Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed ...

there was a phase when pea slept through the whole night when he was about 4 to 5 months old. we thought that this was it and it wont change again, but we thought wrong... suddenly he started to wake up at night again and after a few weeks we were used to getting up each and every night again. also he only fell asleep on either chris's or my arm. if we tried to put him in his bed too early he would open his eyes the second he touched his mattress. sleeping in his bed at day time wasn't even an option...

although this was a bit annoying we just put up with it. until i was talking to a friend of mine about it. she has a 15 months old boy and told me that he still wakes up at least once a night and never falls asleep on his own. and right then i knew: we have to change something!

i remembered someone telling me about a book that helped her little girl falling asleep by herself and also sleep through the night. the book is in german and called "jedes kind kann schlafen lernen" which translates to every child can learn to sleep and it is based on (but not only) the studies of prof richard ferber who is the director of the center for pediatric sleep disorders at children's hospital in boston.

as to everything, there are two sides to this subject. many people trust this method and it really helped them and as many people are completely against it and say it does more harm than help.

i can only speak for myself and i have to say that it really helped. it took pea two nights until he was able to fall asleep by himself with a little bit of crying to no crying at all when i put him in bed. except for the second night when he woke up at 4.20 in the morning he slept through every night (we're doing it since 9 nights now). also we try to stick to the same daily routine which works really well.

believe me, i'm the last person who just lets her baby cry. i even got smiled at from many people before cause they thought i never let him cry for a minute and always run when he is crying. i truly believe that babies up to 6 months do not cry just to get something or enforce something, but because they are in need of something or someone. i behaved accordingly with pea and it was always consonant with my inner voice.

i felt me and him were ready to try it and the fact that it worked within two days proves it was the right thing for us. also he sleeps up to two hours more a day now, which can only be good for him (and for me!). of course i don't know how i would have reacted if he was screaming every night for hours and i don't want to judge anyone who has another opinion.