For crying out loud

Crying it out. Have you heard of this? For those of you who don't know, it's a sleep training method and it SUCKS! We tried it with Rowan last night.

Basically, what you do is ignore your baby when he or she starts crying when you put him or her down to sleep or if he or she wakes up in the middle of the night. The idea is that the baby will eventually cry him or herself to sleep. After a few nights of this torture everyone is supposed to be happier and better adjusted to the new sleep routine.

Our first night of the experiment went something like this.

• 11:00pm - I put Rowan to sleep in his bed with no problems. Yea!
• 11:30pm - I go to bed and Jeremy stays awake.
• 2:30am - Rowan wakes up. I wake up. Jeremy comes in the bedroom to talk about whether we are going to rescue Rowan or not. We decide to let him cry it out. Jeremy and I watch an episode of "Cold Case". (Not the one based on real events, the fictional one with the really pale woman. I really dig this show so it's not too unbearable hearing Rowan wail. We just turn up the TV.)
• 3:30am - Rowan is still yelling, coughing, sputtering, etc. but taking breaks for a few minutes every now again. We think he must be wearing out.
• 4:00am - The crying continues. I finish pumping and decide to go to sleep upstairs. I can hear Rowan's agony faintly through the door. I eventually fall asleep and have terrible nightmares about stabbing myself. Jeremy is still awake, possibly cat napping on the couch.
• 5:45am - My alarm goes off and evidently I silence it and fall right back asleep.
• 7:15am - Jeremy and Rowan come in to wake me up. Jeremy tells me that Rowan finally fell asleep around 5:30am.

This was one of the most difficult things I have had to do. Every cell in my body wanted to rush into the bedroom and comfort my baby. I had to choke back tears a few times.

I spoke to Jeremy on the phone once I had gotten to work. He said he had just put Rowan down for his morning nap. We talked about last night and have our fingers crossed that we are not turning him into a future sociopath.

You're probably wondering, "Can't you do something else to get him to sleep?" The answer is, yeah, there are other methods. This one was recommended by our pediatrician and I'm pretty sure we were both subjected to this baby torture (along with millions of others). I figured we'd give it a try. Many parents have assured us that once you get past the few days of misery life gets so much better. All I have to say about that is they had better be right or else a lot of folks are going to end up on my naughty list. :-)