Finding a baby who sleeps through the night is a lot like looking for the Holy Grail: no one expects you to really find it, and along the way you'll probably be beseiged by killer rabbits. And although I've swung wide swaths of the spectrum between attachment parenting and out-and-out Ferberizing, I've seen the light about the way to get babies to sleep at night, and this list of everything you need to know about getting your baby to sleep at night is it:
Do What You Have To, But Remember Everything Has Its Consequences.
Nursing a baby to sleep works every time, but there will come a day when you'll be reaching for the Baby-Halcion, wishing you had instead done everything in your power to get that baby to fall asleep on its own. I mean, holding a sleeping baby is lovely, but just give me my sleep, thank you. I rue the day I thought my baby needed me sooo much he couldn't be without me for one moment. But hey, if you don't plan on sleeping for the next few years and don't mind lying down with your kid every night to get him to sleep until he moves out of the house, why, go ahead and hold that baby until he falls asleep.
The rest of the list is dead-on, too. Like teaching babies that nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for play. Sounds obvious, but it also includes exposure to as much natural light as possible in the afternoon, strongly thought to improve sleep. Infant massage can be good, too, as is LOTS of holding and cuddling through the day. Just not at night.
There's also a list of things that don't help. Like starting solids and decreasing daytime naps. Good to know. Had I known that one I could have had fewer Napless Days of Hell. Did I read the wrong books or something? [sigh]
Photo: www.growingkids.co.uk
