Almost thirteen years ago I brought my first baby home...a month early. He weighed right around 5 pounds and was a lovely shade of jaundiced yellow. I was told to wake him every two hours to feed him. I did. It became a habit, for him. And in between those two hour feedings the only way he would sleep was if I was touching him. Just holding a finger, or patting his head, anything was fine.

"Let him cry it out" , "Co-sleeping is bad", the infamous "they" said to me. I had a three month old baby and I already knew I was a failure as a mother. We co-slept until his first birthday.

We have since had three other baby boys. Some were better sleepers than others. All of them co-slept with me. And there was never a "schedule" for napping. Numbers three and four were raised between the elementary and baseball field; they slept in their car seat whenever and wherever they could.

I can not possibly give anyone advice on how to get a baby to sleep through the night, or to cry it out, or to get the baby on a sleep schedule, because I have none. Every baby is different. Every family is different. You do what works for your baby and your family.

Here is what I can tell you:

If your baby falls asleep breastfeeding, and you do too, it's okay.

If your baby takes a bottle and goes to bed still awake, that's okay too.

If your baby needs to be driven around the block in the middle of the night to sleep, then god speed.

If your baby can cry it out and you can stand to listen to it, then you are great.

If you can't stand to hear your baby cry for more than ten minutes so you rock your baby to sleep, you are also great.

Point is, YOU are a great mom. You take care of your baby the best way you know how...and that often means you need to sleep. So take the sleep anyway you can get it!

We now have four boys who sleep through the night...in their own beds. Well mostly.

Good luck and sweet dreams!