While I absolutely love rocking my children to sleep around 10 p.m. at night (Deacon is one of the best cuddlers, just like his dad). But, I have missed spending some quiet time with the hubby too. Tyler and I agreed that we were going to "attempt" to sleep train Avi and Deacon.
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Ferberization suggests creating a night-time ritual. Ours consists on closing the blinds, dimming the lights and turning on the Rockabye Lullaby CD while the kids get their night-time bottles. After bottles, we brush their teeth and get in some last minute snuggles. Then, it's off to their cribs to "cry it out". After putting them down, you're supposed to return at progressively increasing intervals to comfort the babies. For example, we would return to their room after 5 minutes, then after 10 minutes, and thereafter each 15 minutes, until they would fall asleep.
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We planned to start the training on a Friday night, so we would have the weekend, just in case the kids were up crying all night. The first night was absolutely miserable. Deacon cried for about 2 hours straight. It was very hard to return to his room to reassure him that we hadn't moved to the Bahamas and he was doing a great job soothing himself to sleep. He would give us the saddest look like we were completely abandoning him. He'd reach his hands through the crib rails as if he was locked in jail and we wouldn't let him out. Making eye contacts with him made him cry even harder and louder. As a parent, it was the worst I've ever felt.
Avigail was a bit easier. She cried for about 30 minutes, but her cry is so soft it's almost adorable.
On to night 2...things got a little easier. Deacon "only" cried for about 40ish minutes. He did wake up around 11 p.m. (if this happens, you repeat progressively returning to the room until he falls back asleep. Avigail did really well too. At 8 a.m. the next morning, we had to go and wake both our children up! Ferberization suggests that you don't let the child sleep more than 12 hour increments.
Night 3...a bit of regression from night 2, but still better than night 1. Things are getting easier and there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
