sleep, part 100

So Elliot stopped sleeping through the night when he was four months old and for the last 5 months i have been thinking of reason upon reason for his terrible sleeping patterns as they emerge.  Finally, at the beginning of January, we decided to try the sleep whisperer technique after a friend let me know it was working for her her and her new baby. seemed awesome. a good compromise between the no cry sleep solution that just wasn't working and the dreaded decision to make him cry it out.  Baby whisperer was working great and then we got sick. and have been sick for a month, and elliot started to crawl and pull himself up and get stranded standing, and suddenly all the hard work of night time sleep training seemed to be undone and we were back at square one. The major problem being that I now work full time and do not have the energy to stay awake all night working on sleep techniques. i need sleep.  and so elliot was waking up at 11 and 12 and 2:30 and 4 and 5 and then I would bring him into bed with me and he would nurse until 7.  I was basically a walking zombie trying to pastor during the day and mommy all night long. but finally one morning this week, having made the decision that I had to start breaking his habits again and that I was going to start with making him sleep in his own crib all night long, I was losing my mind because he was wide awake at 5 for the second day in a row. and so i gave him a bottle of formula and he passed out. he went back to sleep for 2 more glorious hours!  i couldn't believe it. and so i started giving him a bottle at midnight and 5 (or whenever he wakes up around those times) and it seems to be doing the trick. no more 2:30 wake ups. no more needing to sleep with me all morning. the child was starving and that's why he wasn't sleeping!!! thank goodness i didn't make him cry it out -what would i have taught him??  his wake ups were because he was hungry and i wasn't giving him enough with nursing alone anymore.  last night i slept for a solid 4 hours between feedings and it was wonderful! I think we may be starting to go in the right direction again.and not a day too soon! phewf.