A vote for the Ferber Method

annabelle41

I don't post too often on here, but I wanted to share this quickly for any other moms whose babies struggle to fall sleep on their own.

My 8.5-mo-old DD could only fall asleep in our arms for bedtime and naps. You had to rock her to SOUND asleep and if she woke during transfer to the crib, you had to start all over again.  Sometimes it took more than an hour to get her down.  She woke in the night about 50% of the time. And her morning waking time was very inconsistent -- anywhere from 4:30am to 6:30am.

But she has no trouble sleeping at daycare, so we knew she was capable of it. Her sleep associations were just different at home.

We reached our wit's end and last weekend we started the Ferber Method of crying it out/progressive waiting. We had put off doing it because we knew it would be unpleasant and we were convinced she would cry for hours and hours and hours.

The first night, she fussed for 25 mins.  The next night, 15 mins. Then she was down to 5 mins. Now she whimpers a little, then falls asleep within 3-4 mins. And she has SSTN for 11 straight hours every night since. Wakes up consistently between 6 and 6:15am, which is perfect.

I was very pleased with the results and I'm only sorry we didn't do it sooner.  It's not for everyone, but it worked great for us!

trapani2be

11hrs straight?!? sounds like heaven.  What book did you read?

LonghornNAggie

We had the same issue. We followed "The SleepEasy Solution" which was a much QUICKER read than the Ferber book (although I read some of that as well) We did 5 min, 10 min and 15 min and no touching when you went in (for less than 30 sec then leave the room). Night 1: 33 min, Night 2: 18 min. Night 3 and every night (other than teething recently) out on her own for all naps and night time and night time wakings!!!!

annabelle41

I skimmed "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Richard Ferber.

https://www.amazon.com/Solve-Your-Childs-Sleep-Problems/dp/0671620991

And I mean skim!  It is very long.  I found the most relevant chapter and read that in more detail.  And it offers a chart for how many minutes to wait before going in to soothe the baby (pat her back, don't pick her up).

GL!

abb08

Ferber worked well for our DS too.  I was anti-CIO, but finally hit the wall and we did it...honestly, he never cried that long and now goes down awake for all naps and at nighttime with no fussing at all.  It's really cute, actually, he just rolls onto his side and closes his eyes!  He sleeps a 9-10 hour stretch, nurses, and then goes back down for 2-3 more hours!  It's heaven.

I was so worried that LO would be traumatized by crying.  I kept reading about babies crying themselves to sleep and feeling abandoned.  But I don't think our DS felt "abandoned," I think he just felt that nothing interesting was going to happen.  He wakes up happy and ready to snuggle and play!  Actually, I feel like he's even happier than before, because he's well-rested.  And WE are probably more fun since we are well-rested too!

MichelleJean

WOW sounds great. I need to ferberize my DS. I havent been strict enough. I will put him in the crib and he knows to put his head down. But, sometimes he will start to fidget. then pick his head up smile at me.... then he is standing up in the crib and ready to play. I keep laying him back down but, he just keeps standing back up. (he's quick) I always feel so bad to walk out of the room with him standing there screaming. So i pick him up and hold him till he starts passing out. I need to get him to go down easier and stay asleep longer!!! 

Good for you..happy to hear you were successful. Glad you are getting a nice long stretch of sleep!