Okay…I normally write about office noise. And as irritating and distracting as it is, nobody talks about home noise and how LOUD it can be. So, I’m going to level with you- babies aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. I mean, when you’re registering for gifts, you think of little toes and sweet-smelling baths, of toothy smiles and first steps, not of sleepless nights and colicky babies. So, as the reality of sleep deprivation hits (and you wonder why people say “sleeping like a baby”), as all cranky parents do, you turn to sleep aid books and read about “crying it out.” This sounds like a good plan until you actually hear your precious baby (who is indeed still precious regardless of all that noise) sob. How can you do what you think is best for your child and you in the long run and still retain your sanity?
I know it’s crazy, but I tried a couple things as I realized that my two babies “crying it out” was a painfully noisy process. First, I put in ear plugs- the kind that are squishy and you can stuff pretty far in your ears. Sadly, this ended up making my ears kind of sore after a whole night. So, next I turned to white noise. This was a great alternative- it provided an adjustable background noise. So, if the baby was in the full throes of screaming, I could turn it up and when the baby had calmed a bit, I could turn it back down so I could still roughly monitor what was going on.
I know it’s a controversial method, but for us it was well-worth the few days of pain. Now we have 2 wonderful sleepers who can be put to bed by anyone and who go to sleep by themselves without a sound.
Disclaimer: I did not try this when either of my kids were sick, teething, or at any other time that I needed to respond to their cries.
