Crying it out
I have a hard time with the whole idea of letting Laurel cry it out. I understand there are times when I know she is just being difficult about going to bed, but even then, I don't like doing it. I don't like hearing her cry for long periods of time. So I guess that's why my method of letting her cry it out is to let her cry for a few minutes, then go in, settle her down again and leave. Of course, sometimes, she just goes right back to crying, but other times it does seem to work and she does settle down and go to sleep. Of course, when she's going this at 3 in the morning or some other inconvient time, I'm more apt to let her do it. But even then, it's only after getting up a few times and trying to get her to go back to sleep do I resort to letting her cry. But I really hate doing it.
This past weekend, we were at my parents' place and Laurel was having trouble sleeping. I don't blame her. My parents live directly across the street from railroad tracks and those damn trains don't ever take a break. No, they're not constantly going by, but every couple of hours or so, the horns blare and the house rumbles and the huge metal beasties roar on by. They wake me up in the middle of the night the first night we're there, so I wasn't surprised they woke Laurel up too (Jet, on the other hand, sleeps through everything). Problem was, I could tell she was actually afraid of the noise the trains were making this time. So when she woke up at 5:30 am because a train had just gone by, I didn't have the heart to leave her in her crib and let her cry in hopes she'd go back to sleep as I knew she was distressed. So I did something I never, ever do, I brought her back into bed with us. She cuddled up with me for awhile, to the point where I thought she had gone back to sleep, but she hadn't, so I laid her down next to me and she proceeded to still not sleep, but she was quite happy just being there. Of course, though, she also woke Graig up, as, the moment she saw him laying there, she shouted 'Pa!' But overall, she was pretty quiet and rested for an hour until we got up to go have breakfast. So while we didn't get any extra sleep, at least we didn't have to get out of bed yet.
The thing is, while I struggle with the crying it out thing, I've never struggled with the idea of having my children sleep in the same bed with me. That's not something I do. They have their bed, I have mine. I recognize it's a slightly selfish thing because I do not sleep well when the kids are near me. I'm too hyper aware of them. And I move around in bed a lot, so I don't want them woken up either. That and to me, bed is my (and my husband's) sanctuary. Kids can visit, but they can't stay there. So perhaps this is why I don't like letting her cry it out. I've banished her to her own room and bed, so the least I can do is go in there when she cries and reassure her that we're still here and listening to her and everything's fine and you can go to sleep now because everything's fine. It's the trade off; she sleeps in her own bed but I have to get up and see what she needs, but it will mean eventually I don't have to convince a stubborn two year old that it's time for her to sleep in her own bed. I see that as a win win situation really.
(All this being said though, when she was tiny, I didn't let her cry it out. As a new born, she had no other way of telling us something about her life at that point sucked, so of course I picked her up and coddled her and tried to soothe her, even when she seemed to be beyond consolable. It's what you sign on to when you have a baby, that's all there is to it)
This past weekend, we were at my parents' place and Laurel was having trouble sleeping. I don't blame her. My parents live directly across the street from railroad tracks and those damn trains don't ever take a break. No, they're not constantly going by, but every couple of hours or so, the horns blare and the house rumbles and the huge metal beasties roar on by. They wake me up in the middle of the night the first night we're there, so I wasn't surprised they woke Laurel up too (Jet, on the other hand, sleeps through everything). Problem was, I could tell she was actually afraid of the noise the trains were making this time. So when she woke up at 5:30 am because a train had just gone by, I didn't have the heart to leave her in her crib and let her cry in hopes she'd go back to sleep as I knew she was distressed. So I did something I never, ever do, I brought her back into bed with us. She cuddled up with me for awhile, to the point where I thought she had gone back to sleep, but she hadn't, so I laid her down next to me and she proceeded to still not sleep, but she was quite happy just being there. Of course, though, she also woke Graig up, as, the moment she saw him laying there, she shouted 'Pa!' But overall, she was pretty quiet and rested for an hour until we got up to go have breakfast. So while we didn't get any extra sleep, at least we didn't have to get out of bed yet.
The thing is, while I struggle with the crying it out thing, I've never struggled with the idea of having my children sleep in the same bed with me. That's not something I do. They have their bed, I have mine. I recognize it's a slightly selfish thing because I do not sleep well when the kids are near me. I'm too hyper aware of them. And I move around in bed a lot, so I don't want them woken up either. That and to me, bed is my (and my husband's) sanctuary. Kids can visit, but they can't stay there. So perhaps this is why I don't like letting her cry it out. I've banished her to her own room and bed, so the least I can do is go in there when she cries and reassure her that we're still here and listening to her and everything's fine and you can go to sleep now because everything's fine. It's the trade off; she sleeps in her own bed but I have to get up and see what she needs, but it will mean eventually I don't have to convince a stubborn two year old that it's time for her to sleep in her own bed. I see that as a win win situation really.
(All this being said though, when she was tiny, I didn't let her cry it out. As a new born, she had no other way of telling us something about her life at that point sucked, so of course I picked her up and coddled her and tried to soothe her, even when she seemed to be beyond consolable. It's what you sign on to when you have a baby, that's all there is to it)