Sleeping Through the Night

... is something my children do not do well at.  Plain and simple.  It seems that as of late, I have been hearing a lot about how Sarah does not sleep through the night yet.  I would love it if I could put her down at 7:00 knowing that I wouldn't hear her again until the morning but that's not the case.  I can pretty much guarantee she will be up by 10:00 or the second Doug turns off his lamp.  If I put her in the crib, she will cry for me by about 2:00 in the morning.  On the other hand, if I snuggle with her in our bed, she will sleep straight until 7:00.  

Tonight I read something that made me feel less guilty about her inability to sleep without waking up.  It was in the blog Peaceful Parenting (Tuesday, December 1, 2009).  Rather than make you go there and read what I did, I'm going to highlight some of the points that I really appreciated reading:

1. Every baby is different, and some sleep through the night earlier than others.
2. Sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone - like walking or toilet training - that your baby will reach when she is ready to.
3. One of the main reasons that night-waking babies are such a big issue is that parents don't have realistic expectations of the sleep patterns of babies.
4. Remember that night waking in babies and young children is normal and temporary
5. Your goal is to maximize sleep for everyone in the family, while respecting the needs of your child.  

I'll be honest, I would love Sarah to sleep a blissful 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  It sounds divine.  But, maybe that's just not who she is... yet.  I am sure that ONE DAY she will sleep through the night.   But until then, I will continue to love her back to sleep.  Crying it out doesn't work for me (I tried) and so I will do what I know works.  She won't be in our bed forever and waking up during the night will one day come to an end.