ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

well. this post is hard for me to write. because i feel a little bit like a failure, but mostly an imposter . remember when i told you about Babywise , and i even posted a video all about how to get your child to sleep through the night and acted like i was this expert? yeah... well it turns out i'm not. you know how i have a ten month old baby? and, you know how she wakes up once or twice every night? some of you are thinking  well, duh. and i told you so . but here's what i want you to know:  it's really hard for me to admit defeat.  i want to share my heart with you; the deep, dark, ugly, and triumphant parts, and i just want you to hear me . i hope you'll honor that. i almost turned off the comments except that i want to leave them open for anyone that might be struggling like i was. so, do you remember when i wrote about  how i haven’t slept in almost a year  and how i feel like there’s no end in sight. you guys, sleep-deprivation is so...

so i made a little vlog. it's mostly about Baby Wise , you know, the book? i think i mention at least twice in the video, i'm not trying to start a debate about parenting or infant management, demand-feeding vs. scheduling... i don't intend to argue over which is better. all it is, is me explaining really quick, the basic idea that the book presents about a flexible routine style of infant sleep training and feeding that they call "parent-directed feeding"... it's pretty simple and straight-forward and since i'm right in the thick of it, i figured i'd let you in on the secret. again, a lot of you probably did things differently and others of you probably did BabyWise like me. some of you gals are expecting your first baby soon, and this method might work for you, it might not. anyway, if you have any questions, please ask! i'm not an expert but i've read and implemented it, and have some experience. so here we go: ...

i'm sure i've already attracted some interest by that title. here's some background: my daughter is 19 months old. she has slept in her crib, through the night, since 12 weeks. yes, i followed babywise. it worked for us, and no i am not insensitive and iron-fisted and yes, my daughter is loved and well adjusted and comforted and all of those wonderful things. i'm not against the co-sleeping, but for us it just wouldn't have worked. not with an infant. [i think that's ok.] that said... last night my daughter woke up around 2am and was crying. this is a very rare thing, and she didn't stop which is even more rare. of course, i went in and got her and brought her back to our bed. [i'm not against her sleeping in our bed at all. it's good to stay away from extremes] i have to say, it was the sweetest thing ever. her sleeping between us. she took awhile to fall back to sleep, and i'm surprised she did fall asleep. the few times we've had her in be...