Lullaby Babies Blog » ferber

Shall we dance?

Farrah — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:29:14 +0000

Ever since we “ferber-ized” Aidan, I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing out on holding him and watching him fall asleep in my arms. I felt conflicted. I was happy that he was going to sleep independently at the same time, I missed feeling his small body cuddled up to mine or his head on my shoulder.

Well lately, I have a good blend. For his afternoon nap, after we read a story, I hold Aidan for a bit, walk him around and on days that he’s especially wired, I hold him close and dance. Anything from a gentle sway to the Foxtrot. I watch as his eyes slowly drift to a close. After a final kiss goodnight, he’s ready for his bed.

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I have been trained!

Farrah — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:03:16 +0000

A few weeks ago, my husband and I started an adapted version of the Ferber method, where rather than put my son down in the room and let him cry for a bit then check on him periodically, we would stay in the room, encourage him to sleep, pat his back and even sing to him until he did in fact fall asleep. Now we share this room with Aidan, but his bedtime is 8:30 pm where as we get to stay up till later (yay adulthood).

For the first few days, it was anguish. He fussed, fought and then after what seemed like an eternity, finally fell asleep. Now I feel like we’ve gone from one bad habit to another. Let me explain. Before the Ferber method, we would rock, walk or do whatever it took to put Aidan to sleep, including holding him while he slept and then trying to put him down gently (if he’d let us). Now instead of him being independent, he wants us to pat, sing and sit with him until he finally dains to go to sleep. I feel like we’ve regressed completely.

I can’t bear to hear him cry and fuss (although I know it’s more of a manipulation thing), but at the same time, sitting with him for 30 + minutes is not ok. We check on him and make sure he’s fed, safe, changed etc etc (using the checklist), but now I’m at a loss as to what it’s going to take to fix the problem.

This kid has enormous energy, even though I know he’s tired and exhibits the signs of fatigue. He can fuss for more than an hour until he finally gets exhausted enough to fall asleep.

I’m looking for tactics to undo what I’ve done wrong and truly train him on falling asleep independently. Nap-time is a whole ‘nother problem that I won’t even go into in this post!

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This is it…1st night of Ferber Technique

Lainy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:10:49 +0000

After months and months of being woken up every night (10 months to be precise), I’ve decided to do The Ferber Method starting tonight. I just want to sleep and I know its going to be hard but I need to do something otherwise I’ll be ending up walking down the aisle with black bags under my eyes.

I’m lucky in some respects, bedtime routine is up and running and I don’t have a problem putting little one to bed. It’s just as I’ve got myself settled and asleep for an hour she wakes up. I’m actually in two minds, I’m dreading this but then looking forward to the sleep. I know i’m going to be even more exhausted than usual but it is the bank holiday coming up and i’m hoping my other half will help.

Right its 20.10 little one is fast asleep in bed. She had loads for dinner tonight, we shall see how the nite develops and then i’m report back in my blog. Fingers crossed.

(Click here to read how the first night went)

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