Looking back the past six months, what I dread the most about babies is the crying. I never knew before that it would be so tough.
At five months, we decided that it was time to start to put Baby Dan on sleep training, as he could only fall asleep on the breast. After painstakingly trying different methods, at the last resort, we decided that the only way to go was the cry-it-out method.
From the name, cry-it-out, you would probably be able to guess, it means to let the baby to cry. However, it does not mean letting the baby cry if he has a problem. This method means to allow the baby to cry under controlled conditions, knowing that he is fed, changed, not too cold or not too hot and do not have any prevailing illness or anything that is bothering him, ie teething.
After checking with the doctor that he is healthy, we started the first night:
5.30pm Bath
6.00pm Massage
6.30pm Feed
7.00pm Put down to the crib awake
As expected, the first night started off with a terrifying shriek and non-stop crying and screaming. We were supposed to enter the room and say good night at every 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes intervals and leave the room. After close to an hour, he finally fell asleep. We agreed to start the programme and see how it goes for 3-5 days, if all goes well, we should see a decrease in cry-time.
After 3 days, the crying decreased to 30 minutes and by the end of the fifth day, it was a record time of 15 minutes.
It was excruciating, going through the whole experience with Mi, hearing your own baby scream his lungs out. However, I think it was for the best and I am quite glad we went through it and it went well.
To date, Baby Dan sleeps much longer during naps and at night he gets the idea that mum and dad will not be there to pick him up he will just cry a little for maybe 5 minutes or less and fall asleep.
Disclaimer: Never try this before the baby hits 4 months. As a newborn, he needs all the comfort and support that you can give, there is no such thing as spoiling a newborn.
Disclaimer: Never try this before the baby hits 4 months. As a newborn, he needs all the comfort and support that you can give, there is no such thing as spoiling a newborn.
Good for you both for sticking to it. You planned it well and you both followed through. A friend of mine could not bear doing this. Only after almost a year did she HAVE to do it because she had to return to work. Even then, she would not follow the Feber method (as I think it's called) completely but would lay on the ground beside her daughter's crib. Her daughter still doesn't sleep through the night and it is putting a lot of pressure on the marriage. Thanks for sharing!! xo
ReplyDeleteIt's called the ferber method. I have seen the method used on toddlers, that either parent sits beside the crib while the baby cries to bed and as the days pass the parent to slowly move further and further away until the baby is able to sleep alone on the supernanny series. Kids can be so persistant sometimes it amazes me.
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