Dr. Ferber vs. Dr. Sears

The battle rages. Before having a baby, I was completely opposed to the idea of a "family bed." Crazy talk. But, because Claire didn't sleep for the first 4 days she was home, we finally moved her into our bed to get some sleep. Then, she graduated into her cosleeper. We were waiting for her to sleep through the night before kicking her out of our room and into her crib in a separate room down the hall. But, she still doesn't sleep through the night at, at 6 months, she was getting ridiculously big for the cosleeper. In fact, we started worrying that we might be stunting her mobility by keeping her in it.

So, we gradually moved her into her crib. But, there has been a lot of drama. She kept getting her leg stuck between the slats, so we got a breatheable bumper. That didn't solve the problem so we used velcro strips to affix the bumper. Now, she's in the crib, more or less, but she wakes up all the time. Sometimes, with steely resolve, I rock her back to sleep during the night. Other times, I cry "uncle" early and put her into our bed with us. The magical thing: when she's in our bed, she sleeps like Rip Van Winkle. Seriously. For the last few nights, she's been miserable with a low-grade fever that we suspect is teething related. So, finally, last night, wanting her to get a good night sleep, I put her to bed in our bed right from the start. She slept from 8 to 7:30. What! Is this Bizarro Baby? Is it that easy? Or, am I getting completely bamboozled? The other thing: Claire is a bed hog and doesn't leave Bruce or me much room. I'm torn. She's such a mellow little baby that getting up a couple times during the night isn't a big deal (even, if yes, they are completely different issues). Plus, it takes 10 minutes to put her to bed at night and she sleeps until 7:30. Love it. But, when she's in the crib, man, it's rough. Who's going to win this fight? Who knows? Eeny, meeny, miny, mo . . . .