Ferbering John Whitten

Some of you might remember this picture of Miss Lillian when she was only seven months old holding her newest book, “Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" By. Dr. Richard Ferber. We successfully "Ferbered" Lillian in just a few days and now we have dusted off our trusty book for my sweet John Whitten. We were strict with Lillian's sleep schedule from the very beginning, but with John Whitten I have been much more relaxed about all of it. He slept in our room for the first two or three months, and often would end up in bed with Shaun and me at some point during the night. But it is time for him to get on some kind of a schedule that works best for him as well as for Shaun and me.

Day One of sleep training went well. He was asleep after 35 minutes and slept from 8:35-3:00. I nursed him at 3:00 and laid him back down. At 3:45 he woke up but after a quick trip into his room to reassure him that everything was alright he was back asleep within 5 minutes and slept until 6:30! I thought, "It cannot be this easy...night one went great!” Well, I was right, it can't be that easy.


Night two was awful! I mean heartbreaking and exhausting awful! We put him down at 8:00 and he was asleep in five minutes without ANY tears. What a tease....he was awake at 9:00, cried until 10:00. Awake at 12:00. Cried until 1:15. Awake at 1:45, cried until 2:30 (when Lillian wakes up because of all the crying). Awake at 3:30, cried until 5:00! Keep in mind that Shaun and I are not just lying in our beds; we are standing outside his door with a timer going back into his room every five minutes to reassure him that everything is okay but that it is time to go to sleep. John Whitten was crying, I was crying, Shaun kept referencing the book which led to us fighting. It was a crazy, exhausting night.


I will have to give a BIG shout out to Shaun though...many husbands would have just let the wife handle the whole thing. Shaun got up with me each time John Whitten was up and stood outside his door with me. He even tried to make me go to bed and turn off the monitor because he knew how much John Whitten's crying was breaking my heart. However, he was also the one who wouldn't let me just call it quits and cuddle my baby boy. Something I was mad about at 4:00 in the morning, but will probably be thankful for in a few days when John Whitten is going to sleep on his own and sleeping through the night.

Lillian @7 months

John Whitten @ 4 1/2 months