It took one entire year to for me to sleep 4 hours straight at night! I never thought it would happen - I cried out of sheer exhaustion many times. This is one of the many reasons why I stopped blogging last year. No energy to do one single thing.My baby goes to sleep awake, in his crib at 7p.m. and gets up at 6a.m. He may get up 0 -3 times in the night and may need me or Mark to go in his room to comfort for him for a few minutes. But folks, this is GREAT!!!
I had been getting 3-5 hours of sleep each night - every night - for one whole year. With no naps during the day!
Teddy was a poor sleeper since we brought him home from the hospital. He was used to sleeping in his swing and now that he turned a year, he was way too big and it wasn't safe to put him there anymore. The last few months have been hard - getting up several times a night to rock him back to sleep. He used to need to be nursed back to sleep several times throughout the night - that turned into having a bottle to go back to sleep.
Utter hell for a girl who needs 9 hours a night. Since Ricky dropped his nap, I don't get a nap - so I would be operating on 3+ hours of sleep day after day. There were some days I didn't drive because it just wasn't a good idea. I was a total zombie.
I "Ferberized" Teddy and I really have to say that it saved my life. Now Mark and I are better rested and have more time for each other in the evening. It wasn't easy listening to Teddy cry but seriously, it only took 2 days and he was only crying for 5 minutes for a few more days - then no crying at all.
The book has a guide for how many minutes you should wait before going in the room each time. You can decide the minutes that you're comfortable with. The idea is to comfort your child, be consistent, and allow your child to be able to soothe himself to sleep.
I do the same thing for his naps too. I make him a small bottle, turn on his mobile (which has stars and moons that project onto the ceiling), and feed him the bottle in the glider. He lets me know when he's done and then I put him down in his crib - awake - and he soothes himself to sleep. I leave the room.
Ricky was a poor sleeper til he turned 10 months. Now he can sleep through a tornado. It's great. I'm hoping Teddy will follow suit. I guess Ferberizing has been controversial - some people think that letting a child cry it out causes emotional scars. I hated listening to Teddy cry - and it made me, my husband, and Teddy himself lose sleep for a year. Now after a few nights, Teddy has learned to sleep on his own, and the family is well-rested. No regrets!
2 comments:
I never read any books about the Feber method, but our my DH held my hand when we had to have our 9-year-old daughter cry it out when she was a baby. As you say every night was easier, but I just remember it being so traumatic for first-time-mum me.
Now with our twin boys, Liam sleeps like a dream!!! But Tommy, he needed to CIO. This time is was my decision. My SIL came into the living room and asked if she should get him. I told her, "I'm letting him figure it out for himself." She agreed it was a good idea. Our daughter came down. She asked one of us to get him. I told her to close her door if it bothered her. The nursery room door was already closed and Liam doesn't care if his brother cries. I explained that he needed to figure it out for himself. It only took 5 to 10 minutes and he was asleep. The next few nights were easier.
So my experience, CIO works.
I wish I swallowed that earlier. If I had let him CIO months ago, we wouldn't have suffered so much. So many people told me to let him CIO - including his nurses and pediatricians but I had a hard time listening to it. I had to wait until I was at my wit's end to actually DO it. So in the end, I think it wasn't Teddy's fault, it was my inability to push on and sleep train him. He sleeps so much better too.
Glad at least one of the boys sleeps well!! Tommy will probably follow soon with your sleep training. Great that you are firm about it - because I'm just realizing that that's what makes it work - firmness/consistency.
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