Back about a month ago Grace started to go through a difficult sleep pattern where she was waking up around 3am. Sometimes we were able to get her back to sleep pretty easily, other times she would be up for hours. Even through Jen was the one who was usually getting up with her, I would usually be awake as well as her room is pretty close to ours and Grace has a pretty powerful set of lungs. It made for some pretty tough days for both of us, some days I felt like a zombie at work.
We knew we needed to try something to get Grace back on track with her sleep or else Mommy and Daddy would drop from exhaustion. While we were waiting for Grace we read Dr. Richard Ferber's book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. We were a little hesitant to try his methods as it requires you to let the child cry a bit in order to teach her to put herself to sleep. Letting a baby cry is pretty contrary to all of the attachment parenting we have been doing but we are pretty confident at this point that Grace is attached to us so we though we would give it a shot.
The first couple nights were pretty rough as we normally don't let Grace cry for more than 30 seconds before we go pick her up so letting her cry for a few minutes was heartbreaking. But amazingly after a few days Grace had learned to put herself to sleep and it has now been more than a week since she has woken up in the middle of the night crying. If Grace does wake up, Jen just has to run in and tuck her into bed with Teddy Rabbit and she is fine in less than a minute.
So now that Grace is sleeping much better, Jen and I were able to have our first night out as a couple since we got Grace almost 6 months ago in China. My company had a party Friday night on a Boston Harbor cruise ship so we were able to have a nice dinner, a little dancing and show off Grace's pictures to some of my co-workers. It was a fun night and Jen only called home to check in once. Luckily Grace did great, Grammy came over to babysit and she just loves her Grammy so she went right to bed without any trouble.
Some pics from our week below....
Grace contemplates mommy's navel
Story time
Pretty in Pink, notice the goldfish in each hand
First chocolate chip cookie
Mmmmmm
8 comments:
I love the Ferber method. We were just getting to a point where Catherine would start to play with us while we were patting her to sleep. We decided to try this method and it worked like a charm!
We just did this too! Like you said, it was tough to begin with, but now it's MUCH better. YAY to Dr. Ferber. Glad you had a wonderful evening of Jen and Steve time!
ZZZZZZ! It is a good thing! Glad it worked.
Just have to ask...did she find any lint?? ha ha!!
:)
Liz
Gracie is so pretty in pink...what a doll. Don't you feel like a new person after a full nights sleep after not having one for awhile?!!!
Dawn
I am so glad to see you all are doing well! We think of everyone often and love seeing your blog! Addie is doing well. We've had some bumps in the road but she is tough and has done very well. Your family is beautiful! I love all of the updates and I can tell the joy on everyone's face!!!
Needless to say, I can never get enough of seeing Gracie on this site- pictures & videos, etc.. She is a doll, and we are all so blessed to have this angel in our lives
Tammy M.
PS- Is it too early to be dying to see Thanksgiving & Christmas pics? LOL..
So glad you have an adult night out. Important to focus on your marriage too!
Alyson
Alyzabeth's Mommy for Nine Weeks!
Did you go on the Spirit of Boston? I've been on dinner cruises with them a few times, it's a great time!
Post a Comment