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Summary: I'm finally getting sleep!
Review: My 3 month old son's sleep was progressively getting worse. The night before I started the Ferber method he was up EVERY HOUR! The first night he cried 25 min. at bedtime and 5 min. the 2 times he woke up in the night. The first day he only fussed <1 min. for naps. The second night he cried 10 min. then barely fussed in the the middle of the night. The third night he slept NINE STRAIGHT HOURS! It is the third day and he no longer fusses going down, his naps are much improved and I'm finally sleeping too. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: The only 3 star review???
Review: I got this book as I heard it has good information on sleep patterns and also because I would like to start to reduce the number of times I feed my daughter (4 months old) in the night.I give it three stars because it does have a lot of information and Dr Ferber is definitely an expert in sleep, he really knows his stuff. For parents who are so tired they cannot function and for children whose sleep problems is making them sick, I think this is a good book. But the reason why it didn't get 5 stars is because while Dr Ferber is an expert on sleep and the usefulness of routines, he clearly isn't an expert on children or babies. He is too fixated on the desirability for children in general to become independent ASAP. In my mind training a child to go to sleep by themselves at 6 months is like trying to potty train a child by 6 months. Basically you intervening to hurry something that will happen naturally by the age of 3 or 4 anyway without the need for the associated crying. I wanted to see more evidence to warrant Dr Ferber's warning that if you don't sleep train babies to sleep independently at an early age that they will develop sleep problems which will carry on to adulthood.
While this may be true for some babies with severe sleep problems, Dr Ferber's technique is not practiced or known by the majority of the world and yet somehow, they get by.
Dr Ferber makes many such warnings without providing any evidential back up. I guess my thought is that this book is very inflexible, but I can see that for people at the end of their tether it is a real help. I would only use the crying aspect of the sleep training method with caution and as a last resort. Be aware that there are as yet no studies out there that have examined the long term mental health impact on babies who have been "ferberized".
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Summary: Mother of 4 LOVES THIS BOOK!!!
Review: I don't think most parenting books have been helpful to me, but I recommend this one to EVERY parent. You and your child will do much better if you are both sleeping well. This book was recommended to me by my pediatrician. I'm so thankful for the recommendation! I read lots of self-help type books that rarely work for me in real life. This one has for all four of my children.
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Summary: A word of caution for weary parents!
Review: Ferber's method's will not work if your child autism or SDI. This book was of no help to me five years ago, desperate with sleep deprivation as so many other parents are who turn to this book. It was very discouraging.My daughter is now six, but did not sleep through the night until she was three. She has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological autistic spectrum disorder. Please ask your pediatrician to simply screen your child for any signs of autism if your child has chronic sleep problems that persist. Had I known about this earlier, more intervention could have been done sooner!
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Summary: You can get a good night's sleep too!
Review: We used this technique when our 6 month old was waking up every hour. It worked very well within 1 week. Now he is 10 months old and sleeps from 7:30 pm until 6:00 am with out a problem. Even naps are easier. His older brother (2 1/2) was waking up during the night and staying awake for two hours. Since he was in a bed we could not allow him to cry it out (he would come get us). We were not comfortable locking him in his room. We used this book again and Dr. Ferber's solutions for toddlers worked like a charm. Now he goes to sleep without a problem at 8pm and does not get out of his bed until his "alarm clock" goes off at 6 am. Both kids in bed by 8pm! Who would of thought we could have a life again. Sleeping through the night is a wonderful thing. The most amazing part of this is that it only took us 2 nights for our 2 1/2 year old to understand the new plan and it has been working great for 1 month now. Even naps are no longer a hassle. We love Dr. Ferber!
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Summary: Factual info about the way sleep patterns develop
Review: as opposed to other books on sleep I've read (Sears, Baby Whisperer) which contain a lot of purely opinion-based commentary. Maybe that's why Ferber puts a lot people off-this book is fairly clinical and not very touchy feely-I admit I was taken aback by the advice on what to do if your child cries hard enough to vomit, but I can't imagine that happens very often. Of course if you are staunchly opposed to ever letting a baby cry at all, this is not the book for you. I never wanted to "let a baby cry himself to sleep" (let's face it, does anybody?) But this book gave me a real understanding of why some babies have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep, long beyond the time when they need to be waking to feed. The discussion of sleep associations made perfect sense to me, and I firmly believe that the results bear it out. I've heard the argument that the baby stops crying because he's "given up on you", but I find it hard to believe that's true when they lay down so willingly and smilingly to their "abandonment" every night. In fact they became much happier and attentive all day long after getting a good night's sleep and waking up to a rested, patient mommy. Personally I didn't follow the method to the letter, I think you need to look for some cues from your baby that he's ready to sleep through the night and unlike Ferber, I'm not sure that there is a defined age for that (it would seem to me that if he is crying hard enough to vomit he's probably not ready!). I wouldn't have tried it before 5 or 6 months, and I stopped and started with the method a couple of times, but when my babies were ready it was quite easy, fast, and there was very little crying involved. Finally, the sleep training is only a small part of the book, so even if you have no intention of letting your baby cry there is a lot of helpful sleep info on both babies and older children.
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Summary: Child Falling Asleep in 2 weeks
Review: I bought this book because my daugher started fighting sleep at night and waking during the night. I have followed it and within two weeks I was able to lay her down and she now falls asleep on her own. I am still working on the night time wakings. If your child takes a pacifier, you must get them off the pacifier before you can fully implement the program. I have been successful at getting her off the pacifier in the day, but she was still wanting it at night. The first week I let her have the pacifier at night, but not the day. The second week I did not let her have it at all. She is still waking once a night, but I can see an improvment in that also. I think this has to do with the pacifier. I feel that within another week we will have the night time waking stopped also. I know it is hard to listen to the baby cry at times, but if you just work with it for a few weeks the baby can sleep. If you don't, the child will be waking you up in the night for years to come! I think this book really works and it followed the baby will start sleeping.
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Summary: The book to buy on the subject
Review: Richard Ferber has written a well laid out "how to" guide for all parents with children who have sleeping problems. He first describes 'sleep' and everything there is to know. He then goes into why your kid may have sleep problems and then he discusses solutions. He covers nearly every potential sleep issue so I bet your child's problem is covered.
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Summary: I can't believe my daughter is sleeping through the night!
Review: The plan in this book really works! At nine months old, my daughter wouldn't fall asleep unless I was holding her. The second I put her down, she usually woke up. Even if I managed to put her down in her crib, she was usually up five or six times every night! I tried many things, but none of them worked. I tried "Baby Whisperer," but gave up after picking up and putting down my daughter about a hundred times, as they recommend doing until they fall asleep. I also tried the "No-Cry Sleep Solution," but it was a very slow process, and after several weeks I just didn't see much of a change. I didn't really want to try this book, because I had read that it was a "cry-it-out" approach, which I am against, but after surviving for so long on so little sleep, I decided it was the only thing left to do. I read it, and right off I really appreciated that this guy is a sleep expert. He actually has a sleep clinic and treats all kinds of sleep disorders. He seems to have a level of education about the sleep process that other books just don't have. Also, I don't feel like this is a "cry-it-out" approach. The first day, I let her cry only three minutes before responding to her, and it wasn't a terrible experience for either one of us. I saw results the first night I implemented it. I am not kidding. The second night, my daughter was up once and then right back to sleep, and by the third night, she was sleeping about 10 1/2 hours straight. It was like a miracle! I couldn't believe the luxury of having eight hours of sleep myself! This is also a good book for parents who have toddlers or older children with other sleep issues.
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Summary: plan to follow Ferber method
Review: I am having a baby in May and am educating myself on children's sleep habits. My sister has been practicing attachment parenting for 2.5 years and has not slept for more than 4 hours in a a single night since her birth. She always felt that letting her baby cry was cruel abandonment. I plan to practice the Ferber method as a result of what I've seen her go through and though I'm sure hearing your baby cry is difficult, I will do it if it means a good night's sleep for both my baby and me. And it's not about my schedule, it's about being a good parent who is teaching the baby how to sleep on it's own.
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