Tim and I chose to use the Ferber method. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a system in which you allow your child to scream (cold turkey) all alone in their room until they exhaust themselves and fall asleep. It is a system of teaching your child to self-soothe so that when they awaken at night, which we all do, they are able to put themselves back to sleep without your help. If you nurse/feed your infant to sleep, then place them in the crib after they've fallen asleep, when they awaken, they're going to be completely disoriented and NEED you to fall asleep again.
Gabe took about 5 days to completely sleep on his own. The first night was horrible - lots of crying, little sleep. By day 3, he was doing really well, by day 5, we didn't hear a peep all night.
I was really nervous about doing Lily because I didn't want her wakefulness to effect Gabe's sleeping. I had nothing to fear. The first night, she fussed for 9 minutes and then slept for 10 hours without a sound. Night two was equally successful. In fact, the only trouble we've had with her sleeping since we Ferberized was when I decided she should have a nightlight in her room. I got a really cute green glowing thing from Ikea (for $3!!!), which I thought would be perfect. She was up A LOT screaming at it, seemingly in horror. We figured it out quickly and relocated the nightlight to Gabe's room - who now likes to say he sleeps with an alien!
So Lily now has her final feeding at 6:30 and goes to sleep at 7:00. We wake her for a bottle at 10:00, then she sleeps until 7:00.
It works for us, but as with all things 'parenting,' I advocate only for myself and my family situation. Every parent must do what they are comfortable with and what works for their home.
I'm just SO happy to have my bed and my sleep back!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment