Cry it out...

So for the past  9 months of my sons life I was against every piece of advice that said to allow your baby to cry it out. I would endure sleepless nights in order to ensure that my baby did not suffer through crying for an extended period of time. I would do every parenting no-no to help my son drift calmly off to sleep. I nursed him to sleep, I bottle fed him to sleep. When he woke up I would nurse him, bottle feed him, rock him, or even put him in our bed (gasp) to fall asleep. I was determined that I would make this sacrafice because it was important to me... Until yesterday!

For the past two nights Micah has been waking up at 2:30am. I offer him a bottle and he will not take it. I rock him and he stays awake. The only way he drifts back to sleep is if I allow him to sleep in our bed. And when he does go to sleep in our bed he tosses and turns more than in his crib. I know he tosses and turns because I have waken up to a baby foot in my mouth. So when I wake him up he is still tired and he has been exhausted at daycare.

So last night I decided to face the music and put my mommy draws on. I was going to have to let him cry it out for his own good. So true to form at 2:30am my little man woke up and began to cry and I left the room (he still sleeps in our room... I know,I know I hear the mommy moans) because I knew if I stayed in there I would sabatoge the cry it out method.

The excruciating pain of hearing my baby cry and not running to him lasted for about 7 minutes and then he was back asleep. WHAT!!!! That was it. I was foregoing hours and hours of sleep for 7 minutes of tears. I will continue to try this and see if it helps my little man get more sleep. I hope to be writing a post in a month or so about the amazing  sleep we are getting!