miserable failure so far.

So far this isn't working at all. J has yet to actually cry himself all the way to sleep. This is how the three hour blocks of our lives have been going:

0:00 - 0:15 Eat
0:15 - 0:30 Pooping, basically docile and happy, though grunty
0:30 - 0:45 Pretty much happy and sleepy looking
0:45 Spit up
0:45 - 1:00 Diaper and clothing change and preparation for nap
1:00 - 3:00 Some combination of blood curdling and whimpery crying
3:00 Eat

Luckily, he still manages to tire himself out enough to sleep at night. This is the best part of a sleep-deprived baby -- we get a five- to six-hour chunk of sleep and then two shorter chunks before morning. If it weren't for that sleep, I don't think I'd be able to handle the screamfest.

I am actually writing this now to keep myself from reading about letting your child cry himself to sleep, internet articles that vary from "you are making your child give up on ever getting any love from you and you are a terrible parent!" to "if you don't do this now your child will grow up with sleep issues and will be less happy and healthy in the long run you terrible parent!"

The doctor said it would take him "30-45 minutes, but I'm guessing he'll be in the 45 minute range" to fall asleep, so after 30 or 45 minutes (or 15 or 20, depending on my tolerance for that span of time) I go and make sure he isn't suffocating or puking or chewing his hand off. I know what you're thinking, because I thought it, too, that he realizes that if he cries long enough, I'll come, but that would be a little too advanced for a newborn, I'm afraid. The doctor agrees, so go to hell with your "don't let him see you come in the room" warnings.

That said, I just heard a big wet fart and he is now sleeping, and we are at about 1:45 in the cycle. Well, we're still in the beginning phase of the experiment, so, you know, the data could still be in the anomaly section.

In the time it took me to type that last paragraph, he woke up and went back to sleep and woke up again.