Sleeping Milestone

For the last 5 days, we have been working on a new technique to help Curtis sleep better at night and during the day. In a book (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) recommended to me by my sister Leah, it says that by the time the babies are 5 months old, they should be able to sleep up to 8 hours without being fed or needing to wake up. Curtis is six and a half now and he's was waking every 3-4 hours either out of habit, or actually needing to eat. He actually has a heathly sleep schedual, waking between 7-8, napping at 9, then noon, then 3, and then betime between 7-8. But his naps were only a half and hour, and he kept waking up during the night. The book recommended that we let him cry it out for 3 days, never letting the crying spells outlast an hour. The first night was tough, but he cried for about 45 minutes. The second night he only cried for 15. And last night, he cried for about 5 and then slept until 4:00 am. He eats dinner at about 6:00 so I top him off before I go to bed at about 10, leaving him no excuse to wake up for a while. I know that letting your babies cry it out is controvercial, but we really felt like something needed to be done. He wasn't happy, we weren't happy, and his craziness was getting out of control. He's been so much happier now that his sleep is more productive. I didn't feel like i was harming my baby letting him cry. The cry it out method worked for Curtis...and now we all sleep so much better!