Now that LB is 6 months old, the doc has given us the okay to start getting him to sleep through the night. Hubby and I decided on the cold turkey method, since we are pretty desperate to get some sleep. So, the plan is to let him cry it out in the middle of the night when he wakes up. Good idea....
...not so good in practice. LB has been cold turkey for about three days now, and all I've heard yesterday and today is crying and whining. Really. ALL day. The doc said it would take about a week for him to get used to the new schedule, but it's really unnerving to hear your child cry all the time when he's awake. Plus, it makes me feel like a bad mommy! It seems like he stops crying when I pick him up, only to fidget and whine until I put him down. Then we repeat that cycle all day long.
What have you all done to get your kid to sleep through the night? Any advice from anyone??
2 comments:
I had the same problem with the Munchkin, and whenever she cried I just wanted to cry with her, so instead of "cold turkey" we scaled back to the Ferber Method...
...put LB down for the night, let him cry for 5 minutes. Set a timer. It'll keep you from going in early to "save" him. If he's still crying after 5, go in and comfort him for a minute or two but DON'T pick him up. Walk out and this time, let him cry for 10 minutes. Go in, comfort quickly, walk out, then let him cry for 15 minutes. Keep adding 5 minute increments until he falls asleep (this does NOT mean that you go in EVERY five minutes. You're adding on each time).
With mine, I won't lie, she cried for an hour the first night and I thought I was gonna die. But the next night she cried for 15 minutes, the next two nights only 5 minutes, and by the fifth night she was going down without a peep!
You are not a bad mommy. LB needs his sleep and you are teaching him how to get it. Hang in there! BE STRONG!
Trust me you're doing hom a favor. I have a daycare kid that her parents never let her cry and she is a horrible sleeper. We did the modified ferber at first but then realized that it was more difficult for him to keep seeing us so we did cold turkey. take a shower, put on your ipod, just try your best to not pick him up and you'll be fine. your a good mommy for doing it!
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