Rants from a sleep-deprived mom

Beckett's sleep was getting worse and worse, so I knew something had to change. He would wake up every 1-3 hours during the night, take 30 minute naps max, take hours to put to sleep (me walking him around), and was starting to refuse to sleep unless in my arms- which he didn't used to do. In the beginning I read many books on sleep training and most discouraged crying it out. They would say it's cruel and your child won't learn to trust you. (Which I think is bull- there are many other opportunities for your child to learn trust). I tried many of the suggested methods to avoid crying it out- but none really worked. From the beginning I would try to put Beckett down drowsy but awake like you're supposed to so they could fall asleep on their own, but that was difficult. I figured most of the time he just cries for hours when I'm trying to help him go to sleep- so what's the point. Then I tried the Ferber method of crying but coming in at increased increments. That I think made Beckett even more mad. So I tried just letting him cry it out. My pediatrician said some sleep expert said that babies won't cry more than 2 hours (I think she was referring to at night so maybe nap time is different?). The first time I tried it Beckett was still screaming two hours later- so I gave up. That night he woke up every hour and one of the times it took 2 1/2 hours to get him to go back to sleep- so I was determined to let him cry all day if that's what it took. Sure it stinks listening to him cry- but I was going to lose it if it didn't get better. So the next day I tried it and he was asleep after crying 3 minutes. The same with the next nap. And he napped over an hour and slept 8 hours during the night after crying only 30 minutes. I knew it was too good to be true, but it gave me hope. After 2 weeks of letting him cry it out- every once in awhile he'll cry an hour or more and sometimes and he doesn't cry at all. Every now and then he'll nap over an hour- but most are still only 30 minutes. During the night he wakes about every 4-5 hours and sometimes longer. So we've still got to work on it- but it's getting much better. He's learned he can sleep on his stomach which helps. I love that I can just put him down and then it's my time while he's putting himself to sleep- way better than what I was doing before. Sorry that was a lot- but moral of it is don't feel bad if you let your child cry it out- some kids need to. I'm sure most moms already know this- especially if you have more than one child.

Firemen story time at the Library. It was cold outside, so no smiles from Beckett.

So Beckett I don't think is ready for solids. I've tried many different foods and all of them he refuses. He'll purse his lips together and just shake his head no- even the rice cereal which he used to let me at least try to put it in his mouth. I'm tired of wasting food so we're giving it a rest. I'm eager to get him on solids but he's not. He'll only eat from me and he's been horrible at that recently. I'm afraid he's not getting enough. He loves sucking on apples that I've been eating but refuses pureed apples. But since he has teeth I'm a little nervous letting him suck on my apple. He loves watching us eat and will grab at our food- but he grabs at anything. He still freaks out anytime he sees our water bottles. So we've been letting him drink from them (we dump the water in his mouth). We've tried the sippy cup and he's not into that yet either. So I got him his own water bottle which he loves. He hasn't quite figured out how to use it on his own- the bottle did say for 3 and up so I know it's a little ahead of him. He loves it nonetheless. I should have photoshoped out that attractive drool. When will the drooling ever end?!