Ferberizing

Welcome to the P. household, land of the sleep deprived! After being woken up by Nikos an average of three times a night for the past several weeks, both Gus and I were quickly nearing our wits' ends.

Fortunately, the planets seemed to have aligned just in time for us to start what I am calling Super Sleep Training Camp! Nikos is close to the 4-month mark, which means that he should be capable of self-soothing as well as making it through the night with only one feeding (or possibly even NO feedings, though I'm not ready for that). And it just so happens that I am on vacation now until the 25th, so I won't have to get up and go to work after a (potentially) sleepless night. Taking all this into consideration, I decided that last night we would start to Ferberize our little guy.

In his book (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems), Dr. Richard Ferber talks about establishing "positive sleep associations" and removing negative ones. I had gotten into the habit of nursing Nikos off to sleep in the evenings, then transferring him into his crib. Then, after only a couple of hours, he'd wake up, realize he'd been moved, start crying loudly, and the only way to get him back to sleep was to feed him again... and then transfer him to his crib again... thus perpetuating the cycle. While nursing him had been a very effective way of getting him to fall asleep, he just wouldn't stay asleep-- and that didn't work for any of us! Ferber suggests developing a new and consistent bedtime routine where feeding is NOT the last activity, and then making sure to lay the baby down in his crib while he is still awake. That way, he can learn to fall asleep on his own, rather than relying on external things that he can't really control. If he cries, parents respond by briefly checking in on him at progressively longer intervals-- but they do not pick him up, cuddle him, or feed him (unless it's actually feeding time or if he has a poopy diaper). At any rate, the book seemed very clear and reasonable, so I was so excited to get started with our training!

Last night, I had prepared myself to be awake for the long haul... but was shocked when Nikos fell asleep on his own after crying for less than three minutes! That was at 8:15. Then he woke up at midnight, ate briefly, and fell asleep in his crib after crying for a total of six minutes (I checked in on him at the three-minute mark). He woke up again at 4:40am, ate, and then went back to sleep with NO crying (though he stayed awake in the crib and was babbling to himself for a good 20 minutes). Then, all day long today, he fell asleep at naptime without crying for more than a minute or two each time. And-- most surprisingly-- he just fell asleep for the night after crying for less than 10 minutes. It was so surprising because he didn't seem to really be all that tired, and was protesting vigorously. Still, it just goes to show that our little guy is capable of putting himself to sleep! We just hadn't given him the opportunity to show us what he could do!

Anyhow... who knows if this will keep working or not, but we are quite happy at the moment! Way to go, Nikos! :)