Progressive Waiting Approach

After putting it off for a while I finally decided it was time to do some sleep training. Tommy has really been fighting bedtime lately, especially on the nights that Bill puts him to sleep, and he's been waking up in the middle of the night again. Naps have been really hard and I figured it was time. I waited until this most recent tooth came through so he wouldn't be dealing with teething pain. He's not currently sick and I didn't give him any dairy today at all. Bill is out of town for a guys' weekend so I decided that this is my opportunity to just do it. I downloaded Ferber's book, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems and furiously read as much as I could today. That's how I am, I make a decision and I just do it. If I mull it over, I wimp out.

I went to my parents' house for dinner and Tommy dosed off on the way home. I woke him up, played with him for a little while, and brought him into his room at 8:20 instead of his normal 8:00 bedtime (a Ferber recommendation). I fed him his bottle with the lights on and I talked to him and recited nursery rhymes to him to keep him from falling asleep. After the bottle we quick brushed his teeth (something he loves lately) and read a Thomas the Train book that he likes. Then I gave him a big hug and told him that I love him very much and that it was time for him to go to bed. I said, "night night Tommy" which will be our bedtime phrase, turned of the light, and put him in his crib. Of course he started bawling. 

8:37 Put him in his crib and said goodnight.
8:40 First check.
8:45 Second check.
8:52 Third check.
9:04 Fourth check.
9:08 Crying stops and he went to sleep. We don't have a video monitor so I wasn't able to see him but I know he went to sleep sometime after he stopped crying.

A couple of observations: it was really freaking hard to listen to him crying especially because he has really started to say ma-ma this week and he kept yelling it out. What was even harder was when he stopped saying ma-ma and switched to da-da, like he gave up on me and thought Bill could come "save" him. The strange part was when he stopped crying. He slowed some, stopping the gut wrenching screams and moving to more of a moaning cry but still crying with force. Then he just stopped. He must have just dropped with exhaustion.

So now he's sleeping. I'm really hoping that he just sleeps through the night because I really don't want to deal with this in the middle of the night! I really hope it helps. I was supposed to go meet Bill tomorrow with the other girlfriends/wives but part of the reason I'm not going is because I don't want to leave him overnight with my parents again. Last time he freaked out for 2 hours while they tried to put him to bed. I feel like it was definitely time to try something. I just hope it works well.