Ferberizing: Night 1

Little H finally hit that 4 month sleep regression everyone warns you about.
He went from getting up every 3-4 hours to waking up anywhere between 11 and 1am and REFUSING to sleep in his crib.
I'd have to transfer him from his crib to his swing and then return to the room between 4 and 5 for a feed.

In a previous post I thought I could be super woman and refuse to ever let me guy "cry it out"
But it's kind of impossible to be super mom when you are exhausted and your little one is grumpy due to a not great night of sleep himself.
Not to mention, we have so many trips coming up in the next year, that I couldn't imagine trying to soothe him to sleep while on vacation, without his swing.  The new environments are going to be hard enough on him.
We leave for Colorado the middle of next month to see my family and see Jim Gaffigan live!!!
We leave for Louisiana mid May to see Ethan's family and my best friend Jenny.
And we return to Colorado in August to see my Uncle from Spain, and Hudson's new baby GIRL cousin.  I'm so excited for a baby girl!

So, after researching a lot of different sleep training methods, I chose Ferber's "controlled crying method".  I was reading another mom's interpretation of the method and it really made sense to me.  She compared all of our babies sleep crutches to things that they will love later in life that may not be so good for them.  Just like our babies like to be nursed to sleep, they may like to have ice cream for breakfast.  Are you going to give your child ice cream just so they won't cry?  Even though you know it isn't good for them?  For some reason that made a lot of sense to me.

The reason this one appealed to me most was:

1) it's success rate

2) not abandoning him to cry alone all night

3) being able to remind my stinker that I do love him and I'm just trying to help him

So I figured I would keep you updated on the process of "Ferberizing" the little man.

I was having an internal emotional struggle leading up to and going through the motions of his bedtime routine.  I was NOT looking forward to hearing my little one cry for help.  Some of the testimonies I was reading had their babies crying for upwards of two hours their first night!
I switched up his bedtime routine so that he would not fall asleep during his last feed for the night.

So, it went something like this:

turn on the fan for some noise

new diaper

jammies

lavender lotion massage

nurse

read his favorite book

put to bed calm but awake

I gave him a kiss goodnight, apologized for what was about to take place, and left the room.

Ferber's method involves timed increments of letting your baby cry while trying to learn to soothe themselves.  We started with 3 minutes, then 5, then 8.  By some grace of God, we never had to let him cry for 8 minutes last night!

I only had to go in once during his first stretch.  He literally fell asleep within 4-5 minutes of crying and slept until around 12:30 which was our worst stretch.

I laid in bed listening to the saddest of cries while watching the monitor.  I thought that we were going to be in it for the long haul.  This was the only time during the night that I had to go in at the 5 minute cry interval.  Let me tell you...one sleep training minute is equivalent to one treadmill minute...it never seems to come quick enough!  And I'm so thankful for a husband that supports me in every decision I make and helps me get through it without giving up.

He woke up again around 4:30.  I let him cry, went in at the 3 minute mark, and what do ya know...asleep again before the next 5 minutes were up.  He then woke up at 7:30 for the morning and greeted us with the biggest of smiles.  It was almost like he was saying "Thank You, Mom!"  At that point, I knew I was making the right decision.

Here's a sweet picture of him this morning reading eating the paper!

So, even though he still had multiple night wakings, I'm so very thankful that he is getting down this whole falling asleep alone thing.  I'm really shocked at our outcome from last night and I only hope that it improves.

We are currently following the same method for his naps and he is currently asleep in his crib for his first nap.  I think naps are going to be a little more difficult.  It took him about half an hour to fall asleep.  There was only about 6-10 minutes of crying, but a lot of laying awake and fidgeting.

What method did you use to help your baby sleep?  Share your success' and failures!
All babies are different, and what works for Hudson may not work for another.  I know that after going through this, I could never judge a mother about how she gets her child to sleep.  In the end, we are all doing what is best for us and our babies, and that is giving them a good nights sleep!