As most of you know we have been using the Ferber method to put our lil man to sleep. I stopped updating as of day five because we had a power outage and have been staying in Queens since then. We still managed to continue the Ferberizing, and we are both astounded by how easily it worked. Daylight savings messed with his sleep schedule a bit but otherwise it's been amazing and I can't rave enough about his method. Tonight is officially day seven and we put him down at seven.
Let him cry for ten minutes...didn't have to!!! Yes you read correctly. He didn't even last ten minutes before he passed out and is now sound asleep.
To those of you wondering if you should try the Ferber method, I highly recommend you read his book and try it. It teaches you a lot about sleep in general and I found it highly useful. Good luck to those of you trying and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work for us!
****Someone asked me if the Ferber method is really that easy or if there is more to it...here was my response in the comments section but I'll repost here in case someone else was wondering the same thing:
I enjoyed reading the book because it goes into detail about all the different sleeping issues babies have and what their sleep cycle is like and how it keeps changing. I'm not even half way done with the book yet, but the first 100 pages explained what I needed. And it really is that simple. The most important things to keep in mind are: Start with 3, 5, 10 minute intervals, then increase to 5, 10, 12 and then 10, 15, 20 etc. Although i never waited 20 minutes since my son is only 3 months old. What helped me most was him explaining why they cry and what mistakes we as parents make. For example, I used to let him cry and go in after 20 minutes, but I'd pick him up and rock him a bit or feed him to make him stop crying and only then put him back and do it all over again. He explains that the point of going in isn't to make him stop crying, but to let him know that you are there for him. He says not to pick them up, but to just put your hand on their belly for a minute or two, give them a kiss and walk out, even if they are still crying. After a few days he realized that no matter how much he cried, he wasn't going to get anything out of it and so now he doesn't even do it anymore. Another very important point he made was if you're going to sleep train your child and they cry for lets say an hour (of course with you always going to see him in regular intervals), the worst thing you can do is pick him up and give in by giving him a bottle or rocking him to sleep etc. He says you might as well just do that from the beginning since he cried for nothing and will try twice has hard next time knowing that all it takes is lots of crying to get what he wants. I hope that helps!
I know baby sleep isnt simple, but I'm wondering if the Ferber method is as "simple" as letting them cry for set numbers of minutes and going into check on them? Or is there more to it? AKA should I really buy the book first?
ReplyDeletealyssa.gavinski@gmail.com
I enjoyed reading the book because it goes into detail about all the different sleeping issues babies have and what their sleep cycle is like and how it keeps changing. I'm not even half way done with the book yet, but the first 100 pages explained what I needed. And it really is that simple. The most important things to keep in mind are: Start with 3, 5, 10 minute intervals, then increase to 5, 10, 12 and then 10, 15, 20 etc. Although i never waited 20 minutes since my son is only 3 months old. What helped me most was him explaining why they cry and what mistakes we as parents make. For example, I used to let him cry and go in after 20 minutes, but I'd pick him up and rock him a bit or feed him to make him stop crying and only then put him back and do it all over again. He explains that the point of going in isn't to make him stop crying, but to let him know that you are there for him. He says not to pick them up, but to just put your hand on their belly for a minute or two, give them a kiss and walk out, even if they are still crying. After a few days he realized that no matter how much he cried, he wasn't going to get anything out of it and so now he doesn't even do it anymore. Another very important point he made was if you're going to sleep train your child and they cry for lets say an hour (of course with you always going to see him in regular intervals), the worst thing you can do is pick him up and give in by giving him a bottle or rocking him to sleep etc. He says you might as well just do that from the beginning since he cried for nothing and will try twice has hard next time knowing that all it takes is crying and crying for him to get what he wants. We used to make that mistake because we felt bad or didn't want to hear him cry anymore. Now we don't do that, and he goes to sleep almost immediately. I hope that helped you a bit.
ReplyDelete