Ugh Confession

Sugarnear

DS is 3 months, 3 weeks. We've been Baby Whisperer-ing, implementing EASY and sleep-training with the shush-pat and PU/PD method. He has gone down pretty easily most times, but won't stay asleep longer than 25 minutes (except at night, but I think at this point he's so exhausted he is sleeping really well at night).

I put him down for nap-attempt #3 today-- at ll:40, and he would.not.settle. Every time I ssshed and patted and told him I loved him but it was time to sleep, he looked at me and got all worked up.

Then I had to pee.

DH clogged the toilet (TMI, sorry, but it's part of the story) and is at Home Depot. I REALLY had to pee.

So DS was crying and I was unclogging as fast as I could so I could get back to him... and then he soothed himself to sleep. I say "soothed" because I could hear him-- the bathroom is only ~10 feet away-- and he did exactly what he does when I'm in there, only managed to get himself calmed down.

He's been out for 20 minutes. Am I awful?

Is this a fluke or should I try it again later? I'm not sure I could do it if I were just waiting, and not frantically trying to fix our plumbing (LOL).

Sugarnear

I'm guessing by the lack of responses that I am, in fact, as awful as I think.

Crap.

rodgersonmumma

You are not awful. Everyone has to pee sometimes! If you do try it agian later, just dont let him cry more than a minute or two. He is still really little!

LKBSJS

The same thing has happened to me, minus the toilet.

Baby usually takes really short naps, and at 5 months still sometimes wake up at night after only 4 hours of sleep... one morning I was really tired and I heard him waking on the moniter but I told myself I could stay in bed until he sounded upset.

A few minutes later he was silent and slept an extra 1.5 hours. It has happened a few other times, but usually I have to go get him  

Ciconrad

You are not horrible.  With #1, I responded to his every fuss and cry, rocked him FOREVER for naps, was rushing in there when he woke up 25 min later, held my pee for hours if it meant he would nap, etc.

With #2 you just can't do that.  Sometimes I'm making #1's lunch when DS wakes up or #1 is going bonkers in another room while I am rocking the baby and I have to put him in his crib or risk DS inuring himself.  He's definitely cried for a few minutes at a time from the very beginning and often that's enough to get himself to sleep.

I don't see any problem with a few minutes of fussing/light crying to see if they can settle on their own.  That's not CIO, IMO.

renee*aiden

I don't think this is awful at all.. maybe he wants to put himself to sleep.. My mom says that when I was little I would only want to be rocked and held so long before bed, then I would want to be laid down and I'd go to sleep.. If I were you I would try it again..

Vashon

No, you are not terrible AT ALL.  It is good for them to start learning how to fall asleep on their own in their crib.  In most books I have read, and even our pediatrician has told us that you can rock/pat/soothe them until they are drousy and then you should put them down in their crib so they can actually drift off to sleep on their own.  They may cry a bit, but as long as they are bawling for a long time, it should be just fine.

Shortycube

you do what you need to do, not awful at all. you had to pee, so rather then peeing yourself, you had to let him cry - he calmed himself down. bonus. maybe in order to nap he needs to just sooth himself? every baby is different.

danto

Sometimes L needs to cry before she'll fall asleep.  I sit next to her crib and say soothing things to her (like "mommy's here", "it's okay", "hush") Sometimes I'll stand over her crib and stroke her forehead, but I won't pick her up (it would stop the crying, but keep her up MUCH longer).

I think they're still too little to cry alone.  But if you wanted to give it a try, a few minutes with you in the room might be good for both of you.