Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy PARENT

There is hope for the sleepless parent!

In my proactive attempt to FULLY enjoy raising my daughter Katie I began reading just about everything I could get my hands on before she was born with regards to 'babies and sleeping'. It just so happened that the first thing I got my hands on was "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth - and that was the only book I needed. If you are a parent and have not read this book, I strongly suggest it. He educates you in the first few chapters of how sleep works biologically then transitions you into a range of options as to how to get your baby/toddler to begin sleeping in a healthy manner which, in turn, allows you the sleep you once fully enjoyed as a non-parent!

Now, you may be wondering where on the spectrum of "coddling to neglecting" I fall as a parent... and I would say that I'm dangerously close to neglect. Before you get all hot and bothered, please understand that I have based this answer on a society that has bombarded me with the idea that babies actually know what they need more than the parents do. On the contrary, as I began molding Katie's sleep habits, I realized very quickly that she did NOT know what she needed and she did NOT know what was best for her! She didn't understand that a good sleep would rejuvenate her... she didn't understand that being alone is ok and mom knows everything is safe... she didn't understand that the process of putting your own self to sleep was a habit that needs to be learned as a child or it would be with you into adulthood... she didn't understand, so I had to enable her to be a healthy sleeper by making all those decisions for her.

Oh believe me. The moments still arise when Katie is crying and I have to run through the mental checklist:
Does she have a clean diaper? Yes.
Is she sick? No.
Is she in any danger? No.
Is she hungry? No.
Could she be dying of some unknown cause that I can't come up with right now? The likelihood is rather slim.
Can space heaters all of a sudden erupt in flames? Maybe. But her's is rather new.
Do outlets ever explode? Probably not.
Did she pull Geoffrey's eye off (her stuffed giraffe) and choke on it and now she needs me? If so, the sounds coming from her would probably be different than wailing at the top of her lungs.
Did she explode out of her diaper and is now rather unhappy? Very possible, but she will eventually fall asleep inspite of it and I would rather not interrupt the 'soothing herself to sleep' process now that I've come this far.
Is she pissed off that Mom is not with her to hold her and rock her? Yes.

By the looks of it, we're on the right path and she will eventually fall asleep again. Thanks to my wonderful rock-of-a-husband for being my sanity when I think someone has crawled through Katie's window and taken her even though our "guard" dogs don't seem to be bothered...

No, it's not always easy to instill these habits in your new baby, but it gets easier and easier as you notice the benefits. We now lay Katie down at 6:30pm after a bath and cup of milk and she falls right to sleep. We don't usually hear anything from her until 6:30-7:00am. I have an incredibly energetic, sleep-loving toddler that is confident and happy -- not to mention her Mother! My husband and I's space/time is predictable and our marriage continues to be "spontaneous"... I love our life!