I am a bitch
Really. I have spent the last five months holding and comforting and singing and otherwise babying The Tank. I held him when he slept, I held him when I slept. I rocked him and fed him and kissed all over him, letting him know, as mothers do, that I adore him and would never let ANYTHING bad happen to him.
Which is why I'm letting him scream his head off in the other room. It's called ferberizing and it's awful. You put the defenseless, unknowing child down in their beds when they're tired, then you let them scream for 15 minutes. You go in, pet their hands and tummies and backs for a minute, then you leave again. For 15 minutes. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I was just in there, comforting my good sport, and there was a look of disdain and shock on his face. Mommy has an evil streak, it said. Mommy is outright mean, it said. Mommy pick me up, it said.
Why would any parent choose to ferberize, you ask? Wouldn't it be just as humane to stick him in a cage and leave him there? Let me tell you why.
At almost five months old, The Tank is huge. He's closing in on 20 pounds. And getting up in the middle of the night (not once, more like three or four times) is something reserved for babies weighing under 12 pounds. It's what they refer to as a "habit." The only way to break said habit is to encourage your child to learn to put themselves to sleep. Also there's this magical period between 3-6 months where babies forgive, forget and adapt easily that we are almost out of, meaning it's easier now than it will be in a month. Or at least that's what the experts say.
In other words, by holding and rocking and feeding my little baby until he fell asleep, I won the mother of the year award and earned my son a week or so on this torturous diet of DIY sleeping.
Way to go, Mom.
Which is why I'm letting him scream his head off in the other room. It's called ferberizing and it's awful. You put the defenseless, unknowing child down in their beds when they're tired, then you let them scream for 15 minutes. You go in, pet their hands and tummies and backs for a minute, then you leave again. For 15 minutes. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I was just in there, comforting my good sport, and there was a look of disdain and shock on his face. Mommy has an evil streak, it said. Mommy is outright mean, it said. Mommy pick me up, it said.
Why would any parent choose to ferberize, you ask? Wouldn't it be just as humane to stick him in a cage and leave him there? Let me tell you why.
At almost five months old, The Tank is huge. He's closing in on 20 pounds. And getting up in the middle of the night (not once, more like three or four times) is something reserved for babies weighing under 12 pounds. It's what they refer to as a "habit." The only way to break said habit is to encourage your child to learn to put themselves to sleep. Also there's this magical period between 3-6 months where babies forgive, forget and adapt easily that we are almost out of, meaning it's easier now than it will be in a month. Or at least that's what the experts say.
In other words, by holding and rocking and feeding my little baby until he fell asleep, I won the mother of the year award and earned my son a week or so on this torturous diet of DIY sleeping.
Way to go, Mom.