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Boris is in a napping pattern that would raise many mothers' eyebrows: his longest, deepest naps take place in his wrap, on my back. In fact, save for a half-hour early-morning catnap in his bassinet upstairs, he doesn't ever really sleep apart from me.

Did I create this situation? Yes and no. Boris never did attach to a lovey, or even his thumb. He doesn't know how to self-soothe. That leaves just two alternatives: wearing him to sleep, or leaving him to cry it out.

I've never been comfortable with cry-it-out as a viable sleep training method. Fussing is one thing; Boris often fusses before sleep, wrapped or not. Full-blown, unanswered crying? Not something I can do. Both my kids were/are cry-until-vomit types. Plus, lonely cries and pain cries sound too similar. Sure, I could medicate my kids to sleep. But daycare centers have been, at best, deemed negligent for such actions; moreover, it doesn't even work. Why should I get away with it? Just because I'm with him 24/7?

Motherhood is all about finding the right mix of experience, knowledge, and instinct to come up with solutions that are best for everyone in the family. For me, that means:

• The experience that tells me Boris' sleep needs and patterns will change as he gets older. And that his "little" stage will be all too short-lived.
• The knowledge that at his age, sleep is everything to his growth and development--and should thus be a healthy, not a stressful, experience.
• The instinct that he knows what he needs, at least in this situation.

So it's hard on my back and, to an extent, limits my activities. But Boris was born such a short time ago, and he's got the next seventeen and a half years to learn independence. Why force it on him now?