Ferber question

Mrs.Pnut

We did Ferber with DS a few months ago and it worked for the most part...

DS is still waking 3 times a night. Twice we can get him back to sleep by turning his seahorse on and the rainforest crib soother on, once I nurse him.

We need to re-do ferber now in a week or so because DS got a cold and all went out the window. My question is this:

Does the seahorse and the rainforest defeat the purpose of Ferber? Or is it okay to use still? And how do I get DS to stop waking those 2 times that he doesn't need to eat? Do we need to just let him cry? Man, I hate hearing him cry!! haha

 tia!!

mlf625

I'd absolutely ditch all the props. ?I read both Ferber and Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, and (if I remember correctly) both discourage props of any sort. ?You're just replacing one comfort habit (rocking, feeding, etc.) with another.

When we got rid of the night feedings, we slowly tapered down what we gave him- 4oz, then 3oz, then 2oz, then 1. ?He'd drink what we gave him and go to sleep, so he obviously was't hungry, just snacking for comfort. ?After that, we didn't give him a bottle at all. ?It did take some crying during night wakings for a few nights, but no harm done.

CA2006

You sound just like us.  We have both the rainforest soother and the seahorse.  DS tends to roll onto his seahorse and turn it on himself though.  But we use them from time to time. That said, DS does usually STTN without waking, so it can't really be affecting that.  We mainly use the soothers when he is sick/teething or when he wakes before he "should" (i.e. 5am). 

shari_rngleson

honestly what worked best for me is doing NOTHING!  it is so hard (you might even want to get some earplugs)...but my dd has been STTN 11 hrs/night since 5 months because of ferber!

susanmosley

He is not self soothing if you are soothing him.  And self soothing is a key, if not the main, component to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems.