Sleep-training diary (UPDATED)

The aim is for Leo to fall asleep on his own in the evening

We started sleep-training with Leo on Friday, as suggested by our doctor and nanny, to teach him how to go to sleep on his own and how to sleep through the night, or at the very least to go to sleep on his own if he wakes up in the middle of the night. We are using the so-called Ferber method, which is the light version of the "crying-it-out" method - basically, we put Leo to sleep after his bathtime and evening meal, make sure he has his sleeping cues in place (sleeping toy/blanket, pijamas, lullabies playing, dark room, pacifier etc.) and then let him fall asleep on his own. What this provokes is usually a lot of crying, and we are only allowed to come in and comfort him in growing time-intervals: 4, 8, 12... minutes. Eventually, he falls asleep, but it's tough to hear your baby cry and not to go. But he's supposed to learn very quickly (4-5 days) and both Leo and us will be happier once he's learned how to sleep on his own, so we persevere. Here are the updates far:

• Day 1 (Friday) I stayed at home alone with Leo while Tea went out for some office drinks. It was not easy to ignore his crying, but Leo took "only" 35 minutes to fall asleep; he then slept until 4:30am, when Tea fed him and then we went to sleep with a bit of fussing (needed to go in and re-insert the pacifier 4 times); in the morning he woke up around 9am!
• Day 2 (Saturday) We went out to see a musical so Cheryl put Leo to sleep, but she said he went down without problems; he again woke up at 4:30am, but after I gave him the bottle he went to sleep almost immediately; woke up at 8am the next morning
• Day 3 (Sunday) The toughest day so far, Leo cried for a whole hour before falling asleep; it was extra tough because the other sound was that of Tea's heart breaking that she could not go in and soothe him! But after he fell asleep (on his stomach) he slept without problems until 4:30am (again!), and again fell alseep without problems after a feeding and a pacifier; he woke up around 8:15am in the morning
• Day 4 (Monday) The hardest may be behind us as things are improving - today Leo only took 19 minutes to fall asleep! It's interesting that he clearly prefers sleeping on his stomach now - he woke up only once at night (early, at 2:45am) and both sleep spells were on his belly. 7:30am wake-up was on the early side.
• Day 5 (Tuesday) As I write this Leo fell asleep maybe an hour ago after only 10 minutes of half-serious crying. It really seem this training is working, hope the fact we won't be travelling anywhere with Leo until November means it'll stick for good! (heard of cases of reversal during big international travels)
• Day 6 (Wednesday) 4 minutes - this is all it took Leo to fall asleep last night! Not only that, but he then slept until 5:15am, probably the longest he's ever slept in one spell... but still not the night without waking up we're all hoping for is around the corner :)