Dr. Richard Ferber, My New Best Friend

So, yesterday, on a whim (or perhaps on a tiny bit of Mother's intuition) I headed over to Barnes and Noble to see if they had a copy of the revised edition of Dr. Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. I bought it, came home and started reading during every little 3 min break I could. After picking it up just a couple times I was ready to toss my copy of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child out the window! Why didn't I just do this before? Why did I make both Salla and myself suffer for the last month when the solution was just a 20 min drive and $16 away?? I LOVE this book. Everything is explained so well. He makes it easy to figure out EXACTLY what the sleep issues are (not just that she's night waking and a horrible napper, but that she's developed an unhealthy sleep association with my boobs (mostly my left one, I think) and by eating as much as she is during the night she's arousing all her internal systems which is screwing with her circadian rhythm, etc etc.) and how to fix them (stop nursing her to sleep, let her fall asleep alone in her crib, and gradually decrease the night feedings until there are none). His program is layed out in black and white in very precise steps, which I apparently needed since I never knew what my next step was before, and we put it to the test after bedtime last night. It was a long night, she still woke up crying as much as before, but TWICE she fell asleep awake, by herself, without the boob. My dear husband was a real trooper and went to her during the times I elected not to nurse her so I wouldn't be tempted and she wouldn't smell me. Overall, we woke up exhausted, but hopeful. I continued the program today for naps. She fell asleep after 30 min, by herself, without the boob for a morning nap and then after only 3, ya, you heard me, 3 minutes of protesting in the afternoon. Tonight, Seth was working so I had bedtime for both kids all to myself. I nursed Salla while Ethan was playing in the tub so I wouldn't have to give her a full feeding immediately before bed. After Ethan was tucked in, I took Salla in her room, read her a story, nursed her for like 2 minutes but NOT until she fell asleep. I layed her down in her crib, she threatened to cry as I left and not 1 minute later all was quiet. I LOVE LIFE!

But seriously, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Who knows what the night will bring and she'll probably be angry when I take out another night feeding, but I'm confident within a week or so there will be no more late night snacking and substantially less wake ups! I'll let this be the end of my sleep rants for a couple days...thanks for reading!