Crying It Out

This was a first for us. We have always had the baby who ONLY cries when something is greatly wrong. Heck, she doesn't even really cry when she's hungry. After just under 7 months of easy care, Kate has started to test her boundaries with us.

We honestly couldn't figure out why lately she was waking 1/2 hour after being put to bed. She would start to cry, so one of us would comfort her thinking that either she was hungry, had teething pain or had gas. We thought something was wrong, as has been the cause of her crying up until this point.

Last night, out of PURE exhaustion (both of us), I put her to bed a half hour early. She was beside herself tired. She didn't sleep much the night before, and didn't really nap during the day (not for a lack of trying, thank you very much). She was O-U-T OUT when I put her down for the night after a blissful nursing session. I literally fell into bed and crashed myself. 30 minutes later, she started to wail. Mind you, before she went down...I gave her some Mylecon in case the increased saliva from her teething was upsetting her belly AND I rubbed baby orajel on her little gums..top AND bottom (she's getting THREE teeth right now). She had just been fed, so I knew all of my bases were covered. So, why then, was she up and wailing?

I just don't know the answer, so I decided that it was time to let her cry it out. Let me tell you, that is NOT for the faint of heart. It went on for 35 gut-wrenching, heart-breaking minutes. She cried and cried. At some times it felt like her little larynx was going to come out of her throat. I was listening intently to the monitor resisting with every fiber of my being to go to her. Finally, after a long long long time, she stopped. After hearing several gulps and deep breaths, she finally fell asleep. I checked on her about 100 times until 8, when I finally drifted off to sleep. I awoke with a start at midnight and heard nothing. She was still peacefully sleeping. The "cry it out" method worked.

Now onto the debate. Did I do the right thing? There are many opinions on this issue of letting a baby cry, and frankly, I'm not totally sure where I stand. In the past, we knew we had a baby who only cried for a reason, so we've never had to let her cry. We usually go to her, and soothe her and she's fine and goes back to sleep. Last night (and previous nights), I honestly think she was crying just to be held...which both Jon and I would gladly oblige, but at some point, we need sleep too.

Babies cry because it's their only way to communicate. There are distinct cries...there's the "I'm hungry" cry, there's the "I'm in pain" cry and last night..I believe it was the "I want attention" cry. I am more than happy to give her all of the love and attention I can possibly offer during the day, but she needs to learn that at night, she needs to sleep....alone.

Believe me...my heart broke into a million pieces while listening to her cry herself hoarse. I wanted NOTHING more than to burst through that door and take her into my arms and hold her close and rub her back. But in the end, even though it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, I think it may have been the right thing.

If anyone has a problem with the way I handled this, please, before you pass judgement...put yourself in my shoes. Live life on MY schedule for a few days...with a crying/no sleeping baby...do a four hour show each day where you have to be "perky" at 5 a.m....and then we'll talk.