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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
mittyleigh23
member
Ferber Method
mittyleigh23
member
I just bought "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and plan to start as soon as I can get it read! I'm wondering who has used this method and what your experiences were with it. Good and bad! 
Thanks in advance for your input!!
Thanks in advance for your input!! This discussion has been closed.
Re: Ferber Method
I posted my experience in this thread:
https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/73844198.aspx
We started with it when my LO was 5 months old and it's been really great for us. The first few nights he would cry for maybe 15 minutes and then he went to sleep. When he would wake up in the night for a bottle, I continued to go ahead and feed him because I just wanted to work on the going to sleep part first. After I felt like he really had that down, then I moved on to the middle of the night part. After his middle of the night bottle, I would put him back to bed even if he wasn't asleep and he would fuss/cry until he went back to sleep. That worked really well too. After we had that down, I started using the Ferber method for naps too. I always give him a bottle before his nap and if it was nap time (he had been awake for about 3 hours and was showing signs of being tired), I would feed him and put him to bed even if he was still awake and let him fuss/cry until he went to sleep.
When he was 8 months old he just suddenly started sleeping through the night so I never did the night weaning, although there is an entire chapter about cutting out the night feeding if you choose to do that. Since my LO was only getting up once a night, I just kept doing it until he cut it out on his own.
Now that's he's sleeping through the night, I can put him to bed and not go in again until he wakes up between 6:30 and 7am. It has been great! A lot of mornings he'll wake up and cry a little bit around 5am and he'll fuss for maybe 5 minutes and go right back to sleep until close to 7am.
It's been a process and once you get doing it, you'll learn what parts work for you and your baby. Like for me, I kept feeding him in the night while others cut that out. And there have been times where I could tell that my check-ins were only upsetting him more so I would just let him cry until he went to sleep with no check-ins. So there are things you'll evolve as you go but really it is not nearly as bad as you're afraid it will be and it worked great for us.
I did it when LO was 6.5 months. She was waking up once to eat and 10 more times for her pacifier, it was exhausting and she was always tired because she was not getting good sleep at night. I read Ferber, SleepEasy and No Cry Sleep Solution and felt that Ferber would work best for our family. We started at night, but went straight into sleep training for naps the next day, and I also weaned her from her one night time bottle.
The first night she cried for 27 minutes and woke twice during the night where I had to do checks. Night two she cried for about 10 minutes and I had to do middle of the night checks one. Night three she fussed for about 5 minutes, no night time checks needed. It took about a week to wean her off of her one night time feed (I spaced it out a bit more to make it easier on her) and once she was weaned she slept 12 hours straight thru, she falls asleep within a few minutes and I never have to do checks any more (unless she is sick or teething, in which case I do not let her cry).
I thought naps would be harder but from that first sleep training nap she has never cried more than a few minutes before falling asleep!
When we started sleep training we got rid of the pacifier cold turkey and have not looked back, it is awesome!
For us, Ferber was a life saver! She is so much happier now that she is well rested, and we are better parents because we are well rested too. I know it is not for everyone, but if you can be consistant it can really teach your LO how to fall asleep and stay asleep and get the sleep they need to really grow and thrive.
We did and it worked well for us. My biggest advice is: 1) read the book before you start, and 2) make sure you and your SO are on the same page as you need each other's support to go through it, esp the early days.
We did it at 4 months b/c DS's naps were horrible. Going down at night was hit-or-miss but nothing like the naps. I'm a SAHM and I was bouncing/rocking/singing DS for up to an hour for every.single.nap. And he was napping for 20 minutes. I spent all day bouncing him and got nothing done. He was miserable and tired, and so was I. Night time wasn't as bad, some nights it took 30 minutes to rock him, other nights it took 2hrs to calm/soothe him.
We started with sleep training at night first, as I couldn't bear hearing him cry all day and all night. Once he learned to fall asleep at night, I started nap training 1 nap/day. It took him about 1 week to get a hang of falling asleep by himself. The first night wasn't bad but the 2nd night was way worse... we almost gave up doing it on night #3, but good thing we stayed with it.
It took a lot longer to nap train DS than sleep train; probably because babies just aren't as tired during the day as they are at night.
When we first started at 4 months, DS was getting up 2x/night to eat. (he was never one of those who wake up 8-10x night). He got himself down to 1x/night by 4.5 months.
When he turned 5 months, I weaned the MOTN feed. He has been STTN since (he'll be 6 months this week). Some nights he'll wake up MOTN; he doesn't cry, but he'll babble, sing, or blow raspberries. We just let him be and he'll put himself back to sleep without us going into his room or feeding him. During the day, I nurse him about 8x (from 5:30a - 7:30p), and he gets solids 2-3x/day.
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We used the Sleep Easy solution, which is basically Ferber. It was wonderful. The crying is hard. I actually read a variety of the no cry books. This method seemed the kindest. The checked intervals were good, because it let LO know that we were still here, just that she would have to put herself to sleep. The whole ordeal took about 4 nights, now she sleeps 11 hours per night usually, and takes two solid naps per day.
If I can give any advice it would be to do the nap sleep training at the same time. Naps are harder and take longer. Also, if you can, invest in some black out shades. They work wonders.
We started this about 2-3 weeks ago and have not regretted anything! I totally did not want to CIO-anything but I was exhausted with the multiple MOTN wakenings!
The first MOTN awakening we did this, he cried for about 45minutes. Well, DH (who is used to STTN) demanded that we placed a time limit at 20minutes for MOTN. But we've never had to use that limit since he only cries for 15min for MOTN now. I do still nurse him once at night if it has been over 4 hours since his last feeding. I know Ferber states that this could cause confusion but he has not really woken that much more than that one time to feed any more.
Naps are still a b!tch - but they are slowly getting a bit better.
I never wanted to do any type of CIO. But I heard this method was suppose to work fast, so if I did not see progress in 3-4days I would quit. Not only did we see progress, but we essentially the results we wanted in 3 days so I am a huge proponent now of Ferber.
Good luck!
We started it last week with our 7 month old. We had spent a few weeks trying to get him out of the RNP in to the crib and it was not going well.
I read the book, then followed the instructions. My DH and I did it together, thank goodness, since the first night I was really nervous about it.
DS cried for only 15 minutes that first time. There has been one other time when he cried that long, but for the most part, we can put him in his crib and he's asleep in a few minutes.
We do it for all of his sleep (naps included). He wakes up happy and playful, too.
I read the book a few weeks ago and have been too chicken to start it, but out of desperation, we started it 2 nights ago. He went down fine (he was exhausted) but woke in the MOTN. He was dry, fed, and even got some Motrin (just in case it was teething related) and actually wouldnt take the paci. Nothing was making him happy. So that was our night of desperation and DH just laid him down. He cried for an hour. Once he was asleep he didnt make a peep until 7 am.
Last night, he again was pretty tired so he went down okay without the paci, which is a plus!! Woke at midnight and cried for 30 minutes with a few checks. At one point, I felt like the check was doing more harm than good. He whimpered at 5am but eventually slept until 6:30. He had previously been waking up at 5:15 so these later wakeup times are great!
Interested to see how night #3 goes tonight.....
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All of this.
We followed the Sleepeasy Solution at about 5 months. It took about 4 days for nighttimes to fall into place and about 3-4 weeks (WEEKS!) for naps. It was tough, but that being said we are all happier and better rested because of it.
I would agree - do naps at the same time. Also, stick to your bedtime and naptime routine like glue for a while. The more consistent you are the better.
Good luck.