Check Up and Sleep

Bennett had his 2 month check up a few weeks ago. Our pediatrician, though describing him as a "hunk-o-baby," said he was right on track. He weighed 14 pounds 3 ounces. He has reached all of his milestones. Pretty much, he's perfect. One of the other things the doctor said was "Ya know, he is big enough to be able to sleep through the night." Then he gave me the game plan, which he said will have him sleeping through the night in just three nights.

Now I have heard of the cry it out method, and was not a fan. I thought it was basically putting your child in their crib and letting them cry until they fell asleep, even if that took hours. Once I realized that it was a tool to teach your child they could fall asleep on their own and that you could go back in every few minutes to comfort them, I was somewhat on board. And then Bennett started griping every time he needed to go to sleep, even if he was really tired. After a couple bouts of trying to rock and bounce to no avail, I finally just held him while he griped until he went to sleep. After those couple of times, I realized it would not be the end of the world if he cried a little bit when it was time to go to bed. Then I was totally on board. But in case it was terrible, I decided to wait until Christmas break to start.

Last night, we began. We fed him, bathed him, read him a book, then swaddled him and put him in his crib. He griped for less than 10 minutes. He didn't even cry. Since we are getting better about keeping him awake longer, he was ready to go to sleep. He pretty much went straight to bed. Tonight was the same. I am so excited. Though I was kind of ready to let him put himself to bed, I knew I would give in if he cried too much or too hard. I am so glad he went to sleep easily. Now I am guilt free.

Now, if I could only get him to sleep past 5 am ....