A long, rambling rant on sleep and the parenting thereof. Hopefully coherent.

Everything you are doing is wrong.
No, wait, everything you are doing is correct.
Well, actually, whatever you did for your first babe won't work for your second because they are different.  Thus, what was correct to do with child #1, is now incorrect with child #2.  I have no idea what you are supposed to do with more than two children.

Parenting books, there are lots of them.  You can find books that tell you to let your children cry themselves to sleep.  Other books will say never let them cry alone, that this destroys any bonds of trust between the two of you.  Some books will say if your child is crying in your arms, it's not really 'crying it out' because they know you are with them, even though they are still upset.  These books will tell you that all children sleep habits are different, but that all children need lots of sleep. (They haven't met my son).  Then there is the 'sleeping through the night' issue.

Some will tell you by 8 weeks they can sleep all night without nursing/bottles.  Some will say 4 months, or definitely by 9 months your babe should be able to sleep through the night.  Oh, and don't forget that the definition of sleeping through then night is 5 hours, not the actual whole night.  That is preposterous.

I've met moms whose children at 3 or 4 years old still wake up during the night.  I've met moms who swear their 4 month old will sleep from 7pm to 7am.  My children aren't too keen on sleep. 

Jeanne, at 2.5 years old, fights going to sleep.  Every night, she brushes her teeth, we read books, snuggle and turn on her star night light.  Every night, for the last few months, she will come out of her room.  When we ask her why she is out of her room, the excuses range from being scared, to mumble mumble mumble, to needing to make her ''safe circle", to needing water.  We've tried everything.  No really, we've snuggled her again, we've taken her stuffy's away, we've yelled, we've remained silent, and just turned her around.  Nothing.  Nothing works.  We're exhausted and out of ideas.

I'm sure there is another parenting book that can give me a pithy explanation and solution, but I'm too tired to read another book.