Reading about it in books or articles, you’d come to think that sleep training is a progression. After the first arduous night of listening to the little one scream, the next night is better because they don’t scream as long. And after that, the screaming gets less and less until she blissfully puts herself to sleep. The whole process takes 5-10 days. There may be a regression here and there, but really that’s about it.

Our little EC is anything but like that. Night 1: scream like crazy. Night 2: drop asleep immediately. Night 3: asleep immediately. Night 4: scream for 45 minutes. Nights 5-8: asleep immediately. Night 9: scream for 45 minutes. This looks like less of a progression and more of a binary, on-off behavior. It’s not really what I was primed for.

I just keep reminding myself that this too will pass. I just have to imagine a screaming three-year-old that never learned to sleep in her own bed, now demanding to get her way…nothing stiffens my resolve like the conviction that I’m on the path to making her not-spoiled.

An experiment with mice showed that they were kept most interested in getting new treats when the treats were administered at random intervals. Periodic, predictable intervals led to boredom. Just not knowing when something new would come is what kept things interesting.

Right now, little EC is keeping things interesting.