Sleeping beauty???

It has been a hard and long week. Last week-end we decided to take control over the night. And boy did Sebastian want to have his say about it.

Our biggest problem was how used he is to be serviced through the night. Every little wimper, and we came rushing to his side and gave him his pacifier or tried to comfort him in some way (rocking or patting or talking or singing). We had to put a stop to it, because he was taking advantage of us, and made our nights miserable.

After reading "sov godt" my wife and I agreed on how to handle Sebastian's tantrums at night. First of all, he needed to learn how to fall asleep on his own. We try to accomplish this by being near him (next room with door open so he can hear us, and not feel alone).

The first nights Sebastian got furious, and it was really hard listening to his crying. But we were certain that he was fed, dry and otherwise well. All we did was stand next to him and tried to calm him by talking to him. We had to lift him up and really calm him a few times the first night. After two or three nights like this, he has shown real progress. It has now been almost a week and he is so much easier to put to bed. We still have to work at it, but he is not crying any more. He stays in bed and talks to himself, and occasionly he tries to call out for us. If we answer he'll start crying, but if we stay quiet he just starts talking to himself again. All we do to get him to sleep is walk in and out of the bedroom for a while, reassuring him that he is not alone. And then he falls a sleep. Almost quietly.

At night he still wakes up, but 99% of the time he falls asleep by himself again. If this continues, we'll put him in his own room soon.

It might be too soon to say if this has been a solution for us, for now.... (there will be bumps in the road down the way. So I have been assured ;) But at least we can enjoy a few quiet nights.