Rating: 
Summary: Two years after using the "Ferber Method"...
Review: I am even more grateful for this book. When my now two and a half year old daughter was 8 months old, I read this book even though I thought I would disagree with it because neither of us (my daughter or me) was getting good sleep. It was very difficult at first, but within a couple of weeks, we were all sleeping at night and happy during the day! Two years later, my daughter is still benefitting. She loves her bed, welcomes rest time, and sleeps through the night. Bedtime is a happy, comforting time for all of us. I believe that she is a more confident child because she is comfortable being alone. She also knows when she is tired and will crawl into her bed of her own accord to rest - it isn't a scary place for her. I am so pleased that sleep is such a nice experience for my daughter, and I owe it to Ferber.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book, a must have for all new parents
Review: My pediatrician recommended this book. It saved all of us from many tired nights and days. I have bought several of these for friends and always give them as baby shower gifts. Every parent that I have talked to had success with this method. It was very difficult the first week. Consistancy is imperative. You have to be willing to be strong the first week and commit yourself to the method. There will be some crying in the beginning. I won't lie. I almost gave up but am so glad that I stuck with it. I would recommend using this book starting between 4-6 months of age. If you have a healthy strong infant, they should be able to sleep 8-10 hours at a stretch (night) by that age. There have been times when I have had to revert to this method again (after illness, vacation, milestone, etc). It has not failed to work. My son went from using the pacifier, nursing 2-3 times a night, and no naps (unless I was holding him)at 4 months of age to sleeping 10-12 hours and two 1-2 hour naps a day. It really has made him a happier child and me a happier mom. I will just kiss him, give him his lamb and blanket, put him down awake and walk out of the room. No crying or fussing. People have been amazed. I am amazed. My son is very happy and attached to my husband and I. This method has not had any negative effects on him. In fact, it has had the opposite effect. Sleep is so important to all of us. Children do most of their growing while they sleep and a healthy slumber has shown to increase longevity. My son is 16 months old now. He is in the 75-95% for his age. He looks at his crib as a comforting place. Most nights, he cannot wait for me to put him down. He will go to the stairs and wait at the gate to go to bed. He will reach for the crib as I am hugging him goodnight. It has given my husband and I time for ourselves at night and during the day. I was very grateful for Dr. Ferber's research and method. It was an easy to read book and I refer to it often.
Rating:
Summary: This is so easy!
Review: When my son was two months old, the nurse practitioner told me that it was time for him to learn to fall asleep on his own. I was appalled. She repeated this advice at four and at six months. Finally, at seven months, I was receptive to her recommendation. She suggested Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, and I read it from cover to cover that day. The Ferber method is so humane and easy to follow. It gave me a path to follow in teaching my son to be a good sleeper. I wish I had read it sooner. When my daughter was born, my husband and I were better prepared to raise a "Ferber Baby." She is still a champion sleeper, with habits that I hope will last her whole life.
Rating:
Summary: Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems
Review: This book has been an absolute lifesaver for my family! My daughter, now nine months old, had developed a sleep problem which we were at a complete loss to solve. She would wake seven to eight times per night, and only "catnap" during the day. As a result, she slept in our bed with us (who is humanly capable of getting up every 45 minutes every night?) and still did not sleep well. Out of desperation, I bought this book and applied it the same day. IN ONE DAY, she was sleeping in her own crib (which she had never slept in before), and in two was sleeping through the night. My husband and I are ecstatic-thank you Dr. Ferber for your kind and effective method! We are better parents, our daughter is well rested, and our household is peaceful at night. IF THIS BOOK CAN WORK FOR US, IT CAN WORK FOR YOU! Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: A loving way to solve your child's sleep problems
Review: This book is full of loving and practical advice for helping your child get the rest that he/she needs. It helped our 15-month-old son learn to fall asleep on his own - in one night - with only 15 minutes worth of crying! Those who believe that Ferber advocates abandoning your little one and letting them "cry it out" alone have not read this book. Ferber advocates a firm but loving and kind approach to helping your child sleep through the night. For those of us for whom co-sleeping does not work, this book is a terrific help.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't "Ferberize!"
Review: This is a cruel book not based on fact. Babies yearn to be near to their parents, especially at night. To put a child alone in a cage, in the dark, and then to call this child's anxiety and tears "sleep problems" is inhumane in the extreme. Most societies on this earth keep babies near their parents at night, in their bed. All other mammals sleep in the same manner, too, cuddled up to their young. This is normal and what every infant craves and expects to feel safe. Read Ferber if you want to know what NOT to do with a sensitive, defenseless baby! William Sears' book, "Nighttime Parenting" is a much better choice for humane ways for the whole family to get a good night's sleep.
Rating:
Summary: Call me a well-rested mom
Review: I read every review, both positive and negative, before reading this book. Though I had two nights of hell (one of which culminated in my then 2 1/2 year old falling asleep on the rug by the door out of sheer exhaustion), on the third night she just asked if we could leave the door open. Now, 6 months later, she sleeps 10 hours a night, no problem. Occassionally, she'll wake up and want to sleep in my bed, but I just walk her back and tell her that when it's light out, she can come in. Not only will you learn how to help your child sleep through the night, you'll learn lots of interesting things about sleep patterns that will help you understand your child better. You owe it to yourself to read this book. Those who condemn Ferber are simply misreading his method.
Rating:
Summary: Don't make this your only book
Review: Interesting concepts, but after reading Our Babies, Ourselves (Meridith Small) after reading Ferbers book I felt that these (Ferber) methods were not only out of sync with my instincts as a mom, but clearly go against nature. Only in America is it acceptable to "store" a child in a crib overnight, and pull out to play with at our leisure...as far as I am concerned Ezzo and Ferber are worse than the AntiChrist...
Rating:
Summary: Magically effective--a sanity-saving book
Review: I have recommended--and lent--this book to many friends of mine with children. The method Ferber describes is quite simply miraculous in the way it turns a frustrated, unhappy child who won't or can't fall quickly and peacefully asleep into a child who drops quietly into slumber minutes after the good night kiss. Ferber covers a variety of sleep problems: sleeping at the wrong time of day, sleep walking and sleep talking, nightmares, bedwetting, apnea, narcolepsy and several more. However, most of the parents I know who have used this book have a much more basic need--their child, who may be anywhere from three months old to five years old, or even older--won't fall asleep by herself, and/or who wakes up in the night and cries. The book explains clearly why this happens so much, and how to fix the problem. This is all covered in the first two chapters of the book, and if the problem described above is your problem then that's all you'll need to read. The first chapter briefly describes the problem, and talks about identifying other problems, and about normal sleep patterns. The second chapter starts with a section called "What Your Child Associates with Falling Asleep--the Key Problem". When I read this, I knew that what he was describing was exactly the problem my daughter Jesse (then five months old) was suffering from; by the end of the chapter I knew how to solve it. What I had feared was that I would be told to let her cry herself to sleep. However, Ferber thinks that this is a cruel and not very effective approach. Instead, he outlines a method based on two things: reassuring your child, and making sure they are alone when they do finally fall asleep. The truly astonishing thing about this method is how quickly it works. It took just three days for Jesse to go from waking up three times a night and fussing for an hour before falling asleep to sleeping for at least six or seven hours straight and falling asleep within ten minutes of going down. You sometimes hear people talking about how a book "changed their life". Well, if your child isn't sleeping well, this book could change yours.
Rating:
Summary: Saved my sanity!
Review: Like many parents, I was completely frustrated with my two-year-old's inability to go to sleep (even though he was clearly exhausted), his refusal to stay asleep, and unwillingness to stay in bed. I spent hours each day and night trying to get him to go to sleep. I bought this book out of desperation because my second child is due in a few weeks and I had to find a solution -- fast. I was not very optimistic because nothing we have tried has really worked up to this point. We'd followed advice from a variety of books without improvement. Although we were able to get him to sleep easier on some days or nights than others, the problem was not solved. I didn't want to lock him in his room and leave him to cry it out, but I was ready to do so when I got this book. Now I'm only sorry I didn't own it when he was born -- it would have saved us all frustration and sleepless nights. Because Dr. Ferber is a pediatric sleep specialist, I had more confidence in his advice than I would have if he were merely a child-raising expert. He also advocates a firm-but-loving method which made it easier to follow through on his recommendations. Having a step-by-step method helped me remain calm, too. I didn't feel as if I was punishing or mistreating my child -- I was able to reassure him without reinforcing the very habits we were trying to break. I saw improvement right away. Each day it took less and less time to convince my son to stay in his bed. I was able to get him back to bed easier if he awoke at night, and he was willing to stay there without repeated visits. It immediately cut in half the amount of time required to get him to take a nap. And he now understands that he needs to stay in bed. I don't have to get him to go to sleep; only to stay in his bed. He now falls asleep on his own, without endless rocking and holding and reassuring. We're all happier and more rested. I plan to follow the advice in this book to help my second child establish good sleep patterns, and to continue working with my son to improve and maintain his sleep patterns. I recommend this book to anyone who has children, and certainly to anyone who has children with any kind of sleep problem! Thank you, Dr. Ferber!
|
