CHEERS!

For the first time in over 16 months Jr. slept through the night - for reals. The more I have thought and read about babies and sleep, I have determined that there are just some kids who sleep and some who don't. We had one that didn't.

Ed thought that with the long weekend we could take the opportunity to do some sleep training. We did it our own style, nothing out of a book. Our plan was simple. Jr. woke up every night between 11:30 - 12:30 and we would bring him to bed with us. He would then wake up every two hours or so to nurse. We were going to send Ed in to comfort and put him back to sleep in an attempt to eliminate the first night waking. We would deal with the second, third night waking at a later date. Much to our surprise, after Ed got him back to sleep the first time, there was no second or third night waking. He would sleep until 5 - 6 AM, at which time he was welcome to come to bed with us to go back to sleep until 7:30 - 8.

Oh, it wasn't all sunshine and roses. Friday night, he cried/screamed/called out Mommy Daddy for over an hour. Saturday night it was about 40 minutes. Sunday night was less than 20 minutes. Monday night was barely 5. Last night he cried at 1 and again at 3, but neither time Ed went in there and he cried for only about 2 minutes and put him self back to sleep. He got up at 6:20 AM and I brought him to bed with me and he slept until 8:20 AM!

I am still anti-Ferber. I really should have recorded him crying/screaming so that I can have anyone who recommends letting them cry it out listen to the sounds of a truly heartbroken baby. Ferberizing our kid was a total last resort. We have tried many gentle ways to get him to sleep, and we were back sliding. Plus it seems that around 18 months kids start sleeping better, so we were ready for the next step even though it was ugly. When I say that I am anti Ferber, I am not judging others' parenting values, I am talking about us.

I owe my great night sleep last night to Ed. He is a tremendous father who would go in to rock his very angry baby back to sleep even though he was exhausted. Thanks Ed.

I HOPE the trend continues. I hope Ed Jr. starts sleeping consistently through the night for his sake as well as ours.

He is currently smiling at me and throwing his cheerios across the room.