Nightmare

Asher slept for 20 minutes between 7:30am and 2pm today. I had this exact same day with Owen at 6 weeks. I can't do another Owen.

Owen is upstairs screeching/tantruming in his crib for the last hour and not sleeping for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row.

I apparently have no parenting skills when it comes to getting babies to sleep. I know I went into Asher's birth deciding that I would make sure to be consistent and instill healthy habits from the beginning, but somehow that didn't work out; we and our visitors still ended up rocking or walking or holding him when he wouldn't sleep on his own. What else were we supposed to do? I know there was something I could have done much more consistently or better, but it seems like other people are similarly lax and do not end up with similar problems. I let Asher cry for my time limit of 10 minutes this morning to see what would happen and by the end of it he was so wound up and beside himself that when he finally fell asleep when I gave him a pacifier at 10 minutes, he woke up screaming again after 3 minutes, repeat this cycle several times. Does anyone suggest that he is not too young to let him fully cry-it-out now at 6 weeks? I think it would take a good 20-30 minutes and might break my heart again :P Owen did so much crying, and what good has it really done? Some people tell me to let him cry, but when I explain that he ramps up when I try they seem to be mystified, as if when they did it their children just fussed a little and then went right to sleep. Have I tended to Asher's crying too much? Would he have been a better sleeper if I'd ignored him more?

I am feeling very disheartened with my now extremely overtired baby who is finally sleeping fitfully, waking up and screaming every 15 minutes, and my toddler who is miserable but clearly tired, rubbing his eyes and yawning. I wish I knew the best approach for these two.

Sigh.