My 2 1/2 year old son used to sleep like a dream. Starting at 4 months of age he would sleep from 8pm until 8am. At about a year of age he started going down at 7:30pm and waking up anywhere from 7:30am to 8:30am and my husband and I were feeling damn lucky. Even as a newborn he only woke up twice a night to feed. How good does it get, eh?

Well, maybe we should never have bragged about it or thanked God or whatever it is that we did wrong. But for the last 4 plus months this little boy of ours has only slept through the night three times. The rest of the time he has been waking up anywhere from 2-6 times a night, either crying or just calling to us from behind the door (he has had his door shut since he started sleeping in his own room at 4 months of age). We go in, he drinks some water, then goes back to sleep.

Now, please note that he has a nightstand with a sippy cup of water right next to his bed. As a matter of fact, he could just reach over from his bed to grab it without getting up, but he prefers for one of us to be in there before he does so. Not cool. And to make matters worse, I know that this "new thing" he is going through is totally my fault. When he learned how to somersault out of his crib we promptly moved him to a toddler bed. I knew the first week or so would be trouble, and it was. So every time he called out, I as in there to make sure he hadn't fallen out of bed, etc. I should've just let him put himself back to sleep on his own like he had been used to doing since 4 months of age. Oy vay....

So now he has conditioned himself and us to go in multiple times a night, and I can't take it anymore. The problem is only getting worse, last night he was up almost every hour on the hour and I was ready to jump in my car and take off never to be heard from again. What to do? There is so much damned controversy about how to get your kids to sleep, and frankly I am sick of it. At 4 months we did a modified version of crying it out and it worked wonders, but I kept reading that to let a toddler cry it out was psychologically damaging.....well having your kid wake up constantly at night when you are pregnant, irritable and uncomfortable to begin with is psychologically damaging me. Something has gotta give.

Needless to say, I researched some books on-line, went out and bought two today and have read all pertinent sections......tonight is war. Well, maybe not war....but tonight is the beginning of the end of this behavior. I got Dr. Ferber's book and Dr. Weissbluth's book.....one more extreme than the other. I'll try the tamest method first and then move on to the more "controversial" one should need be.....although I am hoping not to have to go that route. *Sigh* This household needs its sleep. And with a newborn joining the ranks in just under 4 months, I just can't waste any more time.....especially since I know new sleep issues will most probably arise once the baby is here and my toddler is dealing with jealousy issues, etc. Parenting really is the toughest job you will ever love.....and sometimes not love all that much. Just being honest.....I know I may get crucified for saying that! :-)