You told me so

Alright, alright, I know. You told me and I didn't believe you. "CIO" (crying it out) probably is the most effective way to teach your baby to go to sleep on her own. We finally did it and it seems to have worked.

If you had asked me a month ago, I would have told you that there is no way I would let Kaylin cry it out. I didn't think she or I could take it. In fact, I was dead-set against it.

But when it got to the point where even two hours of rocking wouldn't help her get to sleep, we decided that we had no other choice. I mean, I tried to get through The No-Cry Sleep Solution, but it was looking like it would be weeks before the baby would be going down with minimal tears. And I was already at my wit's end.

First I went back to Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby, which I picked up before Kaylin was born. But I found Dr. Weissbluth's advice cold and too matter-of-fact for my taste. (And his "review" of Dr. Sears' book really angered me. I love Dr. Sears!) Desperate for another option, I bought Jodi Mindell's Sleeping Through the Night. This was the book I needed. It's easy to read, doesn't contain a few-dozen references to scientific studies, and spoke to me as a mother, not as some sort of Nap Nazi.

Mindell's plan was simple. After following a consistent night time routine, put your baby down awake. If she cries, go to her as often as you feel you need to, whether it's 30 seconds or 15 minutes later. Calm her down, without picking her up, and leave the room. Within a week, the baby should be going to sleep within 15 minutes.

Well wonders never cease. It worked (she says confidently, after only a few nights). The first six nights were tough. On average, Kaylin cried for 40 minutes each night. But miraculously, on night seven, she was asleep within 5 minutes. Same with the following two nights. And, the BEST part of all -- she is sleeping longer before waking for a feeding. One night she got all the way to 5:45am!

So, friends who told me about CIO, I stand corrected and a little more rested.