Bentley has been having a hard time falling asleep on his own, so we've assumed the task of trying to teach him. He falls asleep easily in our arms, but gets mad when we put him in his crib unless he's super tired. I am seriously grateful right now for Dr. Richard Ferber's book "How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" which teaches you how to teach your child to sleep. One of his theories is that you should put your child down when he's starting to get sleepy and if he cries, you go in at small progressive intervals (2 min, then 4 min, etc) and pat his back, try to quickly soothe him, and go out. Eventually he'll get it that you're not going to get him out and he'll give up. If you do that, he will learn to go to sleep by himself without a big bedtime routine, he'll trust you and know you're still there (instead of letting him cry until he falls asleep without going in and him thinking you're not there at all), he won't need you each time he awakens throughout the night, and he can learn to soothe himself. Sounds good to me.
It's rough getting there though! The first night we tried this, Bentley thought it would be fun to wake up at 1:30am, eat, then scream for 2+ hours. I know he would have fallen right asleep if I let him go in my arms, but I did the progressive thing and eventually he fell asleep. The next night was a little shorter, and last night he went right down, though naptime he screamed for about an hour. Bentley is very stubborn (no, he did NOT get that from his mom or dad, I swear!) and is resisting our efforts, but he's already doing better after a few short days. This whole sleep thing is still a work in progress, but I know we'll get it down sooner or later! I hope...
5 comments:
oh man I hate trying to get kids to go to bed on their own without a big ordeal, its so hard. way to stick to it though - you will be super glad next week when he goes down perfectly :)
Oh what a sweet little boy! I love those sleeping pictures. They are so perfect. Not whinny, crying, or fussy! Just simply perfect!!! :)
I can't believe how much bigger he looks! I have his newborn pic on our fridge and he looks totally different from then! Crazy! Good thing you're documenting every moment.
Oh my goodness! Those pictures of Bently are SO cute! I love how he is hugging his stuffed animal. How can babies make such sad faces? Lincoln does it to me, too and I can't help but give into him. Good luck with the sleeping through the night thing. Just when we thought Lincoln was getting it down, he started waking up all night again! Maybe you can feel a little better when you are stumbling out of bed in the middle of the night to know that I am probably doing the same thing next door!
Mr. B looks JUST LIKE JIMMY in the first picture! HAHA Love the outfit, and of course that is just the cutest polka dot blanket I've EVER seen! He's such an adorable boy...gets cuter every time I see new pics of him!
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