I Ferb*rized That Baby!

(I don't want this blog post to come up when you search for the Dr's real name, so I'm putting the * instead of another e.)

So, as you know, Sammy wasn't sleeping through the night. And worse than that, his nights were getting worse and worse. He was going 6 or 7 hours at night for a while, but then it started going down to only 4 or 5 and before I knew it he was awake more often at night than he was during the day! So something had to be done. I was so sleep deprived that I didn't even remember how I have solved this problem in the past. Let the kid cry! I am a believer in Dr. Ferb*r's theory that children need to learn how to soothe themselves at night. All it takes is a couple of miserable nights where the baby cries a ton. For further info on Dr Ferb*r's theory, have a look here.

Anyway, I geared up for starting this. I knew I wasn't going to sleep at all for about 3 days, but that after that I'd be OK. I put Sammy's port-a-crib in the basement so that all his screaming wouldn't keep the other kids awake. I went to sleep in my own bed upstairs, but planned on staying on the couch downstairs once Sammy woke up the first time.

Night One: Sammy woke up after just 3 hours. But I didn't hear him soon enough and by the time I got to him he was turning blue and practically hyperventilating. So I caved in and fed him to calm him down. Dr. Ferb*r would not be proud. Failure.

That day I worked on Ferb*rizing him at naptime, too - putting him in his crib awake and making him put himself to sleep.

Night Two: Sammy slept all night.

Night Three: Sammy slept all night.

What?!?!? How did this happen? It's too good to be true! I never stayed up all night with a screaming baby! He just started sleeping. Seriously... what? I did move him to the crib instead of the bassinet - maybe he likes that better. And I did stop putting socks on his hands so that he could suck on his fingers - maybe that helps him soothe himself. Or maybe the poor kid just really wanted to sleep through the night, he just needed a tiny push to know how. I don't know. It's weird.

But WHO CARES! The kid is sleeping through the night! I'll take it!