Sleep, The Final Frontier

That title probably doesn't make a lot of sense but it's meant to say: without sleep, the rest of life is pretty hard to navigate. Anyone can take a day or two of having ill slept the night before. That's nothing. I know some parents, though, who have been limping along on 2, 3, maybe 5 hours per night for two years. That's not parenting. That's insanity. And it's not just the parents who suffer. What about the children? They look to us for guidance--for someone to mimic and duplicate. What do they see but a tired and cranky adult? And so from there the spiral winds it's way down until finally someone blows a major gasket and/or feels medication has to be resorted to in some way, heaven forbid. I'd be willing to wager that the simple fact of missing sleep over long periods could even contribute to the fabric of an entire family and marriage eventually deteriorating. We avoided all of it. By 8 weeks both our girls were sleeping through the night. Period. That's right, you new parents. I said "through the night". One of the best books we were ever given was called "On Becoming Babywise" by a guy named Gary Ezzo, I believe. There are two version of the book, as I recall: one with a pretty strong Christian bend to it and the other written for people of any walk of life. In any case, he proposes that parents adjust the child's schedule slightly and, in so doing, the child will sleep through the night after about eight weeks. All I know is this: IT WORKED and on both children. We used the schedule he provided (and that's about it--even though he gets into a lot more about discipline as the child grows up, etc.--we tossed that part of his book out and just used the schedule). I don't think I really need to stress how wonderful it is to consistently get sleep when you have two kids running around the house all day, challenging you for every bit of your energy, both physically and mentally. Precious stuff, sleep. So we can't say enough about this book. It has apparently helped over 500,000 other kids get a full night's sleep early on, as well. One thing you do have to do is learn to tell the difference between your kid's crying for an actual need (wet diapy usually), or just because she/he wants you to come back into the room. (There's a point where they cry themselves to sleep for up to 20 minutes. It can be a little trying but it all turned out fine in the end.) You can actually tell the difference after a bit of listening. It's not hard and an ability you'll probably use through your many days as a parent. And all the things negative naysayers said happen never happened. Our kids are incredibly loving and know they are loved back. Letting them cry to sleep a little caused absolutely no harm. And even if it did for the first few weeks, their getting consistent sleep for the years following far outweighed it. As with anything, if what he says in the book isn't true for you, toss it out. After all, you may as well start learning to evaluate information for yourself early in the parenting game. The volume of information out there on how to be and do the work of a parent is monumental. You don't actually think it all works, do you? ;-) (Thanks for those initial comments, readers. It's great to know someone is reading, even if there are only two of you so far!)