First Attempt
Colby has always been a great sleeper, by the end of his first month Colby was sleeping through the night. His sleep schedule is anywhere from 7-7 or 8-7am. After four months of this he has now started waking up during the night. Since having him I am now the worlds lightest sleeper, I wake up to everything. The slightest sound Colby makes and I am wide awake listening, waiting, and if nothing happens I than go back to sleep. When Colby wakes up he does not cry he fusses. When this happens I put his Binky back in his mouth and he falls back asleep. Sometimes I do this a couple times in a row because he is wide awake and thinks that this is a game. He always has a huge grin, like he knows it's the middle of the night. Lately this has been happening four or five times a night. This has been continuing for weeks now. I am ready for a change and to drop this habit.
Plan B.
I have heard a lot of mothers trying this and certain family members give it great reviews. The fast explanation-The plan is to let your kid cry so they learn to calm themselves down so they do not always rely on a parent to do the calming. They need to learn to fall back asleep by themselves.
Last night was my first attempt. Colby fell asleep at 7. To make this night easier on me I turned his monitor all the way down, this way I would not hear him unless he was really crying not just playing in his bed. I'm sure he woke up during the night but if he did I did not hear him and he must have fallen back asleep without my help. So far so good. Wow, could Colby really be that great of a kid to not cry once during the first attempt? At six I awoke to a strong set of lungs. He was crying/screaming hysterically. Colby continues to cry and at 6:35 I call Darrin who is now at work to ask what I should do. We decide to give him his Binky. I did that and since than he has been asleep and it is now 7:50.
I am now thinking if I should have done anything differently. I DO NOT want him waking up earlier than seven. I am not a morning person and seven is very early for me. I would love if he slept until 8. Any advice? 
Posted in: 2008, colby, riss on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at
I'd recommend to keep doing what you're doing. It's only been one day. If he needs that much sleep, he'll get back on his normal schedule. If he consistently starts waking up before 7am and you don't want him to, you can do 2 things: #1:keep him up later at night, and hope he'll sleep in longer (this never works for me -- no matter what time I put my kids to bed, they wake up at the same time . . . so I might as well put them to bed earlier) or #2: let him cry until 7am, no matter when he wakes up, and eventually, he will probably either realize you're not coming and learn to play in his crib until 7am, go back to sleep, or just keep screaming because he knows that will get you to come and get him. I will say, that often my kids scream like that when they've woken early and have pooped in their diaper. Then there's no going back to sleep no matter what.
It was a good idea to turn down/off the monitor. Especially living in an apartment, I always figured that if my babies really needed me, I WOULD hear them (because I'm a lighter sleeper now too). Trust me -- helping them learn to fall asleep or BACK to sleep on their own is something you'll thank yourself for now and later down the road. I read somewhere that ALL babies wake up --sometimes several times -- in the night, and if they don't know how to get themselves back to sleep, then you're the one having to help them. And you DON'T want that.
You're awesome!! Congrats on making it through the first night. That's always the hardest part. I'm so impressed you and Darrin did so well. It took Spencer and I a couple nights to prep ourselves before we lasted a whole night. Anyway, try and put him to bed around 8ish. Maybe he'll sleep in a little longer. Good luck and congrats! You're a good mommy!
You're doing a good job. Sometimes it's just trial and error to see what works best with him. With the twins I let them cry and it worked, but sometimes they were sick so they would wake up and then I felt bad if I let them bawl. It can be so hard to know what to do! Tad has been waking up but he's been teething (painfully) so that's bad. The other night he woke up screaming because he had pooped earlier and hadn't cried at all and had a bad rash (it was like 3am.) But most of the time he whines then falls back asleep. If he keeps crying and crying I usually go in and it's usually because he's lost his bink and can't find it. I dunno, life's just kinda hard with kids. Good luck! You're doing great. (that probably wasn't very helpful now, was it?)
Sounds like you're doing a great job. We only go into Kelsey's room in the night if she is sick or it sounds like something is wrong. She knows we won't come in so she whines a little and then goes back to sleep. I'm always nervous that she'll have a dirty diaper in the middle of the night and I won't know it. Then we suffer the consequences.
Thanks everyone, this is all great advice. This parent thing is still very new to me and am finding out I have so much to learn.