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When my boy was around 18 months old, he really started fighting the crib. After months of this, my husband, in a 3am moment of desperation, set him down on the futon that was in his room at the time. The Boy rolled over and promptly fell asleep for ten hours. Needless to say, we went out bed shopping the day after.


Unfortunately, the delivery of his big boy bed coincided with his worst-ever bout of separation anxiety and a terrible stomach bug. This combination led us, his exhausted middle aged parents, to break the cardinal rule of bedtime and start laying with him in his bed until he fell asleep. Now this has been going on for a year, and with the imminent arrival of Boy #2, I decided we had to nip this in the bud. So I bought the Supernanny book, dusted off my copy of Weissbluth, polled all my mom friends, and did a few internet searches, and I devised a plan. A plan involving a week of talking it up, a kitchen timer, and a basket of small treats. I dreaded the implementation, as I have never been one of those parents who could stomach the cry-it-out method, but time is growing short - I'm about 6 weeks away from delivery, and figured it could take about that long.

I can hardly believe it, but it's worked like a charm. IN TWO DAYS. The first night he cried out for me a few times after I left his room - I went back and reassured him that I was just in the next room - and the second night when it was time for me to leave the room he put on a brave face - "Is okay, Mommy, is okay, I not cry, you check on me in a few minutes.." And now? Now when that timer goes off he opens his eyes and says, "Dat da timah? Ok... you go." And he goes to sleep. Goes to sleep! I should have done this 6 months ago