Ferberizing completed...Day 7

As most of you know we have been using the Ferber method to put our lil man to sleep. I stopped updating as of day five because we had a power outage and have been staying in Queens since then. We still managed to continue the Ferberizing, and we are both astounded by how easily it worked. Daylight savings messed with his sleep schedule a bit but otherwise it's been amazing and I can't rave enough about his method. Tonight is officially day seven and we put him down at seven.

Let him cry for ten minutes...didn't have to!!! Yes you read correctly. He didn't even last ten minutes before he passed out and is now sound asleep.

To those of you wondering if you should try the Ferber method, I highly recommend you read his book and try it. It teaches you a lot about sleep in general and I found it highly useful. Good luck to those of you trying and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work for us!

****Someone asked me if the Ferber method is really that easy or if there is more to it...here was my response in the comments section but I'll repost here in case someone else was wondering the same thing:

I enjoyed reading the book because it goes into detail about all the different sleeping issues babies have and what their sleep cycle is like and how it keeps changing. I'm not even half way done with the book yet, but the first 100 pages explained what I needed. And it really is that simple. The most important things to keep in mind are: Start with 3, 5, 10 minute intervals, then increase to 5, 10, 12 and then 10, 15, 20 etc. Although i never waited 20 minutes since my son is only 3 months old. What helped me most was him explaining why they cry and what mistakes we as parents make. For example, I used to let him cry and go in after 20 minutes, but I'd pick him up and rock him a bit or feed him to make him stop crying and only then put him back and do it all over again. He explains that the point of going in isn't to make him stop crying, but to let him know that you are there for him. He says not to pick them up, but to just put your hand on their belly for a minute or two, give them a kiss and walk out, even if they are still crying. After a few days he realized that no matter how much he cried, he wasn't going to get anything out of it and so now he doesn't even do it anymore. Another very important point he made was if you're going to sleep train your child and they cry for lets say an hour (of course with you always going to see him in regular intervals), the worst thing you can do is pick him up and give in by giving him a bottle or rocking him to sleep etc. He says you might as well just do that from the beginning since he cried for nothing and will try twice has hard next time knowing that all it takes is lots of crying to get what he wants. I hope that helps!

Day 4 of Ferberizing...

And wow what a difference....tonight we bathed him and he was totally fine and so we brought him downstairs to hangout with us since it was only 6pm. He yawned twice and so we brought him to his room where he didn't cry for the first few minutes. He did start to cry after some time had passed so Steve went into the room after 10 minutes....

Let him cry for ten minutes....check
(He stopped crying once in there)

He cried for a few more minutes and passed out...this was by far the easiest night and we seem to be progressing rather nicely. This really has been a great method, although I still have to see if it will be like this tomorrow night...only time will tell.



Little Man on my monitor passed out on his side...now that he knows how to sleep on his side he prefers it this way...

Day 3 of Ferberizing

Here we go again, day three of sleep training. He ate 6 ounces at 5:45 pm, got a bath after that and started getting fussy so down he went.

Day 3

Let him cry for 10 minutes...check
(he was quiet when i went in and put my hand on his belly)

As soon as I left he started screaming like cazy

Let him cry for 12 minutes...check
(I went in after 10 minutes, I just couldn't take him crying anymore, he went quiet)

Left the room and he is still quiet...hmmm this can't be...ah, there he goes again!

He only cried for a few more minutes, played in his bed a bit and fell asleep. Wow, who would have thought this stuff really works! I'm curious to see if tomorrow gets even better!

Day 2 of Ferberizing....

Here we go again...came home and he had already been up for almost two hours. Bathed him which he always enjoys, but right after his bath he started to get worked up. So I tried to feed him which he had no interest in and so to bed he went.

Day 2:

Let him cry for 5 minutes and go in....check
(he stopped when i came in)

Let him cry for 10 minutes and go in...check
(he stopped when I came in, then he started to cry once he noticed i wouldn't pick him up, he then realized that wouldn't work and stopped...I left the room and it started again)

Let him cry for 12 minutes and go in...check
(he was quiet when i went in)

After the first 12 minute period he cried for another few minutes and passed out. I couldn't believe it...it worked! I just hope tomorrow it gets even easier!

Steve and I discussed switching his daytime routine so he could eat after bath time instead of two hours before. I hope that will help as well since routine is key. Phew, now off to eat and have a glass of wine.

Day 1 of Ferberizing....

Tonight we will attempt to change his sleep associations. He cries for an hour or more every night when we put him down, so tonight we will try to change that. So here it goes...I put him down at 6:48pm after his bath; he had been yawning since 6:15pm. He refused to eat, so to bed he goes. And the crying begins...

Day 1:

Let him cry for 3 minutes and go in....check
(he stopped the second i came in and put my hand on his belly)

Let him cry for 5 minutes and go in....check
(he stopped again when I came in and put my hand on his belly)

Let him cry for 10 minutes and go in...check
(steve went in and he went quiet)

Then the fire alarm went off...no clue why. So we went in to soothe him and gave him a bottle. He finally ate...cried for two minutes after we put him down and fell asleep.

Night one was not a total success, but it wasn't too bad either. The bottle was a bad idea, but he wouldn't eat after his bath and was obviously hungry. Tomorrow we try again.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

My lil man sound asleep...thanks to my hubby I get to see him even at the office.