The Accidental Parent

I recently read a book by "The Baby Whisperer" since we're struggling a little in the sleep department. Julian was taking some long stretches while sleeping in his swing, but sadly he is going to outgrow it soon! We decided we have to just draw the line and make him sleep in his crib.  My sister-in-law has had some success with this book and had found lots of helpful tips in it. The main idea I got from the book, though, is that I'm a victim of "accidental parenting". When I told Ross, his response was "Oops, I'm a parent". Very funny... My interpretation of our parenting was more like "Trial and Error Parenting" or "Instinctual Parenting", but, no, it's "accidental" meaning we do what works for us in the moment.

He slept better in my arms as a newborn, so I let him.
He slept more peacefully in his swing, so I let him.
He likes a bottle to soothe himself to sleep, so I give it to him.

However, now I have a baby that sleeps for short stretches in the night and wakes up frequently only to want to eat and even then stays awake for hours because he's not able to soothe himself back to sleep.

All that to say, we are undergoing a modified "baby bootcamp" right now. It would be waaaayyyy to much for us to follow this book's total philosophy. Even though the idea of having a baby who sleeps from 11pm to 7am and who takes two 1 1/2 hour naps a day and a little "hour catnap" in the evening sounds super tempting. I just don't know if it's realistic for us and I don't want to just totally pull out the rug from under Julian all at once. We are starting with just getting him to sleep in his crib at night and during naps. When he wakes up we can rock him and shush him, but ultimately he has to go back in the crib. I'll let you know how things go after a week of this.

Who would have thought this little nugget could be such a handful??