fall asleep on her own.
PLEASE HELP.. any suggestions are so greatly appreciated!!
JMS
Mommy to DD "HH" 2004
and DS1 "MH" 2005
& DS2 "JJH" - My very Irish baby!