(We've been trying a modified Ferber sleep training. We don't really let her "cry it out" but we'd like her to learn the value of self-soothing. Some nights are better than others. Tonight was definitely one of the worst. Here are the highlights...)8:02 pm Put Olivia to bed asleep. Wakes up immediately upon hitting the crib mattress. Starts fussing and crying. Set timer for 5 min to give her time to self-soothe.
8:07 She’s kinda fussing, I try to ignore.
8:09 Still fussing. Go in & give a kiss & hand her the glowing-belly Sherbert doll. Still fussing. Leave room.
8:16 Go in & give a kiss & give her the glowing belly Sherbert. Leave room.
8:23 Kinda fussing & playing with her toes.
8:25 Go in & give a kiss & push her Sherbert with a little more insistence. Leave room. Pour myself a large glass of wine. Where’s your father?
8:33 Go in & give a kiss. Sherbert’s out of batteries and sounds spooky. Pick up Olivia & walk around her room. Crying slightly decreases. Leave room.
8:34 Watch Saturday Night Live skits on computer. Can still hear her crying.
8:42 Serious crying. Maybe she’s teething? Give her some Baby Tylenol. Swaddle her like a burrito.
8:50 Crying not subsiding. Make a bottle and feed her. Falls asleep immediately.
9:06 Asleep.
So, no soothing to speak of and she went to sleep with a bottle in my arms anyway... I guess we'll try again tomorrow...
sleep training succkks! i liked 'healthy sleep habits, happy child' and recommend it if you haven't read it. we tried the modified ferber but in the end had to go with crying it out. really unpleasant but unmatched results!
ReplyDeleteC: It's great to know my friends have gone through this and survived! :) I want to go full-Ferber, but Chris is not completely comfortable with it. We've put a moratorium on sleep training for a week so he can do more reading and we can come up with a plan we agree on. Hopefully good sleep habits will be forthcoming...
ReplyDeleteyeah, i had to do it while A was at work three nights in a row. he is usually the strict one, but with this he was a big softie and i was the one with a cold heart ;). first night- 1 hour. after 45 min i was on the phone with my mom, sobbing, feeling like the worst mother in the world. but i didn't go in. the next night 20 min. the third, five min. and since then no crying (with one night ~5 min crying exceptions when coming back from a trip). good luck. it's brutal.
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