I guess training dolphins isn't so easy after all...

Posted this on facebook a couple of weeks ago....

Aaarghhh why has my baby started waking up 5/6/7 times per night?!?

Got loads of helpful tips and support from friends around the world...thanks! Was it teething? Was it a developmental threshold? Too cold? Too many anchovies? "You need to start channeling your inner behaviorist now and realize that it is classical conditioning for a long while from here on out" "Because a child's job is to torture their parents." "they suddenly wise up to the idea that if they wake up more they get more boob time!" "get out the calpol!"

There was a bit of animation over the pros and cons of crying it out "even if you decide to go medieval on him and let him cry until he tires out, as some "methods" would suggest: luckily for parents, children are very resilient, and thus able to survive us!"


Then a wise "Did this happen when you were on holiday? If so maybe It was the unfamiliar surroundings..."

Indeed, we had just arrived back in the uk and he'd been in several different beds and had his routine all over the place, not to mention some tasty Italian anchovies and a ton of stimulation.  I was hopeful Orso would sort  himself out on his own, but decided to do some reading about classical conditioning in the meantime. Found this interesting website 

http://gettingstronger.org/psychology/ 

and decided to try 'putting on a cue' of tickling Orson's neck every time I'm planning to feed him. I thought, "It works for dolphins apparently, so if it works for me too I'll write another book to add to the pile."

I was a bit worried that I might end up giving Orson an embarrassing habit in adulthood of getting hungry every time someone touches his neck .... but thought i'd give it a go anyway.

Here's an update:

Orson is back to sleeping all through the night until Daddy's alarm goes off, with no calpol and no crying. I think he's just happier back in his cot!

Tickling the neck did nothing - no reaction, so i stopped bothering. I guess training dolphins isn't so easy after all................