Thanks, but no thanks.

Because Eli is such a lousy sleeper, I have had many people (not anyone reading this) urge me to let him CIO (cry it out). I am sure most of you know this terminology already, but basically it's a "technique" for getting your infant to sleep through the night, by letting them cry alone in the crib until they pass out exhausted (okay...that is a little on the dramatic side, but also basically true), thus learning that their cries will not be answered overnight, which leads to better sleeping for mom and dad. While I have nothing against parents who use this technique it's just not for us, at least not at Eli's age. I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of it. I can't let either of my kids cries go unanswered through the night. I never tried this method with Noah, and he sleeps fine now. We have let Noah fuss in his room for reasons like not wanting to go to bed, but I think it's a little different when they are older, and are clearly just trying to get out of having to go to bed, and at an older age it is also much easier to determine when they are crying because they need something, and when they are crying because they don't like the idea of bedtime. And sure, Noah was a pretty good sleeper to begin with, but there were periods throughout his first year where he would wake frequently, and he was always comforted back to sleep. Babies cry for a reason, be it hungry, scared, lonely, cold, ect. They don't just cry to annoy mom (even if it seems that way sometimes), so I just can't see myself ignoring that and letting him cry. I figure he's got to learn to sleep through the night eventually, and while it would be nice if it happened now, I'm not going to hurry him into something he just isn't developmentally ready for. And while I am basically a walking zombie, I do enjoy spending some one on one time with him, which can really only happen while Noah is sleeping anyway.

So if you got this far...thanks for listening to my rantings. I know it is all well meaning advice, but it's just not for us. At least not right now, when he is still so young. However, if he gets to Noah age and still wakes up every two hours...maybe we'll revisit this discussion :)

Now, to reward you for getting through my whining (which I can still blame on being sleep deprived, just one of the many benefits to having a lack of sleep)....here are some super cute pictures of some super cute kiddos!