Night time battles

Oh the joy of night-time battles! Nothing makes a mom and dad feel so relaxed after an hour and a half of kicking, screaming, yelling and crying because its time for bed routine. You name it, I tried it...the questions, "are you scared?" "are you having nightmares?" the bed time ritual (brush teeth, potty, book, songs, etc.). I even tried more mommy-Jelly time...and my little master manipulator princess still delays bedtime up to an hour.

Even when we try to get ready for bed, an hour earlier...Jelly-slowsky-bean manages to delay it even longer.

And to put the cherry on top of this sleep-deprived sundae, she wakes up through-out the night crying...it is like we have a newborn all over again...only, the new-mom-adrenalin-thing is gone and I have to get up at 5 am to go to my 8-5 job every day. Yes, I think I have officially entered that zombie-mommy phase. Drink lots of coffeeeeeee.

She has a night light, lullaby's playing all night and every baby and princess and doggie and kitty in her bed next to her...so seriously, Dr. Sears, Dr. Karp ---Anyone...pleaase help!

-signed zombie-mommy Carey

Catching zzzzz's

After a week of struggling to get our monkey to sleep in her bed, by herself, we are finally catching some z's. Ahhh...

It was quite a struggle getting her comfortable and confident. Our secret was the Ferber method. When she woke in the middle of the night, she would go to the gate at her door and yell for us. I would calmly walk her back to bed, cover her and say goodnight sweetie - see you in the morning. She would instantly cry and chase me to the door. (This was extremely hard) Then after 5 minutes, I'd go back and repeat, then 10 minutes, 15 minutes and finally after 20 minutes (the first night) she crawled back into bed and slept until morning. The next night it took 10-15 minutes. Now for 2 nights, she has slept through the night, and waits patiently (awake) in bed until we come and get her in the morning.

What methods have you used to help your baby sleep?

More about Ferberizing
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/7755.html

This isn't for everyone, but we found that it works well with our daughter. Within a few days, after an illness or a change in routine (a new bed), our daughter is getting her rest, but most importantly we are too!