I took Ian to see the doctor today and we received some news that will be hard for me. I have to stop rocking Ian to sleep. NO! There’s nothing wrong with him. Man, do you think I would write about something like that this quickly?! Anyway, Ian’s been waiting up in the middle of the night screaming the last week or so and while we though it was constipation (the prune juice did it’s work), it didn’t fix it entirely. So just to make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong, I took him in to see the Doc. The prognosis…Ian is having nightmares or waking up during the night and since I rock him to sleep, he doesn’t know how to fall back asleep.

The doc basically told us we need to get Ian out of our room and he needs to learn to fall asleep on his own. This is something we’ve known for awhile, but due to the living situation, we were waiting until we got the house to start it. However, I don’t think we’re going to have that option. The longer we put this off, the harder it’s going to get. Ideally, we would be able to move Ian out of our room, but where would we put him? In the office where the cats wrecked it and it stills smells after multiple carpet cleanings or in the living room where we usually are since we don’t go to bed at the same time as Ian? We could always set the pack and play up in our room and then move it out into the living room when we go to bed, but I’m pretty sure that’ll wake Ian up.

As for sleeping, the doc recommended the Ferber Method. The basic idea, put Ian to bed while he is awake and leave him in there. If he starts to cry, let him and don’t go in to comfort him for 5 minutes, without picking him up. Then leave and let him cry for another 10 minutes and repeat. I’m not crazy about the cry it out method and I really don’t like the idea that we have to use it, but what else could we do? The idea that I’m just suppose to sit in the living room, ignoring my son’s cries is something I don’t want to do. I know I have to, but it’s going to be, both physically and emotionally, hard for me. If something is upsetting him, why would I let him cry when I can fix it? We tried this when Ian was a lot younger (about 2 months I think) and I couldn’t do it. I would spend the entire time crying and I wasn’t going to go through that. However, now that my hormones are back to normal (or as normal as they’ll get) and I’m more used to his crying, maybe it’ll work. I’ve heard good and bad stories about the Ferber Method, so I’m willing to try it (I guess), but I would love to find another way to get Ian to fall asleep on his own.

So now I’m doing some research on the Ferber Method and here are some sites I’ve found:

  1. The Ferber Method Helps Some Children Sleep Longer research results
  2. Q&A With Dr. Ferber
  3. Slate Article arguing against the Ferber Method
  4. Ferber Method Demystified
  5. Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber