i'm a single mom of a wonderful 10 month old baby boy. i made the decision 5 months ago not to allow his alcoholic father in his life and have not regretted it.
my son is a great baby, unfortunately, when i made his father leave, it disrupted his life and i began to allow him to sleep next to me. now i cannot get him to sleep much at all in his crib. he's not getting enough sleep and neither am i. does anyone out there have any suggestions? i'm desperate!
thanks

Hey first off welcome and sorry to hear about your dead beat!!!
With the baby sleeping with you thing you are going to do what we all have had to do one time or another, the baby is going to have to cry. My peditrion told be that when it was bed time to have the same rutine everynight and at bed time put her in bed and if she cried let her, for three to five min. Go back in the for a brief min just to tell them that it is okay and you are still there and then leave... Do not pick them up.. This was the hardest thing for me, I would take a shower or go to the back room so I did not hear her. It lasted a week Maybe and now she goes to bed with out a peep and she slept better when I let her cry a little, she got rid of usless energy!!!! Try it. Just stick to it. It will work and be the best for both of you.. Agian Welcome and I hope this helps
Amanda

I had that same problem. The only way the baby is going to get used to not sleeping with you is by doing exactly that. Of course he's not used to sleeping in his crib therefore, it's going to take some getting used to! He'll probably cry himself to sleep every night. When my sons father was shot and killed, he died in our apartment. I continued to live there, so at night my 2 sons and I would just get into my bed. Once I started that it continue for 2 more years; until I met my daughter's father! When I made them go into their own rooms they would cry and stay up half the night, but in order to get them use to their room I had to deal with it.

thanks, i've tried to let him cry things out before but he'll usually continue to cry for 30-40 mins if i let him (i only did this once at the strong urging of my mom). now that he can stand on his own, i've seen him through temper tantrums and hit his head on his crib. i'm afraid that if i do try and let him cry things out that he'll bang himself up pretty badly.

I had the same problem with my son and I started out not so....drastic for lack of better words. So I started out slowly. First I would put him in his crib and I'd sit next to his crib until he fell asleep, letting him know that I"m still there and not abondoning him. He'd stand up and cry and reach for me and I said no you need to lay down, I'd tap on the pillow and sometimes have to actually lay him down. I'd hold his hand, pat his back and sing to him. Comforting him to know that I'm not leaving and I"m there. I did that for about a week and after a lot of crying and work, he would fall asleep in his crib, but then I had to get him use to me not being there. See part of him sleeping in the bed with you is a) he's in your bed and b)he's with you. So that's why I stayed in the room. So then what you do is week by week move your chair farther and farther away from the crib and closer and closer to the door. Only change your distance weekly, because it takes about a week for them to get use to the changes. Finally you're out the door! Yeah! =) Just another suggestion! Best of luck!
Melissa