Sleep training: Take Two (and why I'm opposed to it)

It's true: Belle is six-and-a-half months old and still wakes to eat twice a night. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, though, she sleeps throgh the night. The AAP counts five consecutive hours of sleep as "sleeping through the night." Well, Belle usually sleeps 7pm-midnight or 1am, so, well, she's sleeping through the night. It's just that she wakes to eat at midnight or 1am, and then again sometime between 3am and 5am before waking for the day. And, though I am the one who gets up with her and Craig most often doesn't even hear us, Craig is the parent pushing for sleep training.

Why am I not clamoring to get Belle to sleep eleven hours straight? First and foremost, I secretly love the nighttime feedings. We are both half-asleep and Belle is adorably snuggly and it feels like we're the only two awake in the whole world. She eats quickly, and then nestles her head between my shoulder and neck as I walk her back to her crib. She is usually asleep in my arms before I even put her back down. It is a such a special time for us (well, for me anyway). Would I prefer to sleep uninterrupted and wake up rested? Sure, but I know that Belle will only be this little and snuggly for a short time and I can sleep later (like in my retirement in 30 years). And I secretly really enjoy our special middle-of-the-night snuggle nursing sessions.

I am also concerned about my body handling a long stretch without nursing. I have already edured two painful breast infections, likely caused by blocked ducts which could have been a result of the breast not being emptied when it needed to be. Can my body handle not nursing for so many hours and still produce enough to fully nourish Belle? I have not yet gone more than five, or maybe six, hours without feeding Belle. Can my body handle a longer stretch?

Finally, Belle's pediatrician warned us that Belle may wake for the day earlier if she sleeps through the night. She currently is ready to play at 6:30 or 7am (sometimes as late as 7:15 or 7:30 on mornings when Craig's alarm clock doesn't go off). This late wake-up could partially be due to the fact that she her nighttime sleep is interrupted. Anyway, the doctor warned me that Belle could be ready to play as early as 5am if she sleeps straight through the night. Well, since I am the parent who'd be up playing with Belle at that super early hour (one I knew well when I commuted from Manhattan to White Plains via Metro North Train five and six years ago), I would rather get up briefly twice at night and stay in bed until 7am than get up to play at 5am.

Again, would I like to feel rested in the mornings? Yes, but no matter how it's sliced, new parents are always tired. Am I really going to be less tired waking up to play with Belle at 5am? Or waking up painfully engorged? I am not happy about giving up my special middle-of-the-night nursing/snuggling sessions with Belle, either.

But, the books and our friends and my husband are big fans of sleep training, so we're trying it again.

The plan, since I'm not ready to give up nighttime feedings all together just yet, is to put Belle to sleep in her crib at 7pm as usual. Before Craig and I go to sleep, we'll open the Pack-N-Play in the living room. After I feed Belle at midnight or 1am, I'll put her down to sleep in the Pack-N-Play in living room. When she wakes to eat a few hours later, we'll let her cry until she falls back to sleep.

So, here we go: Sleep Training Round Two.