Sleep Experiments

I am the kind of person who likes to know what's going on. I like to know as much as possible about subjects so that I can always sound like I know what I'm talking about. I like to be informed. Tyler has taken this preference and thrown it out the window. He refuses to be figured out. We are currently experiencing adventures in the sleep department...I'm not sure if I should call this morning a victory, or just a momentary lapse in his resolve.

Tyler began sleeping through the night fairly early on. He was very scheduled, which I loved. He would go to bed around 8-8:30, sleep until somewhere between 5:30 and 7, wake up to feed, and go back to bed until 9. Every night. SO glorious. However about 2.5 weeks ago...everything changed. He suddenly decided that nighttime is not for sleeping, but rather for eating. Every three-four hours, in fact. I figured this would not be a problem as babies go through growth spurts. Two weeks later? Yeah...still every three to four hours. We've thought it could be a growth spurt, teething, uncomfortableness, but none of these are helping him (okay me) sleep.

Second aspect to this is how I put Tyler to sleep. He does not fall asleep on his own...I generally rock him to sleep with the necessary soother and geeeently put him down so he doesn't wake up and then quietly back out of the room. This doesn't often work and usually results in him stretching, stirring, and me going in and out of his room multiple times to plug the soother and sing songs. Every time he wants to sleep. 3+ naps a day, and then night time. I suppose I've done this to myself, but there is a large part of me that thoroughly enjoys having him reliant on me to put him to sleep.

This weekend I decided enough was enough. I was told the theory that if babies learn how to put themselves to sleep in the environment that they will be sleeping in, they will be less likely to wake up hoping for the same rocking and soothing that they want to be put back to sleep to. Trouble is...this results in a lot of screaming and crying...and I generally cave within the first, well, 47 seconds. Last night I decided not to cave. I was going to let Tyler cry for at least five minutes. I did it. It almost killed me. However, after he screamed his little face off for those five minutes, I went back in to plug the soother, and after leaving he (miraculously) calmed down. He proceeded to chatter to himself in his crib for close to 20 minutes. Thinking he was sleeping I peeked in a little while later. He heard me, turned over, flashed me the brightest grin ever, and went back to chattering. Process started at 8pm...baby sleeping by 9. No rocking or singing done. This morning I decided to try it again. I put Tyler in his crib, gave him his soother, and walked out. He is now sleeping...no crying has ensued.

This is a long post, I know...but I just need to process the fact that maybe...PERHAPS...my baby doesn't need me to put him to sleep anymore. I don't know if I should celebrate or cry. I'll probably do both.