Best Parenting Decision I've Made So Far

That may be a slight exaggeration.

However, over Christmas vacation, my eyes were opened wide to a decision I made early on regarding Aidan's sleeping habits.

From day one, I vowed that I would not allow him to become needy of me to go to sleep, that he would learn to fall asleep completely on his own without any cajoling, rocking, singing, patting, or pleading. While there have been exceptions to my firm belief in sleep independence (i.e. sickness, teething pain, travel), I have been absolutely resolute about it.

Luckily, Aidan caught on quickly and at an early age he was happily putting himself to sleep. I did nothing more than lay him down in bed awake and walk right out of the room. He could fuss, talk, sing, or fall right to sleep...and he did.

Sometimes I would feel guilty for not reading the same book 6 million times over, or singing and rocking and shushing and patting, or sitting still and hardly breathing while I prayed he would close his eyes, but mostly I felt relieved. When nap time came, it was my time, and I could start enjoying it immediately. Bedtime routines were short, and once the time came, he was plopped in bed, prayed with, kissed, and wrapped in blankies.

So....over the holidays we traveled a few times and Aidan was in different places. Normally, he would continue his easy compliance about bedtime, but I stepped in a little and messed him up. The first night we were away from home, he was pretty upset about going to bed. So, in order to not have to hear any protests, I scooped him up and decided that a quick song and a few minutes of rocking would do the trick. 45 minutes later, he had finally fallen asleep lying in MY bed atop MY pillow, drooling incessantly. He only wanted ONE song to be sung OVER and OVER again and I was exhausted. This continued for 3 nights. I hated it. The first night was kinda fun, but by the second night, I was so ready to be done with it. While all the other grownups were happily enjoying each other's company, I was at the complete mercy of my child. And he didn't get any faster at falling asleep either. He would start snoring and then suddenly pop his head up and say, "ma-ma, hi". So cute, but so annoying at the same time.

The night we got home, it was cold turkey CIO (cry it out) time for Aidan. I sang him one song, plopped him in bed and listened to him cry off and on for 1 hour. It was horrible. The second night was better-20 min. and the 3rd was about 10. Tonight will be the fourth night of crying and I hope it is either for 1 min. or none. It is amazing how much relief it brings to send a happy child off to bed. I'm glad that I was able to experience just how wonderful it really is to have taught my child to go to sleep on his own.