DD woke up about an hour after she went to bed last night in her crib and started crying. It didn't sound like her "upset" cry, more like "I want someone to pay attention to me" cry so I watched her on the video monitor (best baby purchase so far). I knew she wasn't hungry, since she had a full bottle an hour before so I watched and waited. I looked at the clock and said, to myself, if she didn't stop crying after 5 minutes I would go soothe her. She stopped after 2 minutes (it felt like longer) and then just sort of moved around in her crib and then went back to sleep (on her own!!!) after 5 minutes. AND she slept until 6am without getting up for her usual 3-4am feeding!!
I'm hoping this will mean I'll have the stomach for real CIO sessions later if need be. Up until last night I couldn't stand to hear her cry at all because she just doesn't cry that much so I always feel like it must be serious. But lately she's sort of developed a cry that is different from the others and whenever I go to get her when she's like that, she's immediately smiling at me and wants to play. I'm such a dork or just an evil mother because I let DD cry in her crib for 2 minutes last night and I am so proud of myself.
Re: First (minor) attempt at CIO
Agreed - not evil! It always does feel like longer because we seem to put so much pressure on ourselves to prevent them from crying or to stop the crying...sometimes a little patience goes a long way - in the way of sleep!
Yay for small steps!