I was advised, due to my anxiety, and reluctance to follow through with this method, to find another place to bed the night of the dreaded sleep-training. After much crying, last minute backing out, then being almost pushed out the door. I drove to my nearby friend's house, loaded up on comfort candy such as Fun Dip, Skittles and a banana slurpie to watch a girly comedy with her and another gal. At one point we had to stop the movie so I could have "a moment" and then we carried on, my stomach starting to twist with the combination of anxiety and candy.
Alone with my friend, I broke down around 11pm, knowing my little guy would have already woken up for his first "starvation" breakdown, when he would cry, and Justin would not feed him, but only go into his room and stroke his face.
I went to bed late for me, around midnight. I awoke from a bad dream at 3:30am, sure that brownbear was awake and crying across the river from me. So after waking my friend and being assured no one had called, I made the call home. I woke up J, and he informed me that all was well. Brownbear had cried for no more than 10 minutes, and there was no 'scary scream' to be had.
When I couldn't sleep around 4:30am, I packed up and headed back home. I got in around 5am, J telling me that brownbear had woken in total for an hour, but not all at once. He seemed to be fussing more than anything, and when J would go in the room, it seemed to make him more upset.
J was and still is a horrible sleeper. When I asked his mom "when will brownbear STTN" she pretty much referred me to the fact that he DOESN'T STTN! No, I don't have to breastfeed him or make him a cheese sandwich to get him back down. No, instead my poor J lays awake for sometimes hours in the night. What happened? At what point do poor baby sleepers just stop getting mom and dad back in the room with them, and accept that they'll never sleep? Did his parents try sleep-training? No, heaven forbid! His mom not only co-slept with him for a couple months (while pa slept on the sofa, a great reason why I can't co-sleep, I like to cuddle my husband, not my baby!) but she breastfed him for about 6 months and they continued feeding him until about 2 yrs in the night. I think it was when baby 2 came along when J was 6 that they stopped going to him in the night. Did we want to wait 6 years for brownbear to stop waking in the night?! NO!!
Anyways, it took a couple more nights, but you should have seen J. He was the proudest papa...knowing he was teaching his son a skill he never learned, how to soothe himself back to sleep all on his own. It was an amazing, epiphany-filled journey. Just like we will have to do things he doesn't like in the future (holding our hands to cross the street, refusing him donuts and candy), I feel we spent a good effort in doing this. For our family, it was one of the best things we have ever done together. ZZZ.....
J was and still is a horrible sleeper. When I asked his mom "when will brownbear STTN" she pretty much referred me to the fact that he DOESN'T STTN! No, I don't have to breastfeed him or make him a cheese sandwich to get him back down. No, instead my poor J lays awake for sometimes hours in the night. What happened? At what point do poor baby sleepers just stop getting mom and dad back in the room with them, and accept that they'll never sleep? Did his parents try sleep-training? No, heaven forbid! His mom not only co-slept with him for a couple months (while pa slept on the sofa, a great reason why I can't co-sleep, I like to cuddle my husband, not my baby!) but she breastfed him for about 6 months and they continued feeding him until about 2 yrs in the night. I think it was when baby 2 came along when J was 6 that they stopped going to him in the night. Did we want to wait 6 years for brownbear to stop waking in the night?! NO!!
Anyways, it took a couple more nights, but you should have seen J. He was the proudest papa...knowing he was teaching his son a skill he never learned, how to soothe himself back to sleep all on his own. It was an amazing, epiphany-filled journey. Just like we will have to do things he doesn't like in the future (holding our hands to cross the street, refusing him donuts and candy), I feel we spent a good effort in doing this. For our family, it was one of the best things we have ever done together. ZZZ.....
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