Graduated Extinction

Doesn't this sound like the topic of a Discovery Channel special?

It's actually a method of getting baby to sleep on his or her own, without being rocked, nursed, etc. And if you think my refusal to continue to nurse and rock my baby to sleep is cold and unnecessarily heartless, that's your business. I can, however, offer evidence that this is entirely necessary at my house.

Harry is going to be 11 months old soon and is waking up everything three hours at night. This is on par with what one would expect for a 2- to 3-month-old infant, and five steps back from where he was around Christmastime. Oh, those were the nights! Harry in bed by 7:30, Kevin and me watching a movie together, or me catching up on work while Kevin watched the news or read. Harry would wake up once or twice a night, babble for a minute, and go back to sleep. We'd hear him on the monitor, listen until he was obviously asleep again, and then follow his good lead.

He's been crying from his crib now for almost 30 minutes. Kevin and I are taking turns every five or 10 minutes, lying Harry back down, telling him we love him, and then leaving as he screams and stands back up.

This sucks.

It probably does not suck quite as badly, though, as Kevin emptying our entire closet to find a belt that was actually not even in the closet, or me putting the cereal in the refrigerator three days in a row, or me backing over the trash can, or me not being able to buy the things that were actually written down on a grocery list that I was holding in my hand.

But it does still suck.

ETA: After 30 minutes, and four visits by myself and Kevin, Harry fell asleep and has now been asleep for almost an hour. Fingers crossed!