Nigh-Nigh And Other Bad Habits

I have created a monster. And it's becoming a problem. Jacob was well on his way to sleeping in his crib when we moved back from Alabama. He would go to bed around 9 and sleep until 12 where I'd nurse him and he'd go back down until 4 if I was lucky. At this point, I would let him sleep in bed with me until we woke up around 7 or 8. This wasn't the best sleeping situation, as I wanted him to learn to sleep through the night without needing to nurse or cuddle. But I was working on it.

Then we moved in with CS's parents and his crib was placed at the foot of my bed. He'd wake up at midnight and I'd end up placing him next to me in bed and then we'd fall asleep and sleep all night till early morning. I knew it was bad, but some nights I didn't even remember getting him from the crib. There wasn't enough space between my bed and his bed for me to wake up enough to go put him back. On one hand, he no longer needs to nurse when he wakes up at night. But now he only sleeps about two hours after bedtime before he's crying to sleep next to me. And since bedtime is now 8:30, he is awake before 11. This interferes with my evenings, as I don't enjoy laying in bed with him so he can sleep. But crying it out doesn't work. I tried. He would lay there and cry, cry, cry, fall asleep, five seconds of silence, cry, cry, cry, sit up, repeat. I don't have a Ferber book, or I might try that.

I know I need to sleep train him. But there doesn't seem to be much of a point until we have a room for him. And I'm scared of all the crying that's going to happen. The late nights where I'm just tired and all he wants is to be able to feel me when he wakes up in the dark. I don't mind co-sleeping but it doesn't work when CS is sleeping with us. A queen sized bed is not big enough for a family of three. I've felt terribly guilty about letting him sleep in my bed for the past three months. I know it's creating a bad habit that I have to break, but I didn't always have to power to keep him in his bed. Plus, I've been getting a lot more sleep and the night nursing is mostly done. Unless he pulls my shirt up during the night and latches on without my knowledge. He also likes to slide his hand up and hold on to a nipple. I hate this and it usually results in a nighttime hand slapping. This was accompanied with giggles this morning when the imp tried to feel me up at 7:30.

I call him the Boobie Monster.