Sleep Training: Why I Just Can't "Cry It Out"

Hello all!  It has been a while and much has happened with Thanksgiving and hanging around Walmart all night long in search of the perfect black Friday deals.  During these last couple of weeks 'W' and I have been struggling with teaching baby to fall back asleep on her own.  This has proved to be quite the challenge, as the little one has a habit of spitting her binkie out when in a heavy sleep and WILL NOT go back to sleep without it after waking up. As you may be aware of, everyone wakes up during different times of the night, rolls over, and goes back to sleep.  But babies have a hard time figuring this out, it seems, and after a 4 hour stretch of good sleeping, wake up and don't know what to do.  Hence the reason moms and dads everywhere are up with their kids who should be sleeping through the night at all odd hours.  So a new, so-called 'science' developed in which parents and scientists alike observed the sleeping patterns of babies and techniques that should help them sleep through the night came forth.  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recently released a report on these techniques, emphasizing that through their research they discovered that no one technique will outdo another.  One is not better than another.  The key to 'sleep training' is pure consistency.  As wonderful as this sounds, I wonder how many of us actually live a consistent schedule in the evenings.  Husbands work late some nights, wives go out with the girls on weekends.  It's hard to imagine that any family actually has the same routine every night.  In spite of this, experts agree that the more consistent you are with the technique you choose, the better chance you have of being successful in getting a full night's rest.  I did some extra research of my own, and found the 5 suggestions this Academy of Sleep Medicine has come up with. Some I have tried, others not so much.

1. The full-blown Cry it Out Method: Let your baby cry herself to sleep without comforting her.  Alarmingly, this method has also been called the Extinction Method. I don't know a mother out there who could sit in her living room listening to her child screaming in their crib until they are too exhausted to cry any longer.  Seems rather inhumane doesn't it?
2. The modified Cry it Out Method: Let your baby cry, but reassure her at regular intervals, starting at small periods between comfort and getting to longer times before going back in to calm your baby.
3. Soothing bedtime routines: You establish routines that help your baby calm down, then turn out the lights and don't respond to any crying.  Though soothing bedtimes seem to be successful, I kind of have the feeling that not responding to her crying would be quite the opposite of continual soothing. 
4. Scheduled awakenings: this rarely used tactic involves waking your baby before she would normally get up on her own.  The awakenings get fewer and farther between as you get on with the technique, until they have finally phased out all together.  My issue with this one is how confusing it would be, especially with the sleep deprivation that inevitably would accompany it.  Timing wakes and trying to calculate how long you should wait before you wake baby up again would be more exhausting than responding to her usual wake schedule.
5. Parent education: Before baby arrives, or as soon as possible after, learn about infant sleep and how to help your baby develop healthy sleep habits early in infancy, such as putting her in bed sleepy, but awake.

I have tried several of these techniques, usually using two or three at the same time.  A constant night routine has done the most for us, though baby seems to make up her moves as she goes.  My point in all of the confusion and overwhelming contradicting research is reiterating that each baby does their own thing.  I refuse to accept only one of these techniques and promise to push my own ideas too.  So far sleep training has proved to be more frustrating than successful.  Our quest for perfect zzzz's is filled with much trial and error but it never hurts to be hopeful.  And perhaps the fatigue and exhaustion is just another part of everyday life. Once again, here's to finding comfort and happiness for your baby for life!