It all started Saturday night, January 31, 2009. We did our routine, gave Zach a bath, gave him dinner, some milk, and read him a few books. It was approaching 7:15/7:30 p.m. and it was time to put Zach in his crib for sleep. Not so. As I was putting Zach in his crib, he grabbed my shoulders with both his hands, clawing into me, not wanting to let go. This marked the beginning of something that I still don't understand. Zach was terrified of going into his crib and would not go to sleep on his own. We had to hold him until he fell asleep. We then layed him in his crib. 3 hours later, he woke us up with very loud crying. The crying intensified until we entered his room. He wanted us to pick him up. Again, we had to hold him until he fell asleep. After falling asleep, we put him back in the crib. 3 hours later, he's up again. No exaggeration, this cycle continued up until February 18, when we said, enough is enough. Randi's birthday was February 14 and in January, we wanted to have a party. But, with Randi's job situation (which is discussed in the blog below) coupled with getting very little sleep, a big 30th birthday party would be very hard for us. We will defintely make it up... Getting back to the story, Randi and I had a plan - we were going to try the Ferber method. Bottom line of this methood is let your child cry, and eliminate bad sleep associations (Ferber's book is called "Solve your child's sleep problems." What I have learned is that sleep associations are key. Randi didn't want to start this method until we ruled out the possible ear infection. To be honest, I was hoping he had an ear infection so that we would know the reason for him not sleeping. The doctor told us his ear looked great. Oh sh%t. This meant that Zach was healthy (which of course is good), but, it now meant that Zach needed us to hold him throughout the night in order for him to stay asleep. He associated us with his sleep.
Well, after 4 nights of using the Ferber method (and buying a toddler bed which was a complete waste which I will discuss in another blog), hearing Zach scream his brains out, Zach losing his voice for one day, and Randi almost suffocating herself to death with pillows on top of her head to avoid hearing the crying, Zach went into his crib with ease, falling asleep in 6 minutes and never waking up during the night.
Tonight at 7:45 p.m., Zach said, "night, night," grabbed his blanket and actually wanted to be placed in his crib. I said, "do you want to go to bed?" He said, "yea." I think he fell asleep in 3 minutes. Amazing. Tonight, I said to myself, the vicious cycle has ended.
Randi and I are still playing catch up with sleep, and trying to catch up with our DVR. Most of all, we are just trying to keep up with life...
I could not get by without my sidekick, Randi. Thank you and I love you.
