Crying Down – 2nd night of Ferber technique
We have followed instructions to the letter, and J’s bedtime routine has only changed in the fact that we don’t put her in the cot asleep. This resulted in her having a hissy fit and crying, so we followed the technique and went in after 10 mins, didn’t pick her up and said ‘shh shh’ continuously whilst rubbing her. We do have the problem that she likes to stand up in her cot so we were concerned that it was going to be a pain. After 35mins the crying tappered off and by 40 minutes it had gone very quiet.
I was going to take an early night but unfortunately that didn’t happen and I was dreading the night. I shouldn’t have worried so much because this morning we woke up at 6.30am and I don’t know how it happened but J had slept through the night!! I can count on 1 hand the amounts of times she’s slept through. I have a feeling that the crying she did before she went to sleep tired her out.
I do however feel better for having a whole nights sleep, kind of a new woman lol. Hoping that this isnt a one off and if by a miracle she’s learnt from her one time experience of controlled crying that we are not going to entertain the idea of going in immediately and comforting her. But I do have a feeling that will not be the case so early on.
Obviously I will be reporting back after tonight. The one thing that i haven’t mentioned before is what sleep she has during the day. So will write here my schedule of what we do:
Get up
Breakfast
2 hours later milk and then an hour to an hour and a half sleep.
1pm Lunch (no milk – but juice)
2pm Sleep (even if she doesn’t want to go to sleep I still put her down for her sleep)
4pm snack
6pm Dinner
7pm bath
7.30pm milk and then bed
I think it is important that J gets her naps during the day and nothing after 3pm. I was once told before that sleeping after 3pm affects your sleep pattern at night. I can from 1st hand experience tell you that this is correct, I suffer myself from sleep paralysis and if I have slept after 3pm notice that it is heightened.
I stumbled across your website the other day and I think it is wonderful that you are documenting your own experience with this tecnique. I am seriously considering starting it for my 7month son who still refuses to sleep the whole night. I haven’t quite worked up the courage yet but I am feeling a little more confident after reading your first couple of posts. I hope baby J is just a really fast learner and your good night’s rest is a sign of things to come. From what I’ve read on other websites however, it normally seems to take 1-3 weeks so try not to be too disappointed if it was just a conincidence. Keep up the great work! Julie
Julie, it has taken me quite some time to pluck up the courage to do this technique. To me it goes completely against your motherly instincts, however I had read a few articles on the web and had spoken to friends as well. My dad even commented last night ‘I wondered when you were going to do something like that for your own sanity.’
I completely take on board the fact that J might have slept all of last night as a complete fluke so am again fired up ready for tonight.
I am sorry to hear that your 7 month old still refuses to sleep, you too must be exhausted from it. Although I dread the nights because of what we need to do, I dreaded them before knowing that I was going to be woken up. When I look back at my experience I always thought that I’d have the perfect baby – Fool i am, she may not be perfect but I want her to be happy and I want to be happy too and its silly but I’ve always thought of this technique as a last resort when it really shouldn’t have been.
I hope that are able to continue reading my blogs and the progress that we make with baby J.
Thank you Lainy, Yes I am exhausted but I think, like you, I’ve reached the point when I must take action before I go bonkers!
I’ve done a lot of research on the web but hearing from a real parent as they’re doing it is far more valuable than the preechings of any so called ‘baby expert!’
Thank you for this, it means the world to me and best of luck for 2nite. Julie
p.s I’m loving the funky little picture that appears by all my replies!
Hi Everyone,
Do you think Ferber makes your baby clingy?
Yesterday I plucked up the courage to try the Ferber method on my six month old son, Luca. He’s a cool little boy very playful and happy he sleeps a broken 12 hours a night with a couple of hours of naps during the day and we have a semi- established routine at bedtime, its been tough cause we travelled around Europe and moved house since he was born. We have a solid dinner, a bath or shower, massage and bottle then I sing him to sleep while rubbing his face, always with a dummy. I’ve also been co-sleeping with him. We’ve had a progression of rocking, bouncing, feeding to sleep and now he’s gotten into a routine of must having a bottle to sleep even for naps and I feed him in the bed and also waking twice or three time in the night for a feed but not drinking much during the day, (There are always too many other things to see and do!) I transfered him into the cot a few days ago and it was a pretty smooth transition.
Yesterday I tried it first for an afternoon nap replacing the dummy with a teddy, I went in at 3 min, then 5 and repeated it, he screamed, constantly but after about 20 minutes there was silence he slept for about half an hour and would not go back again, normally he would be down between 45 min to 1 1/2 hour.
After the normal bedtime routine I put him down at the earlier time of 6 pm as I knew he was tired and would not sleep straight away I kissed him goodnight and went in after 3 and 5 minutes again, I kept going in every 5 minutes cause thats what felt comfortable for me. After an hour of intolerable screaming, purple in the face, a vomit he went to sleep. I’m sure he just exhausted himself to sleep. The poor bugger still smiled at me through teary eyes every time i went in it was heartbreaking.
He woke at 10pm and again screamed for an hour, I did the same thing although this time I nearly crumbled, I figured if he had a bottle at six thirty he would be hungry as it was now 11pm. I was at the door with the bottle ready when he went quiet. He slept till 7.10 am again Im convinced from pure exhaustion. Ironically I was up waiting for him to wake up. When he woke he had his usual big smile for me. and surprisingly only drak half his bottle. I think he’s pretty tired today though, I put him down for a nap at just the right time, I didn’t even have to go in for the 3 minute mark he was quiet(i,m not sure if he was asleep. He slept for an hour, he’s just down for his second nap of the day and its only 11.30. It took 20 minute of screaming this time.
He’s hungrier today now which is good, and is it my imagination or has my normally very carefree child this morning become very clingy.
Will let you now how my resolve holds up x
Third nap of the day took 10 minutes to go down. Hoorah! Think he may possible cough up a fur ball from chewing his teddy though!
I am another one who has spent the last 8 1/2 months with no sleep and can count on my hand the number of nights my little L has slept through. Am wondering whether to start CC as I am going nuts and getting really tearful and angry with myself for letting it get to me. I get no support from my partner when it comes to night-time waking. After a disturbed 5 hours sleep (last night), my two year old wakes up at 7am and that is that…no rest for the rest of the day. Don’t know what to do…..need to do something as I am back at work and actually need my brain to function.