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Summary: This book will make you and your child happier and healthier
Review: This book is a sure-fire approach to teaching your child how to put themselves to sleep. I used Dr. Ferber's method with my six year old and she has been an excellent sleeper ever since. My child tells me when she is tired. I am saddened to see other children falling asleep in school and other disfunctional behavior all because they have poor sleep habits. Children (and adults) need to sleep. This book does not merely say "Let your child scream themselves to sleep." This book shows you how to help your child learn to put themselves to sleep. It works.
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Summary: there are better ways of getting a good nights sleep
Review: Please, before you read this book, consider Merideth Small's new book "Our Babies, Ourselves." Children are biologically designed to sleep with adults. It may not be in our culture, but for our babies sakes, we can change our culture. Trust me. I became a 3rd time mother at 43, via c-section. If anybody ever craved a good nights sleep, it was me. The baby sleeps in our bed and everybody is happy. She wakes up, nurses and goes back to sleep. I used Ferber with my 2nd child and I'm still apoloogizing 11 years later. This is not, repeat, not in any way the proper method for getting babies to sleep.Sure, Ferber's a doctor, but so was Mengele.
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Summary: A "NIGHT" SAVER
Review: After 3 solid months of only getting 1 1/2 hours sleep at a time, this book enabled me to see the benefits of getting my son to sleep through the night. It was a miraculous transformation and only took 2 nights to achieve! My son was instantly a happier infant, and the household was calmer, less stressed and more fun. Now, he is a wonderful 2 year old that thinks of bed time as a peaceful time; and with number 2 on the way, this book will never leave my bedside.I am forever grateful!
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Summary: I owe Dr. Ferber an apology.
Review: I had heard so many misrepresentations of the "Ferber method" that I thought I would rather burn his book than read it - I was sure he was some ogre who advocated banishing your baby to a lonely crib to cry for hours. When I finally READ the book for myself, I found a well reasoned, well researched, KIND and HUMANE approach to helping my 8 month old daughter develop healthy sleep habits. I very much appreciated the scientific background he gave, and was surprised and relieved to learn that night waking is normal - the problem arises when the baby does not know how to put herself back to sleep. I used this approach with my daughter, and she is now a happier, healthier, well rested baby. Thank you, Dr. Ferber.
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Summary: This book made me cry!!
Review: Please before you buy this book, know that the method is to let your child cry themselves to sleep. Babies need their parents. All a baby knows is that they need someone to be with them. When a child cries him/her self to sleep night after night all they learn is that mommy or daddy does not care if I scream. They learn to shut down and not even ask for help. Crying is a babies way of saying they need something. There are ways to get your children to sleep. Try Nighttime Parenting By William Sears. I had a child who woke a lot and I know where you are coming from but all this book does is teach you to turn off your feelings when your child screams. it is horrible listening to them scream. Their cries are supposed to bring us to them.
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Summary: Treats parents as thought they have brains
Review: Unlike many books for parents, Ferber seems to respect the intelligence of the parents. He gives them a decent amount of background "scientific" information about sleep. I found the chapters on wetting the bed the most interesting, since there are multiple causes for this and some complicated and interesting solutions. As for parents who believe that letting children cry is emotionally scarring, let's consider that toddlers really DON'T know what's best for themselves. I find it is when my son is the most exhausted that he gets upset when I try to put him to bed. Have you ever noticed that infants and kids are their most irritable, easily upset, uncoordinated, unfocused, and accident-prone when they are tired? Yes, many kids do continue to get up in the middle of the night through early childhood. But it's not good for them, and it's not necessary.
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Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Thanks to Dr. Ferber, not only is my baby sleeping through the night, but he is much happier (and so are we)! And, the best thing is that Dr. Ferber also covers problems with toddlers as well! Great book -- highly recommended for all exhausted parents!
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Summary: Great reference for solving all kinds of sleep problems
Review: People who think this is the "Cry it out" book have it all wrong. Letting your child cry at night is only used when they reach a certain age and when they need help breaking bad sleep associations. This may not feel right for everyone but I find the advice to be useful and flexible.
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Summary: Good and Bad Aspects, Worth Reading
Review: This book is good for learning more about sleep. It explains stages of sleep, night terrors, nightmares, significance fo children's sleep apnea and the theory behind the author's cry it out philosophy. I liked everything about this book except the cry it out plan. I DID TRY the crying out because he made it sound so promising. It DID NOT WORK for me. I must admit that I gave up on it after five days. At first I was comfortable with the idea, but after a while my gut said try something else.
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Summary: No more sleepless nights?
Review: I found the advice in this book extremely disturbing. Sure you can get your baby to sleep through the night, but at what expense? Babies' early years are meant to build trust and ability to love, day or night. Young children are designed (by God or evolution) to wake up at night and nurse or be cuddled. They are not being difficult or manipulative. Dr Ferber never mentions that nightwaking up to 3 or 4 years of age is normal and healthy for human children.(see resources) By meeting their early needs with love and affection parents teach them that humans can be trusted (i.e. have meaningful relationships later) and that their feelings matter(i.e. have a healthy self-esteem). As a parent those are my obligations whether it is noon or midnight. Is it convenient? No. Does it make me frustrated and tired? Of course it does, but I try harder to rest and get help, rather than sacrifice my child's emotional well-being. And what good is a child learning, by screaming all alone for somebody to come and hold him/her? I has also helped me to relax my expectations of uninterrupted sleep and take my child into bed with me. Please check out other options.
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