Many of my friends are pretty impressed that I’ve managed to get my 6-month old baby to sleep independently (meaning, no mommy around most of the time – no helper either OK?).  She will be bathed, fed, burped and put down in her cot ALONE and AWAKE and will eventually drift off to sleep.

I am writing this post as a continuation of a previous post “Kids Need Sleep“.  So if you’re new to this post, I’d suggest reading that first to get a better understanding of my very strong position on sleep and children – although the title itself already states it.

Let me begin by talking about how Vanessa gained independence into sleeping.  She established it completely at the age of 2 years and 3 months.  Some may think that it’s too long, but in all fairness, every child is unique and every parenting method of that child is unique, so because I was the main caregiver and she’s a normally developing child, I will say NO, it wasn’t too long FOR HER.

Because she was the first child and the first grand child (on both sides), I must admit that my inexperience and her grandparents spoilage that we apted to not let her cry too much.

This meant that she had to be rocked to sleep with a pacifier until she was in such a deep sleep that whence putting her down, she wouldn’t stir.  I think many parents go through the problem of putting their child down, only to have them jolt awake and the cycle begins anew.

It got to the point where it would take a good half hour of pacing up and down my hallway until she slept deep enough to be put down.  Then when put down, she would only sleep for 20 minutes and then wake up crying.  My goodness!  I did try cry-it-out, lasting a solid 8 minutes before I broke down and then called my husband home.

Eventually, we migrated to a co-sleeping arrangement that worked much better, but this arrangement won’t last long because of baby #2.  Finally, we got Vanessa into her own room (via accompaniment) and then convinced her we needed to leave the room for various reasons, only to find that she’s fallen asleep.  Perfect.