Today's Tip - Be prepared for a little more crying when your baby learns to move

So we thought we were set. My son was only waking up once a night at 4:30, and then again at 7:30. Not too shabby. Boy, were we wrong.

The past

few nights he's been getting up when he doesn't need to..at 10 and midnight. Doesn't want to eat or get changed. He just needs comfort. Trouble is, this is counter-productive to teaching them to sleep through the night.

He's learning to roll over and crawl now, so he works himself over to the edge of the crib and wakes himself up when he bumps his head or body against the edge. My wife is in the midst of making a bumper pad, so hopefully that helps.

In the meantime, we're letting him cry himself back to sleep so he doesn't learn to rely on us to get things perfect if he happens to wake up in the middle of the night. That means a little more crying.

It's funny. We can barely hear him when we turn the monitor off, and we know he's fine, but my wife and I can't function while it's going on. We could be doing other things, but we end up sitting in the living room, stressed and hoping he falls asleep. It's normal to feel this way, but in some situations you've got to toughen up to help your baby get the sleep he needs, and to help yourself.

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