Babies: 6 - 9 Months
jczekanski
member
Ending Nightly Feedings & Ferberizing
jczekanski
member
Hello All, Had our 6-Month Check-Up today and everything went great but the doc recommended ending nightly feedings (which occur about every 4 hours) and ferberizing to get the little one to sleep better. I am really nervous and would rather not do either but it is probably better for all of us sleep wise since we aren't getting any and my husband is all for it. Probably going to try it this weekend. Any tips/advice/motivaition? Thanks in advance.
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Re: Ending Nightly Feedings & Ferberizing
Do what feels right for you. If it works, great if not, don't fret about it
DS still wakes up once or twice during the night and he's over 6 months old. I don't mind though. He eats and goes back to sleep. Most nights
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Remember, you don't have to sleep train if you're not ready. If you haven't already, I'd really, really recommend reading Ferber's book (Solve your Child's Sleep Problems) first, you may not need to do the progressive waiting if you check out the rest of her sleep hygiene. It was a tremendously helpful book for us to identify where there were sleep association issues, and where he was waking because he was legitimately hungry.
We've remedied all the negative sleep associations we had, which was our goal, but he still wakes once a night (sometimes twice) to eat. That's okay with us, I've heard from many people they will eventually drop that last feed on their own (and we know he's not just waking out of habit).
Also, I'd really follow Ferber's suggestions for cutting out a night feeding, and not doing it cold-turkey, but cutting her back slowly, because she's used to the food, and will be hungry when she wakes for a few nights until she's shifted all her caloric intake to the daytime.
All that being said, sleep training was one of the best things we ever did for our family. I'm still tired most days, but I know he knows how to put himself to sleep, and that's a skill I don't think he would have learned without progressive waiting. And, for some encouragement, the longest he ever cried (with checks) was 17 minutes, I really believe that when they're ready, they're ready! Good luck, stay consistent, and have a plan (nothing worse than arguing with DH in the middle of the night about who's turn it is to do the checks, etc...)
I would just like to point out that Ferber's method =/= CIO, and put in another plug for his book. Other methods may certainly work, but his is the only one based in decades of evidence based research, the progressive waiting (where they do cry) is only a few pages in his entire book, it is full of informative explanations about sleep and how to break habits that are interfering with restorative sleep that do not involve any crying.
Also, many, many ladies on here have had incredible success with using Ferber's methods (or modified versions of his methods), whereas it seems hit or miss with other approaches. Good luck!
kristin2t's advice is solid. Be sure you read the book, it's very informative and much more detailed then the term "CIO" makes it sound. There were a lot of tips/info that we were able to use that helped Sadie before we even attempted the actual training part. When we started, Sadie was bedsharing full time and using me like an all night bottle with about 6 wakes. Now she goes down at 7:30 in her crib and sleeps until 6 with no wakes. At first she was still waking to nurse once per night, around 2 AM, but she eventually dropped that feeding on her own. The first 2 nights were rough, no lie, but it was worth it in the end as we all are much happier and more rested now. GL!
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Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems