Sleep Anxiety

Over the past few days, I have veen overly anxious about getting Jack to sleep. Not just getting him to sleep, but having him stay asleep. He will sleep from about 7:00pm to 6:00am, however, he wakes up. Several times. Since he is in bed with me, this is not a huge deal, but now that he's older, we know it's time.

I happened across this article: http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

I read it and thought "Huh". That's it. Just "Huh". I by no means have any real expectations that this is going to work. The No Cry Sleep Solution didn't work. The Baby Whisperer or whatever her name is didn't work. I have read many many sleep books. I read so many that I stopped reading because I became jaded.

This one caught my eye, and we are willing to try it, but won't be shocked if it doesn't work.

I know what you are thinking. I don't need to hear any of the following: Why don't you just let him cry it out? He isn't sleeping through the night yet? If you have read my blog at all, you will know the answers to these questions. In case you don't, I will explain again.

I don't believe in cry it out for my baby.....er......toddler. I know other parents that use it for their children and that is perfectly fine. I have no issues with that. It works for their family. I just don't want to try it for my family.

Jack doesn't sleep through the night. I don't exactly know why. My suspicion is that because he had such bad reflux, he was used to eating every hour or two. His belly couldn't hold much so he would wake often to eat. After a period of time, this became a pattern and patterns are hard to be broken.

Why am I anxious? Because I know that it's time. 1 year olds don't need to eat during the night. They might want to, but don't physically NEED to. I am also anxious because it's expected as a mom that you are in control of your baby's sleep. You have to fix the problem that you created. I don't necessarily subscribe to that belief, but it's so ingrained that after a period of time, I start to to believe it.

I don't want to sleep train. I really don't. We will try that method. If it works, great! If it doesn't, I guess we will reevaluate in a few more months. I am concerned that at some point psychologically, there is need to transition Jack to his own bed. I just don't know what the point is. 12 months? 18 months?

Any constructive advice would be great. For those that comment anonymously, feel free to bash me. I know what works for my child and my family. I am sure you are the perfect parent anyways which must be why you feel the need to comment under anonymous. CHICKEN!