I remember the sound of your November downtown

So it has been about 2 weeks since I introduced the Ferber sleep method/night weaning to our household and I couldn't be more pleased.  Sloane and I are both sleeping so happily.  Sloane now grabs her blankie and crawls into my lap for naptime and waves goodbye to me.  At bedtime she sometimes still fusses a bit when I lay her down, but before I have even gotten to the doorway she is quiet.  Most nights she turns over happily after I cover her up and closes her eyes.  She also wakes up happy in the morning, instead of screaming.  She is not afraid of being in her crib/nursery alone anymore, I hear her for awhile in the morning babbling and laughing and she has a huge smile when I walk in to greet her. 

It was about 3 nights of using the Ferber intervals of time.  I didn't think I could bear 5 minutes of crying so I started at 3 minutes and then 5 and then 7 and so on.  She fell asleep at 15 minutes with 5 night wakings, which was typical for us (it was awful it broke my heart, and so many times I wanted to "rescue her" but during my checks & reassuring of her I could see that she was okay and that she was more mad then sad, there weren't tears just yelling).  The next night she fell asleep at 7 minutes with 2 night wakings and the next night at 3 minutes with no night waking.    Naps worked even more easily...she never cried over a couple minutes for a nap.  I have put to bed the worries over whether I did the right thing...I could continue to allow myself to feel guilty over the crying but I know that she is okay and that she seems happy about her newfound independence.  I am feeling like a new person. Maybe I will be able to put down the Zoloft someday soon (of course after I've spoken to a physician and gotten a titration plan).  I think I will get through the holidays first.

before Ferber cooed, coaxed, coddled and cuddled to sleep and then transferred to her bed...(after viewing this picture I note how many prints are shoved into my mother's spare bedroom)

 

now...bliss  (you can buy this here:  via )


title courtesy of my favorite November/winter song: Winter by Joshua Radin