To Nap or Not to Nap

As I sit here writing this, I am listening to my little guy cry in the other room. :( He does not like to go to sleep.  Of course, once he does, he doesn't want to wake up for the world.  Sounds a lot like me when I was younger.  Since becoming a mom, however, I actually relish bedtime!

I've been reading that 15-20 minutes of crying is not bad for a baby; that some babies cannot fall asleep without expending energy crying; that babies need to learn to fall asleep on their own without a sleep aid (such as nursing, rocking, or swinging).

But I still hate to hear my baby cry!  It's a heart-wrenching sound.  In the long-run, I know it's better to just let him cry, but it's so hard knowing that I can do something about his distress and shouldn't.

There... he's stopped.  It wasn't that long of a cry this time.  Of course, he cried off and on through his first morning nap, and then I gave in half-way through his second one and put him in his swing.  I have no doubt that he is exhausted... and maybe he's already started to learn...