My Own Personal Hell

So, after being a crappy sleeper this week, I decided it was time to sleep (re) train the baby. He used to be a good sleeper. You know, after I sleep trained him at three months. But then we went to WI, he started teething, we moved him to the crib, and Daddy got deployed. So he's back to being a crappy fall-asleeper. Yes, I just made up that term. So, since he started showing signs of grumpiness almost a full hour earlier than he usually does, I decided there was no time like the present. And honestly, is there a pleasant method for sleep training? I doubt it.

Before, I totally did the modified (?) Ferber method. You know - put him down. If he cries, give him five minutes, then go in, calm him, and walk back out. If he cries again, up it to 10 minutes. Etcetera. However, I recently read an article by a woman who tried a different method (IDK what it's called - I'm going to call it sit-and-soothe). So in S-A-S, you sit next to the crib, and pat the baby, and talk to him, yadda yadda yadda, until he falls asleep. I tried that two nights ago. Except I was there for over an hour and he wasn't getting any more tired. Turns out, Wylie just like to hang out with mama. So I went back to my modified Ferber for today. I nursed him (it's like his bed time snack), gave him the paci, rocked him till he was drowsy, put him down and turned on the seahorse. I shut the door even though I could hear him start to object. I gave him five minutes of crying-like-he-means-it before going back in (it usually takes him about 20 minutes to get to this point. I know he usually just moves around the crib, bouncing on his knees (his newest accomplishment) and pushing the crib soother before he actually gets pissed). Then I gave him 10 minutes. That time, he sat up and came over to the side and put his arms up to me. I picked him up, gave him a hug and his paci and put him back down. Except that this time, while I was waiting for him to get down to business one way or the other (crying or sleeping), he started SCREAMING. I'm pretty sure that he bonked his head on the crib while he was messing around. The fact that I found him with his head canted at what I can only presume to be an uncomfortable angle against the bars seems to confirm this. So I picked him up, soothed him, and rocked him until drowsy again. Then I put him back in the crib. And I listened to him fuss around for 30 minutes (didn't really cry in earnest, so I just left him to it). And right now? SILENCE. Blessed silence.

And for mama? A drink. And maybe some chicken wings. Yes. Yesssss.