I just remembered something else… my youngest seemed to sleep better when the bedding was warm. I think going from warm arms to cold bedding woke her up so we used a heating pad to keep the bed warm and when we were ready to put her in bed we’d move it and lay her down. It seemed to help a little.
I agree about the whole babies like to be warm and nestled idea–I swear that’s why you can get a baby to sleep all night w/ you before you can away from you! I haven’t ever tried the heating pad idea–I did see somewhere that throwing a bottom blanket in the dryer just before putting baby on it is a good way…
Actually–we’ve been wondering lately if ds is too warm…we’ve been swaddling him per “The Happiest Baby on the Block” and a couple of times when he’s seemed REALLY figgity, we’ve removed the blanket and he calms down. Then, yesterday I decided to close the windows and turn on the air–we’ve been having 60 and 70 degree weather here!! I forgot to shut off the air last night and this morning dh told me when he got up for work the house was 63 degrees (which is much cooler than we’ve been keeping it w/ the new baby around). I forgot to mention in my previous post that last night ds went to bed at 2:20 and didn’t wake up until 6:05–that’s the longest stretch of sleep yet! I sure slept better w/ it cooler–I wonder if ds did too???
Just a thought! (I did notice he was a little stuffy this morning tho’)
I say when the pediatrician says baby should be able(is big enough to wait until morning for breakfast), it’s time to let him/her cry it out.
I finally broke (from exhaustion) with my two kids at 5 months of age and let them scream it out, it wasn’t easy, but I think it took about two nights. Looking back, I think we were all just in a bad habit.
Since it is especially hard for parents to hear their babe’s discontent, here is what my sister did: When they were ready to sleep through the night (weighing enough), she sent them to spend the weekend with Nana. Having raised 5 children and having even more wisdom now, Nana happily let the child cry. My sister picked the baby up Sunday morning and BAM! sleeping through the night! Maybe you know a benevolent soul who will give up a couple nights sleep to help you.
Cristy,
Wow! I think you are wonderful just to be so concerned. You’ve done your homework, but you know your son best. Trust your instincts. It will all be okay in the end, regardless of what you do.
Maybe you can just put a fan in his room to keep things a bit cooler (who knows if the cooler temp was a coincidence) and provide a bit of soothing noise.
Good luck!!!
P.S. I remember reading somewhere that sometimes babies just need to cry (if you’ve checked all of the important stuff). They may not necessarily be unhappy.
Thanks for that long post, Cristy. It makes me feel better that you aren’t going to let a one month old cio. I do think at some point when he’s older you may have to as it seems a lot of babies do go through this.
My kids gradually slept longer and longer and I’m sure Aaron will as was shown last night. I bet he does that more and more now. It’s a two steps forward one step back with kids. 
Christy,
Your kids are lucky to have a Mom like you!
Susan
Christy – I’m not sure if you’ve thought of this, but here goes…I used to nurse with a flannel receiving blanket under DD, so when she was asleep and I put her down in the pack & play (and later her crib), she was on top of a blanket that was not only warm, it smelled like me. It helped quite a bit. 
it’s a good idea–I haven’t tried it w/ ds but I did put a soiled t-shirt (I know that seems gross but it works) on dd’s bed when she was especially resistant to napping…
Thanks for the tip!
I did the shirt thing too.
Another thing that worked with my son was putting a sofa cushion under the head of his crib mattress. We then had to get one of those forms to kind of hold him in place, but the one end of the mattress was about 4 inches higher than the other end of the mattress.
Eventually we learned to screw the bottom of the crib together wrong and get the same effect but we felt it was more stable.
I can not begin to imagine why this worked, but we discovered it during exam time and it made the biggest difference.
Cristy, thank you so much for that long post, I feel like I have a lot more insight into your situation.
The biggest thing about cio is abandonment. Before about 6mos of age, and maybe longer than that, babies are all about building trust. Their only way of communicating to you that they need something, be it food, a diaper change, sleep, or a cuddle, is to cry. If they cry and you don’t meet their needs, eventually they’ll stop crying to let you know that they need something. At 18 mos like your dd was, having her cio is fine. She has other ways of telling you what she needs at that age.
It sounds like you’ve done the research that you need to do and that you’re taking the steps that you need to take. The only thing I could suggest is to get a bassinet and put it next to the bed for a few months until you figure out what his needs truly are. If he can be within arm’s reach, but not in the bed with you, you can touch him and still be asleep. Personally, when it’s time to purchase such things, I want a cosleeper bassinet while I’m breastfeeding during the night.
Cristy Bless your heart.
I wanted to add about swaddeling. With my first we had the house very cold and swaddled with a hat on and then a blanket on top of her being swaddled. With our current “baby” (shes 15 months old) she is so hot natured we swaddle her with a piece of calico, as flannel is way too hot for her.
My son cried constantly unless I was holding him. He had a milk allergy. So I stopped drinking and eating milk. And he got better. It is a very common allergy. But it made me laugh when you said you are begining to be able to sleep after youve been awake. I was the same, but now 9 years later if I am tired I can sleep. 
His hard babyhood taught me a lot.
I agree with you on behaviors. Anything I do with my kids I think “I’m creating a habit.” But I wouldnt be surprised if this is one of those quirks where all the sudden Aaron changes. He is still so new.
This last year I had a certain child who has gone through some interesting medical situations and has been in a lot of pain and inturn created a lot of friction in our family. Me being able to honestly change what I could and releave myself from guilt and stress about what I could not change was healing. But often we feel as if we must not be good enough, smart enough, etc. But let me releave you of any of that. Let go of any extra so you can deal with what is really going on.
I feel for you.
Thanks for the link to the co-sleeper–we’ve checked them out before but maybe we’ll think about it again!
I have the co-sleeper and LOVE IT. My DD slept in it right beside me until she was 4.5 months old and then we left for a 6 week camping trip where she slept between us in the tent and when we got home and she was 6 months old we transitioned her to her crib in her room. I now use the Co-sleeper as just the play pen part in my home office to corral her when I need to go pee, or put a load of laundry in etc.
Like I said before, I religiously followed the Happiest Baby on the Block, and swaddled DD until she was 4.5 months old. The only reason I stopped was because in the tent with 90 degree heat it was just too hot!!!
not getting more than 3 or 4 consecutive hours of sleep really sucks. I know because that is all I get now and dd is 12.5 months. I’m not too worried. These stages don’t last long and I figure I can suck it up a bit and be tired until she is ready to wean and sleep through the night. Makes work tough sometimes, but I exercise lots and eat very healthy so that helps to keep my body feeling great even when tired.
Best of luck to you and the little one!
I gained a good piece of advice from a lacation consultant "Breast feeding is best, IF it works for all the parties involved
if it does nt work for mom, its not gonna work for baby
if it does not work for baby its a LOT harder for Mom
if dad gets all pissy about it, its WAY harder for everyone
this is from experience, I have nursed 7 kids, but only birthed 3
when it does work, its a great thing
Wish my kids slept in their own rooms
after their father died, all my kids moved back into my room, and the 9yo sleeps at the foot of my bed, and the 12yo sleeps on my floor unless her sister is home
My way of dealing with this kind of situation is to ask the kid(s) “is anything broken?” When they say No, I tell them to go check (the table, chair, floor, etc)\worked like a charm, if they were still crying when they came back, it actually hurt
Honestly, I thinks co-sleeping is best, and if they need, they know they are not forbidden to get compfort
it also makes setting limits easier. They know that they are not forbidden, but when its not ok, they need to defer
JMHO
You’re doing a GREAT job