Nighty-Night
The pediatrician practice Henry goes to has four different doctors. Until now, we’ve seen two of them, his primary doctor, Dr. Cahan, and the other most senior doctor, Dr. Weinstein. Both are different sorts of guys: one is a little brusque and the other is a more touchy feely. (Both are excellent.)
Today, for Henry’s six-month checkup, due to Dr. Cahan being out and Dr. Weinstein being at their suburban office, we saw a third physician, Dr. Taxman. (Our nanny, who is studying to be an accountant, thought a man being named Taxman was possibly the funniest thing ever.)
Now Dr. Taxman was great with Henry, was very helpful and patient with the numerous questions I had for him, and gave a very thorough inspection of every nook and cranny of that baby. But then he suggested something that he and I differed on.
He asked if Henry was sleeping through the night. Now the answer to that isn’t easy. He has, usually when Kristen and I need it the most, slept from 7 PM to 5 AM the next morning. (We give him extra kisses those days.) But those are few and far between. Usually, he’ll wake up at around 11 and sometimes at 2. (Those days when he wakes up at both times we each withhold one kiss. I think he can tell the difference.)
He then suggested we begin sleep training where, when Henry woke up in the middle of the night, we should just ignore him. Eventually, he said, he’d go back to sleep. Ignoring him would mean, more than not, that there would be a lot of grumpiness, a lot of groaning and moaning, and a lot of tears (on both Henry and our parts). I just don’t know if I’m comfortable sitting idly by as our baby — our precious, delicate, 18-lb baby (okay, so he’s not delicate) — cries himself back to sleep, even if it means 5 or 10 or 20 minutes of wailing.
For some babies, this works. I’m just not comfortable trying it out on Henry.
Now we will start training him with baseball. I have a bat and mitt at the ready.
February 28th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Kristen & I were talking about sleep training yesterday. It is my belief that it’s only necessary to change things during the first year if they’re not working for you. If you guys are doing good with the system (and it sounds like you are) why fix it if it’s not broken?
March 1st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
You might check out the No Cry Sleep Solution. It’s anti-cry-it-out. We went through something similar and it worked out. I only say this b/c I know you guys have been exhausted lately…although if you have all been sick, it’s my opinion that sleep training is just plain mean during this time!