Monday, September 28, 2009

Crying it Out?

So, Nicole is now in her very own room! Matt and I are very excited for this because we were not getting good sleep when we woke up everytime she moved around in her bed. Nicole also cries and laughs in her sleep, which woke me up too. Nicole does not seem to notice the change, which is a good thing I figure.

Now that she is a big girl in her own room and everything I really really want an easier bedtime. She fights sleep like nothing else! I can tell when she gets sleepy because she starts to get all whiny. But, she does not actually want to go to sleep. She wants to nurse and play and fuss until she is so exhausted that she crashes. It is a fight every night and I hate it! So, I decided to try the Ferber method of crying it out.

I have to say right now that it is extremely difficult to sit and listen to your child cry and not go and pick her up! Matt and I had tried to let her cry it out a few times and we always caved because she does this uncontrollable crying that just breaks my heart! Then I would give in and nurse her or rock her to sleep. But, I can't do that forever and I'm becoming very exasperated with bedtime.

I think that is also good to mention that Nicole suddenly does not want her pacifier anymore. She used to take a pacifier and love it and it would calm her. Now she turns her head, seals her lips, and gets really mad at us if we even offer the pacifier. This makes things very difficult because I relied upon the pacifier to help put her to sleep and to put her back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I would just pop the pacifier back in her mouth when she woke up and she would go back to sleep. I can no longer do this. I am hoping that this is a phase for her.

In conclusion, Matt and I finally successfully accomplished the Ferber method last night. I read up on it beforehand so I knew exactly what to do. We put her in bed, she cried and Matt went in after five minutes to check on her. The hardest part is not picking her up because she so obviously wants to be picked up. Then, Matt left and intended to go back in after ten minutes, but she had cried herself to sleep before then. It worked! This is not to say it will work again or that it will be so short of an amount of time next time. But, I was relieved that it worked for one night at least.

I didn't like to send Matt in without me, but because I am her food source I only exasperate the situation at bed time. She loves to nurse until she falls asleep and would just stay there forever if she had her way.

I will try this method again and hopefully bedtime will get easier soon.

11 comments:

Marie said...

Wow, good job not caving. Naughty babies need to cry every now and then.

Jenni Elyse said...

Good luck. I've heard this is one of the hardest parts to deal with while your baby is growing up. :)

Sarah said...

Yay Baby! I'm so proud of you.

Jasmine said...

I'm so glad it is working for you! We've tried that a few times, and only this last time did it seem to work because Alexis would get herself so worked up, she'd only gather more energy and scream for hours. I hope it lasts, too! Good luck! (especially with the teething.)

Adrianne Miller said...

Our doctor just barely told us today that we should read that book. I think I will wait to see if it works for you before I give it a whirl.

Becky said...

Night number 2. Five minutes of crying before she drifted off to sleep. Awesome.

Annette said...

Way to go! It's hard but worth it.

Nat said...

Hey Beck! It's Nat, I actually check blogs sometimes, its this whole big thing.
Good job with the baby room!
She is the cutest chubby cheeks ever btw!

Angela said...

It's hard to listen to them cry but it is so worth it once they learn to put themselves to sleep. We've done it with all our kids and since have not had any bedtime issues. We just stick them in bed and that's it.

aleisethefunny said...

This is one of the hardest things to do! Good job!

Mc said...

I say just plug your baby's nose when it cries.