(Parenting.com) -- A dad looks at how long it really takes a kid to sleep alone:



Getting the baby to sleep is a challenge for many parents.



1:28 a.m. Every couple of hours, Jack (2 weeks) cries. My wife feeds him, then hands him to me to change his diaper. It's an equitable division of labor, but I wish I could sleep.



2:15 a.m. Jack (1 month) is sleeping between me and my wife because this way she can nurse while she dozes. I'm happy, but so tired. He's on his back, and there are no pillows or blankets around him, but I'm wide-awake, thinking about SIDS. He's like a little hot-water bottle. His breath is sweet and milky against my face.



10 p.m. I'm lying on a tiny crib mattress on the floor next to the crib. We're trying to get Jack (9 months) to sleep through the night. His mother and I take turns lying next to him on the floor and holding his hand through the slats. I miss my wife.



1:36 a.m. Jack (12 months) is sleeping in between us, again. Lying next to his crib didn't work -- Jack kept crying, waking both of us. This way, we all get some sleep. Parenting.com: Dad's in charge? Uh oh.



4:27 a.m. I'm wide-awake because Jack (15 months) kicked me in the groin. I have to get up to drive my wife to New York, then turn around and drive back home with Jack, all on about three hours of sleep. I decide that while his mother is gone, I will Ferberize him. Parenting.com: Ferberizing is not what you think it is



9:13 p.m. Jack (15 months and a day) is in his crib, crying, crying, crying.



10:11 p.m. Jack (15 months and a week) is in his crib, alone and asleep. Ferberizing worked. Suddenly I have a great idea -- let's have another baby! But this would require that my wife and I stay awake for longer than ten seconds once our heads hit the pillows.



12:02 a.m. In bed with my wife, I'm feeling romantic, but then Jack (18 months) cries out. He has a fever. We give him kids' Motrin and bring him back into bed with us. He's burning up.



11:21 p.m. Jack (18 months and a week) is no longer sick, but now he's back in our bed, every night. It's once again the only way he'll go down.



7 a.m. I realize that for the first time, Jack (22 months) has finally slept through the night. Now we have to get him out of diapers and back in his own room.



11:41 p.m. We are lying in an H formation. Jack (2 years) is nestled into his mother's chest, perpendicular to us, with his feet lodged against my throat, trying to push me off the bed. Freud was right about Oedipus. Parenting.com: Why good dads make moms jealous



4:25 a.m. Jack (3 years) has kicked the covers off me again and I wake up, shivering. I pull the covers up. He kicks them off. I pull them up. He kicks them off. I go downstairs, turn on the TV, and fall asleep on the couch.



2:15 p.m. I'm sound asleep, dreaming. Unfortunately, I'm at work. Tomorrow is Jack's fourth birthday. Last night in bed, he said, "Hey, why do I have to sleep in the middle?"



7:30 p.m. I am lying in the new twin bed we bought Jack (4 1/4 years), to show him how it works. We made a big deal of it, his very own Big Boy Bed, and we let him pick out the dinosaur sheets and the dinosaur comforter. All is ready.



12:05 a.m. I'm in this big empty bed, alone. We told Jack that on his fifth birthday he
Did the parents share a bed with the baby? Did anyone sleep through the night? What sound kept the father awake? Where did the child refuse to sleep? What kept the father awake? What is the son's name? What kept the dad awake? Where does the boy now sleep?
Jack (1 month) is sleeping between me and my wife for the first time, Jack (22 months) has finally slept crying, his crib Jack Jack crying, the crib.
question: Did the parents share a bed with the baby?, answer: Jack (1 month) is sleeping between me and my wife | question: Did anyone sleep through the night?, answer: for the first time, Jack (22 months) has finally slept | question: What sound kept the father awake?, answer: crying, | question: Where did the child refuse to sleep?, answer: his crib | question: What kept the father awake?, answer: Jack | question: What is the son's name?, answer: Jack | question: What kept the dad awake?, answer: crying, | question: Where does the boy now sleep?, answer: the crib.