As I write this, W is lying in his seldom-used crib, with his lovey, listening to the soothing sounds of the Sleep Sheep and whining and mumbling to himself. Um, is this sleep training?

Recently I was in LA, where I visited many wonderful people and places, among them my friend Susan and the amazing Pump Station. I highly recommend both of them Anyway, friend Susan told me, "When you go to the Pump Station, look for this book, The Sleepeasy Solution. You HAVE to get it."

Yep, a sleep training book. Or, as the authors call it, "sleep learning." I think that is supposed to sound more edifying and less like there's a dog whistle involved, but, you know, semantics.

You see, W started "sleeping through the night" by two months. I thought things were going great when he would sleep for six to seven hours straight. The problem is, we kind of got stuck there. In fact, things seem to be getting worse, not better, ever since around four months. Now he's waking up every morning to eat around 4 a.m., and sometimes at other times, too. No good.

So, this book. I was kind of reluctant to buy it, because Sus seems a bit more hard-core than I am. In fact, I'm afraid I'm turning into one of those moms who is too wussy to let her baby sleep in his own room... or cry it out, even just a little bit. And this book does involve some crying. But anyway, I bought it and I've sort of read it. I mean, when your baby is not sleeping so great AND you work full time, who has time to read a book?

It was an overwhelming experience, mostly because we are pretty much doing everything wrong.

• We nurse to sleep.
• He sleeps in our room.
• He goes to bed too late.
• He eats in the middle of the night.
  
• And so on.

Add in the factors of teething and being about to start solids, and we are in a transitional nightmare spot. What to do? The book specifically says not to do "sleep learning" when the baby is teething, starting a new food, facing a developmental milestone (like sitting, which he's doing now).

I decided to sort of invent my own modified solution. What do you think?

Step 1. Sleep in own room. This will involve mom or dad sleeping in there for a few nights so he can get used to it. I am going to miss having him so close. And how will I be sure he's breathing? Sad.

Step 2. Night weaning. I may combine this with step 1, not sure yet. Per the book, this involves figuring out when he usually wakes to nurse, and setting the alarm for an hour beforehand, and gradually diminishing the number of minutes he eats, until we're skipping that session altogether. Seems a bit complicated for my level of lucidity in the middle of the night, but it's gotta happen. W is no underweight preemie who needs to eat around the clock.

Step 3. The dreaded cry it out. Well, the "supported" cry it out as set out in the book. Also, the book says not to touch the baby when you come in for periodic checks and he's crying. But I think I might have to give him a little pat on the chest along with the comforting words.

Step 4. Naps. See, the book says to tackle naps and nighttime sleeping at the same time, but I am not sure I feel comfortable having the nanny follow this program. Naps are not a huge problem for us, anyway, although I think we could schedule them a little better. Hope we are not shooting ourselves in the foot by not dealing with naps right now.

I feel a little conflicted about all this still, mostly because right now W lives by our schedule, staying out late or staying in, napping in his stroller, the car or wherever, getting a bath when we say so, etc. I don't really want to plan our whole lives around a 7 p.m. bedtime, especially because that means fewer hours of hanging out with him after work. But I'm also tired of waking up at 4 a.m.

Someone tell me this will be worth it! And do you think my plan will work? Any suggestions?

By the way, remember how I said he was in his crib when I started this? Now he's in my lap. This is not going to be easy.