Thanks to everyone for your advice and comments on my last post. It was taken to heart for sure.
Last night started out to be another repeat with Christopher. Fell asleep after bedtime bottle, took him up to bed and he woke up as soon as he hit the mattress.
So, we started the Ferber method. I know there are tons of techniques out there and everyone has an opinion on what works. For now, we'll try this and see where it goes.
After 40 minutes of crying and spaced intervals of soothing, he finally fell asleep. Hearing him cry like that was absolutely torturous for DH and I. I know it needs to be done so I think I probably handled it better than Daddy. But, it was still hard.
He did sleep through the night but that wasn't really our problem to begin with. Our has been strictly limited to getting him to bed in the first place. Based on Christopher's behavior last night, I'm convinced that he does have some seperation anxiety going on. Every time I went into the room, he stood up in his crib and was literally clamoring to be picked up - grabbing my shirt, reaching through the crib, holding his arms out. It was so heart wrenching. I was fighting with myself to follow the technique because my "mom instinct" wanted to comfort him so badly.
Tonight is another night.... we'll see how it goes.
3 comments:
One of my twins does that, too: waking up and then clamoring to get out with heart-wrenching sobs. DH and I started sitting next to him on the floor and putting our arms in the crib so that he could touch us (and us him). We were careful that we didn't pick him up (putting him back down would start another crying fit), and we didn't really talk to him. It took a few minutes (15min or so), but he would touch our hands, hold them, and rock himself back to sleep. It seemed to help ease his anxiety and let him know that we were here for him, but were not were not going to pick him up out of the crib. We did this when he went to bed and if he woke up when we were still awake. We used the Ferber method after we went to bed. It took a little bit, but we definitely saw improvement. I don't know if not doing "strictly" the Ferber method prolonged some of his sleep anxiety problems, but it did ease my soul. Hope things get easier for you!
Hang in there. You have to do what works for you all as a family. It is so hard to hear them cry!
Keep us posted. It sounds like you all are hanging in there. Just keep your ultimate goal in mind because nights like that can be really long.
arg. how did it go? my kids still don't sleep through the night :( everytime they wake up crying they are standing and wanting to be picked up. it breaks my heart. the best i can do right now is let them cry for 3 minute intervals. not good, i know....but it kills me!!!
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