sleep training a boy with some success and failure

i've used this book as my sleep training "bible", if you must, along with advice from my mother. it has worked beautifully with all three girls. lucy still sleeps 11 hours a night, and the girls 12. abby and phoebe both still nap (abby only about 3 times a week now, but hey, she's 5!). i start at 4 months on their naps, making sure we get a nice windown cuddle session for 20 minutes while we are training. and then lay them down. rodney caught on to nap times but fought it more than the girls ever did. (his is a crazy cuddler) he naps twice a day for 1-3 hours and goes to bed between 5:30-6pm. every monday morning he still cries a bit for his morning nap, (he has just been held all day during church and would like to keep up that practice).

but his nighttime feedings, well, lets just say he doesn't really look malnurished. lucy i didn't sleep train till 10 months, so i didn't have a hard time letting her cry it out at night. abby was a preemie so we kept up our nighttime feeding until 13 months (hey! she was in the 3%!). but she was chill and would only wake up once. phoebe was 1 when i let her cry it out because she was chill too, just one feeding, no biggie.

but this boy. oh this boy! he loves the boobies. usually it was just once or twice a night (more than likely twice) that he would wake up screaming bloody murder! just to get a nursing session in and fall asleep drinking the warm bubbly. but lately it has evolved into 3 times! and i am a walking zombie. i thought i would wait till he was 9 months, but my mom looked at him and said, "he definitely doesn't look like a baby that needs another feeding!".

so last friday i let him cry out his 3am feeding (he had already nursed at 9:30 and 11:30!). oh, the longest 20 minutes of my life. and then saturday night? well he just decided to sleep 12 hours straight. success! sunday night? oh, he cried for an hour at 3am! an hour! i couldn't stand it anymore and went int and nursed him. fail! and then monday night, i let him cry out that 3 am feeding again after nursing him at 11. oh, bloody murder screams for 35 minutes. fail! he went back to sleep on his own, but only until 5:30. in my defense, when he cries, it is NOT like how a girl cries. it's like it's world war II and the germans are invading, that very second!

and last night i fed him a great big oatmeal dinner and...13 hours later he woke up happy and talkative. success again!

now, i'm not holding my breath. i figure every sunday night he is going to want to extend the holding and hugging and nursingtosleep fest from church. but i will persist, i need my sleep. i need my sanity. but it is so hard to let this cute little happy boy cry!