Attempt at new method

I had received a mom magazine in the mail. The mom was talking about sleep and listed, "The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West as one of the books she used. I thought, "might as well" and reserved the book online with my library on Sunday. They had to transfer the book from the Williamston library so I wasn't sure how long it would take to get it. But I had read enough about the book online and in the magazine that I understood the general idea.

Put child in bed awake.
Stay next to child, sitting in a chair, comforting child as needed but not overdoing it.
Stay with child until he falls asleep on his own. Do not pick him up unless he needs to be calmed down. Then immediately put him back into bed.
Every few days, move closer to the door.

But I knew I needed more info in order to use this system. So, I waited for the book.

May 10, early morning (classic scenario): Xavier woke up after being asleep for 3 hours. I was exhausted so Joey went in. After trying to get him back to sleep for an hour, Joey got frustrated and gave up, putting X back in his crib, crying (Xavier was crying, not Joey). I didn't want to listen to him cry but Joey wanted me to leave X there for awhile to see if he would cry himself out. After 45 minutes, he was going strong and really worked up.

But then, I thought I heard someone walking in the hall...or was it in his room....and it sounded like he was closer to us somehow...his cries weren't as distant. His cries were also different...not as urgent or upset. I...being half awake, wondered if my roommate had gone into his room to comfort X. But that wasn't something Heidi would normally do. Joey noticed it, too and got up to go check. I heard him say, "Oh my God," when he entered the room.

I raced in, crying, thinking the worst and there was Xavier, on the floor. He had taken matters into his own hands and climbed out of the crib. I held him so tight and kissed his little face over and over. I rocked him to sleep and made up my mind: we were going to try a new method of sleep training.

Later that morning, I picked up the book from the library and read it as much as I could during the day. We took Xavier to my dad's for dinner and tried to get him in bed by 8pm. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give this new sleep training method a try.

We did our normal routine: bath, pjs, stories, songs....but then instead of me holding Xavier until he fell asleep, I picked him up (he was drowsy) and put him in his bed.

The kid freaked.

He got himself so worked up that he threw up. I was so upset. I picked him up, kissing him and rocked him to sleep...again.

I felt so depressed and hopeless. Oh, and tired. But something inside me said not to give up.