Friday, July 31, 2009

Ferberizing

We have been "Ferberizing" Ian to help him sleep better in his crib. Even after adding back in the swaddle, Ian did NOT want to go to sleep on his back in his crib. I think he really would prefer to be on his side, but not only is that not safe for him because of the risk of SIDS, he just wakes up again when he rolls onto his tummy or back. So we picked up the new edition of Dr. Richard Ferber's book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and have been using his described methods to help Ian sleep in his crib. So far, it's been successful (although painful to do). The first night, we ended up Ferberizing Ian around midnight after he woke up and we couldn't get him back to sleep. He cried for 40 minutes (with intermittent soothing from us) and finally fell back asleep. The second night, we Ferberized Ian at bedtime and he cried for 30 minutes. The next time it was only 20 minutes and yesterday, when we did it for a nap, he only cried for 9 minutes. I hope that he will go to sleep soon without any crying!

We have been mostly successful at scheduling Ian's naps at 9ish, 12ish and 3ish, but today, when we went out food shopping, we couldn't keep him awake in his car seat and let him fall asleep at 10:45 am. It's 12:15 pm now and he's still sleeping! I wish he slept this well in his crib. We only get 30-45 minutes from him for naps in his crib. As my mom said, "He's not one for sleeping." But maybe he can learn to sleep better!

No comments: