Thursday, May 10, 2012

Crying it out...

Which camp do you subscribe to??  The camp that holds that kids at naps and/or night should cry it out until they figure out how to fall asleep on their own or the camp that attempts to prevent most crying? I'm somewhere in the middle... at the moment though, I'm trying the cry-it-out method for naps. 


For the last week, Lauren has gotten increasingly unhappy unless she is being held or is nursing.  It has gotten to the point where she only naps in the car seat when we are on the go or when she is nursing and I continue to hold her after she falls asleep. Consequently, there has been a lot of crying and tears because I cannot hold her all the time and still get things done!  So, since the tears were already making an appearance, I decided to try and make them purposeful... she is currently deposited in her bed and after screaming for 10 minutes, she stopped for a couple... I think either to catch her breath, listen to hear if I was coming, or maybe she almost let herself fall asleep... now she is at it again.  I have my timer set for 15 minutes, so will go in and pat her if she is still crying when it goes off and then I'll give her another 15.

My hope in doing this is to start to get her into a better nap routine, and maybe into a better overall routine.  I think she is tired and doesn't know what to do with herself.  I remember this starting to happen with Megan... once I got her into a good 2 nap a day routine, things improved dramatically.  We'll see!

1 comment :

Shelly said...

I'm in the middle on cry it out too. I think it depends a lot on the temperament of the child. My first son was just mad that he was being put down. He would cry a little bit and then go to sleep. My youngest son was just beside himself upset that I was putting him down that he'd cry in such a sad manner. Even if I only let him cry for 2 minutes, as soon as I picked him up he'd vomit on me. I guess it was payback from him ;)

My oldest is still a better sleeper though.

I'm hoping my next baby will be a fantastic sleeper ;)