....and We're Back!

Last I wrote we were having some big time sleep problems and I swore off blogging until they were resolved. So Hi-dee-ho! We are back in business. I am pleased to announce that Carson is sleeping thru the night on a regular basis. I don't mean to brag, but his sleeping throught the night is about 7:30 pm to about 6am. This is fantastic for us! Somehow I am still going to bed at 8:30 and can't seem to catch up on, oh, only 3 or 4 months of sleep deprivation, but its getting better. I have less and less days that I need to take a nap.

So how'd we get from there to here? Easy, we let that little baby cry! Awww..... I know, but hey it was worth it. We used what is called the Ferber method. Your baby has to be at least 3 months old to try this out and we waited a little longer than that. The pediatrician basically told me it was the only thing left to try. As she so tactfully put it "Kelly, he's already crying in your arms, so let him cry in his crib and leave you out of it." Good point, I thought. So off we went on night of torture number one. When I say torture, I meant torture for us, because really, there is nothing worse than listening to your baby cry for prolonged periods. Perhaps I should start a club where parents switch babies and do this method for each other. Its much easier to listen to another person's baby cry than your own. I think I'm on to something there.

Anyhow, babies basically have to LEARN to put themselves to sleep by themselves without help. They think they can only fall asleep if mommy or daddy is rocking them and have to learn how to self soothe. So if you can put your baby to bed drowsy but still awake and he can sleep you are winning the battle. Most babies, however, have to cry to figure out they can do it on their own. So here's how it went with the Glorious Ferber Method:

DAY ONE- put Carson down after his bedtime routine (routine also very important but won't get into that here) at 8:30 so he was extra tired. He immediately started crying. Kelly and Andy exit stage left and sit on the deck with a glass of wine and a baby monitor. The plan is to go in and check on the poor tyke at intervals of 1, 3, 5 and then every 10 minutes until he falls asleep and NO PICKING HIM UP. We were allowed to pat him, talk to him briefly and then leave the room until the next time. 36 minutes later.....a sleeping baby. Thank goodness, we made through night one, or so we thought.

Then Hellooooo midnight....should we do it again? We decided to take all the pain in one night rather than spreading it out and doing the middle of the night wakings another night. 32 minutes later (yes we timed it,as each moment was like a night being waterboarded for us softhearted parents) he fell asleep again. This was the only waking that night.

Day 2 - He cried for a bout 15 minutes each nap and then fell asleep and that night NO CRYING he fell asleep in his crib after sucking his finger for about 5 minutes. HOORAY!

Now, we have had some set backs and not every night is perfect, but for us that's ok, he is after all just a baby. We kept him on somewhat of a sleeping routine to establish some consistency for about 2 weeks and now we can pretty much drop him in his crib and run. We see that he is tired (which still happens about every two hours) and I can take him upstairs put him down immediately and he'll hang out making noise or pulling his toes for a while and usually falls asleep within 20 minutes. He'll occassionally still wake in the middle of the night but usually cries for a few seconds and then falls back asleep. If not, I'll go in for a minute and that seems to do the trick. Boy is life getting easier. The world sure looks a lot clearer when the whole family is sleeping!

Until the next battle,
Kelly