Sleep Trained - Finally!
It’s Day 7 of Sleep Training 101.
I know, Kid no.3 should have been already sleep trained since he was born. But guess what? For the longest time (well, 7months ++), I’ve been sending him confusing signals..and I guess that’s why he was never fully trained yet.
I’d lull him to sleep with McBoobies…when he’s in deep sleep, then I’d pop him into bed.
If he woke and cried, I’d pop McBoobies back in.
I just didn’t want the other two boys to wake up and hear him scream.
But, after suffering from sleep deprivation for 7 months (and I know other mums are longer), I just couldn’t hack it anymore. I mean, everything was suffering because of sleep deprivation. I knew it had to be done, whether I liked it or not.
I have to say this…I hate, absolutely hate hearing babies cry. My stress level rockets up, my blood pressure shoots up sky high…and I just can’t think about anything except the baby who’s crying. Once, I visited my cousin’s home…and I could hear her baby crying. I knew she was also in the midst of training her son to self-soothe. But..my heart was beating soooo hard, it was so hard to concentrate and have a decent conversation with her. I felt so damn nervous.
So…whenever I hear my own kids cry..it drives me berzoinkers!
Here’s how No.3 did :
Day 1 (Sunday) : 6.30pm to 7.40pm - wailed to sleep, 1am to 3 am - wailed till hoarse.
Day 2 : 6.30pm to 7.30pm - wailed and wailed. 4am to 7am - hoarsely wailing.
Day 3 : 6.30pm to 6.40pm - short burst of wails (quite hoarse at this point)
Day 4 : 6.30pm to 6.31pm - Mumbles
Day 5 - Day 7 : Nothing.
I have to say… those first few days of training really drove me quite mad. I’d be doing the dishes, wailing with him. I’d be in bed, gutting myself with guilt.
When Day 5 came and there were to be no wails…I was, at the very least, amazed. I thought it would take him at least 2 weeks to self-soothe himself.
It was worthed it. He wailed away and he almost lost his voice, but I regained my sanity and he found his own way to sleep much faster. I don’t think I want to deprive him further of losing any precious sleep.
It works. This cry-it-out method. You just have to stick to your guns, maintain a good consistency and they’ll learn to self-soothe themselves.
Independence - the first thing I’d like my kids to achieve.
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mott,
At first I thought, McDonald has new Happy Meal - McBoobies. hahaha!
It’s hard to train kids. But once you get them trained, it would be awesome!
Bravo Mott!
Me, i just can’t do it. I can’t bear to hear my kids wail… Even my #1 is not really sleep trained yet as he need me to be around to fall asleep and will look for me the moment he wakes up.
The whole getting them both to sleep process takes me about an hour each night. Good thing is when they fell asleep, they stay asleep so i can sneak out to do other things before going back to them when i am ready to call it a night.
Hubb asked when I will ever be “free” from them…and honestly, I don’t kno. Not really complaining here…i kno this phase will pass EVENTUALLY but i just donno when.
yo, congrats!! I think the determination is stronger w 2nd or 3rd child. The no.1 always got so pampered and the mother just can’t stand the crying. kekeke…
Woohoo! Can bring out the champagne bottle and have one on me! I on the other hand, quit Ferberizing the girl on Day 2. Last night the girl fell asleep from 9-9.30pm..then woke up and was recharged like the energizer bunny. Kept laughing (dunno at what) until midnight. I tell you, my eyes could barely open today..cos she would cry middle of the night too and just want to have McBoobies for supper.
Instead of crying, my son bangs his head on his pillow/mattress. So how? Let him bang and what if his banging have adverse effect on his brain? Aiyo…this is why we are still patting him to bed thoughh he is #2’s age. Any ideas I can try??
Hi Mott, I just stumbled upon ur website. I have a 8 months old baby boy who slept through the night on his own cot when he was 5 wks old up to 5 months old. Since then he started teething and we went on holiday and he’s been sleeping terribly and also cosleeping. I try to let him cry on his cot and always end up vomiting.. So i always pick him up and feel terribly guilty for letting this happen. Did this happen to you aswell? If so what did u do in this situation? By the way I loove ur blog. =}