Shmeep Training

So I had gotten it into my head that Bumpus needed to be put to bed earlier. Looking back now I think this was because A) he got sleepy & cranky when I had him out at a couple of nighttime functions, and B) I saw online that babies who are put to bed really early (6-7 PM) tend to not wake up at night (ie, sleep straight through to the morning). Bumpus still sleeps as he always did - one marathon sleep for about four - five hours at first, then up every two - three until we get up between nine and ten. I would love to have an unbroken stretch of sleep longer than four hours just once. So, sleep training.

And you know what? Kinda not working for me. Every night has been completely different - but all have involved hearing my baby scream his head off to complete hysteria in his crib, finally caving in to go pick him up, only to be stuck comforting him for an hour or two, since that's how long it takes for him to come down when he gets that worked up (which I normally never let happen for obvious reasons). And then only to have him sleep exactly the same as he ever does, with the added unpleasant bonus of him waking up for the day a couple of hours earlier since he went to bed earlier, which does NOT go with my schedule. Like, not at all.

See, sleep experts always assume three things - one, that there's a working partner who needs his or her sleep and their rightful place in the family bed. Uh, no. Two, they assume I want to be up at 6-7 AM every day. Hell no. And three, that I have to sleep train the baby because I've got a job to get to. No, again. So if a baby Bumpus' age needs 10-12 hours of sleep a night and some naps, and normally he has two-three decent naps during the day and sleeps from 10 PM to 10 AM, isn't that enough? So technically I don't actually have a sleep-deprived baby, I just did the math wrong.

There's still the issue of not waking up at night - but as a friend pointed out today, most people who do sleep training may have babies who go to bed early, but they still wake up a few times to eat. Some babies just naturally sleep through and some don't. I also have a baby who has a cold, is in a major growth spurt, and has started tons of new skills all at once (babbling like crazy, standing, crawling). All of these things could affect his sleep, make him cranky, etc.

In the end it gets down to this - while trying to get him to sleep, for the last week my entire evening (6-10 PM) was completely consumed with trying to get this baby to sleep in his crib, tiptoeing around waiting to hear his cries, timing how long I should wait before going in to comfort him hoping he'd self-soothe (he never did). Then just to have the same kind of sleep I always have had (except being woken up especially early, good times).

Instead tonight we're having a pleasant evening, me watching Jackass 2 and he playing in his jumperoo. Around ten we'll go to bed, and that'll be it. Is this for everyone? Certainly not. It's all about your own needs and circumstances. But in weighing the options it just didn't make sense to go through this every night just to have a baby who's going to wake me up too early anyway. I say screw it.