To sleep or not to sleep...the results.

Night one: I put  Jackson down at about 9:50 when he was starting to dose off. He cried for about 10 minutes.  I almost went in three times.  I could have sworn ten minutes was at least half an hour.  Rustin convinced me that he was about to fall asleep.  And he did. Woke up at 3:30 but I was so tired by the time I got up to get him he was back to sleep. Slept until 7.

Night two:  Cried for 5-6 minutes then went to sleep.  Slept all night. (by slept all night I mean he slept until our normal wake up time at just before 7.  I consider 5 or 6 am wake-ups middle of the night...)

Night three: Cried for a couple of minutes and went to sleep. Slept all night.

Jack is still taking three naps a day:  8:30 or 9, 12:30 or 1 and 5 or six.  The middle nap is the longest.  Sometimes he wakes up halfway through and I lay down by him and let him nurse back to sleep.  I don't mind.  I suspect when summer hits and we are out more he won't nap as much.  Things are working well for now so I'm not too worried.

Moral of the story: Letting babies learn to sleep all night alone isn't such a big deal.  It is definitely easier on everyone if we just start with newborns so sleeping alone is familiar but older babies can learn to sleep alone also.   There is something to be said for following a mother's instincts.  I tried letting Jackson go to sleep alone for naps and bedtime when he was about 9 months and he just cried and cried and turned into a whiny clingy baby.  I went back to nursing him to sleep for a couple of months and this time around it was a piece of cake.  He even went to sleep alone and slept all night while we were out of town.

This proves my theory true--everything is a stage.  Nothing lasts forever whether it is good or bad so I need to enjoy the good and not worry about the bad.