Hi Dani,
Well I never had it in me to let them cry and I must admit the exhaustion was a problem - what I did was get a large mattress Double or bigger (we happened to have an old queen size) and this is where baby slept so when he cried I would just go from my room and crawl in with him and snuggle, eventually - by the time he was three I was spending more time in my own bed than in his and he got to sleeping better through and longer through nite so then we would uasually one of us lay down with him when he went to bed and then once he fell asleep we were home free till morning - all three of our kids still enjoy a bedtime snuggle and talk as they fall to sleep (my oldest is 13 years now - this has turned into a special time where they share their thought s and feeling about their day or stuff in their life - a time when we pray and can have "deep" talks about stuff with just them - its kind of unusual I know , but worked for us - All my kids have a double bed so we can lay down with them.
Sleeping Problems
Re: Sleeping Problems
I generally only put my son to sleep when I go to sleep. I breast feed him and then we all go to sleep. Of course he sleeps a lot during the day and even before I put him in his bed but I only put him in his bed when I go to sleep, usually around 10 or 11 pm. Then he sleeps all the time until somewhere between 7 and 9 am. He also sleeps a lot during the morning and afternoon but rarely do I put him in his bed. I think this way he knows that when he goes to bed it's sleeping time. I also close very well the windows to keep the room quiet and dark. One thing I find odd is listening to moms say the baby wakes up at 6 am and they can't sleep but then they say they put him to bed always before 10pm. Perhaps not all children sleep for ten hours, specially if they sleep a lot during the day. Another good thing I find is to feed him specially well in his last meal so he can sleep his all night rest...