sleep training

We had to sleep train. Sleeping with the baby is so lovely, until he decided to Jackie Chan his way from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. every night. (Punch, roundhouse kick face, chest of both parents; repeat.)

Sleep training was something hanging over my head like an exam, but Husband and I finally found going through the day as zombies was losing its charm.

Ferber is hardcore but is supposed to work the best — three nights of crying it out for as long as it takes. Some babies suffer ten minutes, others keep crying till they throw up, and you’re supposed to soldier on. I tried it for 15 minutes and caved. I couldn’t stand hearing seeing the Baby cry that hard, and I know a lot of moms who cry through the whole thing and get through, but my attitude was just Hell No. I believe my pediatrician that this approach is not permanently traumatic for the baby, but you know who else gets traumatized? The parents. No thank you.

We ended up doing a longer, 9-night approach, where you don’t pick them up, but sit next to the crib for the first three nights, so Baby wept, but I could comfort him and he didn’t seem to think he was abandoned. I told him, “Change is really hard.” Each night, he cries for shorter periods of time and does seem better at getting back to sleep by himself. Who know, it’s up and down, but sleep training made me feel very parental. Something about going forward with something incredibly unpleasant to change Baby behavior. That sounds so poetic, ha ha.

4 Replies to “sleep training”

  1. yeah, the talking might be for me, but i still like it. ferber is hardcore! i believe people when they say it’s not destructive to baby, but we can’t stomach it.

  2. yeah, my sleep training seems to be sliding backwards pretty rapidly. the whole point was for david and i to get sleep, but i root for you on the short shorts! i thought i was trying to come visit you guys but man, baby is HEAVY.

  3. i have a maclaren volo, which is crazy light, but i hate lifting the stroller up and down stairs so have stuck with the ergo. i’ll have to figure it out. it’s also the winter — all the winter gear makes everything more complicated than it needs to be

  4. i will get there. i will ergo and bring the paper-light volo stroller. part of the issue is my job has been so demanding, i feel like i’m just drained, but email with some saturday dates at some point. i need to see gwen!

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