Landlocked said:Thanks for the advice folks. One thing that keeps biting us is that once we get him to sleep in his bed, he'll get a cold or something where we need to keep a close eye on him. So we wind up starting all over again. We'll figure it out. Where can I find those earplugs?
LL, once you get Little Man to fall asleep on his own, you will be better able to determine when his middle-of-the-night cries are something serious that needs checking. Its like the boy who cried wolf. Since he cries every night, right now you don't know if the reason is serious or not. Our Little Man is 17 mos. and luckily has always been a great sleeper. We can lay him down awake and he'll go right to sleep. However, he does ocassionally cry instead of fall asleep and when he does this, we know that something is wrong--his nightlight is not on, he threw his blankie out of the crib, etc. Very rarely he'll wake up in the middle of the night crying and at these times, too, we know something is wrong--nightmare, sick, blankie out of the crib, etc. It will actually give you peace of mind to know that he will communicate to you when he really needs you and you won't feel that you need to hover over him if he has a little cold or something. That way, you will all get more and better sleep.
My advice (after 4 kids) is to nip it in the bud now. Let him cry it out, as others have advised, and in a few days, things will be fine. It is so hard to do, but be strong! A bonus for his being able to fall asleep on his own is that you and your wife can go out on a date and a babysitter will be able to get Little Man to bed with no problems!
