There’s this little thing called the Ferber Method. Anyone ever heard of that?
Well, that’s where too many nights of too little sleep have landed me. See, Baby O had a terrible time adjusting to the time change on our Christmas vacation to see the grandparents. So we rocked him and we sung and we shhhhed and we snuggled and cuddled and stroked his hair. Anything to settle him down and get him to sleep. Then we came home, and my precious prince who had once slept so soundly wouldn’t sleep! He wouldn’t go to sleep, and he wouldn’t stay asleep. And he wouldn’t just not sleep. He would fight his sleep. grunting and thrashing about like a demon was going to burst out of him at any moment. What happened to my sweet baby???
After much debate between Papa and I, and a lot of heavy Internet skimming, I came to this conclusion. The one I already knew in my head. Baby needed sleep. I needed sleep. Something had to be done. And it was probably one of those things that gets uglier before it gets better…
So today, I stopped at Babies’R’Us and loaded up with the Bedtime Bath and the Bedtime Lotion. That stuff must smell pretty strong and be fantastic, because even with my mega cold I could get a little bit through the congestion to my olfactory nerves. I made sure Baby napped but not for too long. I wanted him to get good and tired. We ate dinner and then danced to the Superbowl Halftime Show. Bathtime was fairly routine- I put O in the tub, filled it up with that delicious smelling bath wash and scrubbed him down. I even took extra time to massage his little feet hoping he’d really soak up every last bit of that intoxicating scent. A lullaby, a prayer. Then it was the moment of truth. I put the baby in the crib, kissed his little forehead and ran out. I heard whimpering immediately. Shit, this is going to be a long night.
In the end, it was not so bad. Yes, he did cry. I went in and out of his room at the allocated times to rub his little back and stroke his head. I even bent down into his crib and kissed his little fat cheeks. But the cries got softer and then faded away and he fell asleep. He woke up once an hour later and I started the process over again.
The only problem is that I’m too afraid to go to bed now. I figure that when I crawl into bed, that will be the moment he wakes up next.
Just One More Thing 