The Ferber method demystified
The Ferber method demystified Last updated: August 2006 Who is Richard Ferber?
Pediatrician Richard Ferber is the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Since the publication of his book Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems in 1985, he’s become known as a leading — and controversial — expert on children’s sleep.
Chances are you’ve heard about Ferber’s method for teaching babies to soothe themselves to sleep — a method so closely associated with him it’s often called “Ferberizing.” This method and variations on it are also referred to as “cry it out,” although he never calls it that.
Over the years, Ferber’s method of sleep training has sparked controversy among parents, pediatricians, and sleep experts alike: Some swear by the Ferber approach, while others claim that it creates lifelong emotional scars. It’s also often exaggerated and misunderstood. (See “Ferber’s method: Facts and fiction,” below.)
An updated and expanded version of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems, published in 2006, has once again brought Ferber and his approach to sleep into the public eye.
What exactly is the Ferber method?
In a nutshell, Ferber says you can teach your baby to soothe himself to sleep when he’s physically and emotionally ready, usually sometime between 4 and 6 months of age. He recommends following a warm, loving bedtime routine and then putting your baby in bed awake and leaving him (even if he cries) for gradually longer periods of time. Putting a child to bed awake, says Ferber, is crucial to successfully teaching him to go to sleep on his own.
Parents are instructed to pat and comfort their baby after each predetermined period of time, but not to pick up or feed their baby. This routine is called “progressive waiting.” The suggested waiting time, which Ferber charts in his book, is based on how comfortable you are with the technique, how many days you’ve been using it, and how many times you’ve already checked on your child that night.
After a few days to a week of gradually increasing the waiting time, the theory goes, most babies learn to fall asleep on their own, having discovered that crying earns nothing more than a brief check from you.
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If you are teaching you child to be independent and to selfsooth at
this age, do not expect him to come you with his NEEDS or ploblems
at youth or adoulthood,,, you taught him to BE INDEPENDEN AND SELF
SOOTH