I have read just about every sleep book recommended on the market today – Sears, Pantley, Weissbluth, 90-minute sleep solution, Ferber method, and the controversial method of Baby Wise. I have read about it all and read 6 books including one from Pantley on toddler sleep because I have two that do not sleep. Of course, the infant is only 9 weeks old. My first born did not sleep well either – she would take cat naps as well but eventually after 4 months, she started taking 1 hour naps.

This past weekend, Sunday, after our house guest left, I decided to try some of the techniques I have read about from Pantley, Weissbluth, and the 90-minute sleep program. So far, nothing is working. My child, like clock work goes to sleep within 90 minutes of waking, but is up within 15 to 45 minutes and I know is not going enough sleep but there is not much else I can do. When she wakes up from these “cat naps”, she is alert, often crying and even with nursing and/or rocking, does not go back to sleep. It is quite unnerving. I have read about other kids who do this as well – generally lasts until about 4 months of age or longer.
In any case, the research out there is daunting and it is overwhelming. What does not help is when people are bragging about their sleeping kids – their kids are the wonder ones who sleep all the time even after 4 weeks of life. But reading about all the kids out there who are in the same boat as ours does make me feel like we are not alone in our struggles. There is no cookie cutter approach to raising a kid-same goes for sleep training but we will soldier on. I am a zombie and my mother who is helping right nowa and my husband – we are all exhausted!

In any case after three weeks of sleepless days and night, I will soldier in with the methods I learn (and there are a billion out there) and try every piece of equipment I own but in the end, may just have to accept my fate. If you read this and have any suggestions please share. If you are writing to just brag, please save it for your facebook page – I do not want to hear it.

These days it seems there is a book for everything. “How to sleep train your child” will bring up about a thousand results – not every book is worth your time. If you ask one mom, you will get referred to Book X, but then you talk to yet another mother, and she will swear by Book Y authored by the best author on this topic. And yet another mom will recommend Book Z. Another mom will tell you Book X sucked and swears by Book A. What?!! How is a mom who is already sleep and time deprived supposed to read four books on how to get her child to sleep. Isn’t that the problem to begin with here…. too much to do and not enough time?

I am on my fourth book already on how to get your child to sleep through the night and I am not even close to getting my 2 year old to sleep through the night. I have bought two books on the topics and checked out the other ones from the library. Dr. Sears, Elizabeth Pantley, Weissbluth, Ferber – you name it, I have read it. I now have two additional books on hold at the library- the 90 minute sleep solution and Baby Wise. All because someone made me feel bad by posting on my wall on facebook that her child is sleeping twelve hours at 2.5 months old. WHAT? Are you kidding me? Ironically, this girl is a doctor herself so I wonder if she missed that portion of medical school when they discuss how sleep patterns change in kids almost daily so 7 to 7 will not necessarily last. But then again, what do I know? I have only read these four books and each one says something different. So, I have decided to take what works from each and make my own book on the topic. Only I will not be published.

So, from Book X, I will take the fact that food and types of foods definitely affect how a child sleeps especially toddlers. Then from Book Y, I will take that you should respond to infants after 4 months of age in time intervals and you increase that time interval so that the child learns to self soothe and sleep on his or her own. From Book Z, I have learned that you should respond differently to the different cries exhibited by an infant- there is a distinct difference between a cry for hunger for example than a cry for being held or for attention. So, depending on the type of cry, you can respond accordingly. Out of the two books I have not read yet, I hear one is quite controversial and involves starving your child through the night. In either case, I look forward to reading more things I may not implement or implement successfully. On the other hand, maybe nothing is working because of the hodge podge or potpourri implementation of this and that. Maybe I need to pick one book and just stick to it.

It is not easy raising children much less in a time when we are bombarded with so much internet information and literature on how to. “How to raise children for Dummies.” That is the book I need to purchase.