Ferber

Kernel14 · September 2013

For those of you who used this method, at what age did you start?

JenD1018 · September 2013

10 months. We had just come back from Italy a few weeks prior and we were having a tough time getting him stay asleep at night. At that point, I was still nursing exclusively so I'd nurse him to sleep. I changed it up so I'd nurse him until he was drowsy and then we'd follow the Ferber method as soon as he was in his crib.

The first 3 or 4 days went smooth, we had a 2 or 3 day hiccup and then it was smooth sailing from there.

PhillyGal34 · September 2013

Not sure if you saw my post the other day. my son was always a good sleeper until recently so I read Ferber this week and implemented it at 15 months... he had an immediate response that I am hopeful continues and now I'm kicking myself for not starting it sooner.

I've also done the same thing as Jen with regard to nursing except I nurse him and hand him off to DH and then we read him a book and stuff before we put him down and then he goes to sleep on his own.

I was totally against sleep training but after vacation totally screwed up his sleep I was desperate. Next time I plan on not nursing the baby to sleep nearly as long as I did. oh well, live and learn!

(ETA- totally random but I just saw your signature... I call DS my little nugget too and the one day I was out with him and said "come here you little nugger head" .... yeah I got this NASTY look from a woman who thought I said a word that I would NEVER NEVER NEVER say... so be careful how you mess with that word haha)

jessica0602 · September 2013

10 months here too, IIRC. He had generally been a pretty good sleeper from about 3 months. We had some issues around 6 months that resolved themselves. He started crying for us out of habit because we had taken to running in at the littlest noise.

Ferber took us I think 4 days overall. I borrowed the book from the library, read the appropriate chapters for our situation, photocopied the chart and had to refer to it once or twice in the month or two that followed. It worked for us.

I should note that he was FF by then, fwiw.

Kernel14 · September 2013

PhillyGal34 said:

(ETA- totally random but I just saw your signature... I call DS my little nugget too and the one day I was out with him and said "come here you little nugger head" .... yeah I got this NASTY look from a woman who thought I said a word that I would NEVER NEVER NEVER say... so be careful how you mess with that word haha)

First things first...in the cardiology waiting room the other day a woman called her son the N word twice. Like it was no big deal. As if it was a cute nickname. THe first time I thought I miss heard her. The second time I was like WTF?

Anywho..this is all good to know. I guess I have a while until we'll do it. We're just having some issues getting Andrew to fall alseep intitially. Once he's asleep, he's pretty good. They still wake up once a night to feed. Although sometimes they don't wake up at all to feed. I'm hoping that'll start to become more of the norm. They are formula fed and get milk in a bottle and occassionally drink from the faucet. But I try to make night time consistant. PJ, bottle, books, bed.

PhillyGal34 · September 2013

OMG who does that???

I may be wrong but I think they do not recommend it until after 6 months at the earliest. it sounds like they are doing great though... I'm sure it won't be a problem for them at all when you start! or at least I hope not!

JenD1018 · September 2013

Even though you feel it's too early to start (I think PGal is right, it's 6 months at the earliest), I would recommend at least skimming the book to get an idea for the method and read about some techniques to possibly avoid future issues. Then you'll be more prepared when (if!) sh!t hits the fan and won't be waiting to get a copy from the library like me!

JenD1018 · September 2013

Dup.

Kernel14 · September 2013

PhillyGal34 said:

OMG who does that???

You see all kinds at CHOP.

Good idea. I'll get the book from the library. JenD I also owe your BLW book back. I'm almost done reading it!

tracyd21 · September 2013

We did it at 5 months and oh my goodness it was a godsend. Initially we decided we needed to do it to get bedtime under control. It was a three-hour process every night of rocking to sleep, transferring to the RNP ever so gently, and sneaking out without our ankles/knees cracking (which they inevitably did). Then 30-45 mins later one of us was running back up to re-insert the paci and rock the RNP - which we had to keep an acute ear out for, as it would become another 20 minutes of the 5 Ss if we didn't run up as soon as we heard her. Which meant someone had to always be really listening to the monitor. Typically by 10:00 I had enough and went in to nurse her. Our nighttime routine was like this for pretty much her whole life and we were spent.

We have had to re-Ferber every so often after illness or teething, but other than that she has been pretty great at night since we did it. No regrets whatsoever.

blueberrystoli · September 2013

Kernal you have twins?? OMG that is so amazing - congratulations!!

We started to get tough with sleeping around 7 months old. Our problem was that she would get MUCH angrier if we went in and then left. Ferber was a bit of a disaster for us - we tried for 4 days, but she would get madder and madder every time we left and then if she fell asleep she would wake up 30 minutes later. As soon as we picked her up she would stop crying. That made me feel like there was nothing REALLY wrong with her.

We decided to let her cry to extinction on the advice of a sleep consultant. It was a NIGHTMARE. She screamed inconsolably for over an hour. I was in tears. She finally gave in and slept..... and the next night she didnt fight at all. She's been sleeping a minimum of 11 hours a night ever since (she's now 14 months), which went up to 12+ hours when we blacked out the windows at 11 months. Now she sleeps from 6.45pm to around 7.30 - 8.30am.

We aways put her down awake. She is in charge of putting herself to sleep. I think that helps with night time waking too.

Naps are a different story. She only started napping well one we blacked out the windows. I WISH I had done that earlier, and that I had got tough about naps earlier. Now she sleeps 2 hours at least every afternoon and is a much happier baby all around.

Good luck with the babies, they are too cute! : )

Kernel14 · September 2013

Thanks, BBS! They are fun

I guess my only worry is, how do you know they're eating enough and not waking up bc they're truly hungry? When my guys wake up between 3-5am, they'll eat a full bottle. I've been trying to sneak those ounces in during the day, but its hard because sometimes they just don't want them.

I might have to try some form of this soon though with Andrew just for the initial falling asleep. Last night he fought it so bad. He's clearly tired and rubbing his eyes. Sometimes I wonder if he's teething and other times I think he just likes to fight it just because. Right now they both sleep from about 8pm to 6/7am. In that time frame we dream feed them at 10pm and then they wake up on their own at some point in the middle of the night. Only on a rare occasion have they gone from 10:30-6 without waking up at all. And is 8-6 with two wakes up really enough sleep?

tracyd21 · September 2013

Kernel14 said:

Thanks, BBS! They are fun

I guess my only worry is, how do you know they're eating enough and not waking up bc they're truly hungry? When my guys wake up between 3-5am, they'll eat a full bottle. I've been trying to sneak those ounces in during the day, but its hard because sometimes they just don't want them.

I might have to try some form of this soon though with Andrew just for the initial falling asleep. Last night he fought it so bad. He's clearly tired and rubbing his eyes. Sometimes I wonder if he's teething and other times I think he just likes to fight it just because. Right now they both sleep from about 8pm to 6/7am. In that time frame we dream feed them at 10pm and then they wake up on their own at some point in the middle of the night. Only on a rare occasion have they gone from 10:30-6 without waking up at all. And is 8-6 with two wakes up really enough sleep?

Once DD got to a certain weight (which I forget, sorry!), our pedi suggested we try to Ferber. She is low in her percentiles so didn't get there until 5 months. The pedi said if she's waking at the same time every night and eating around 25ish ounces during the day, then she was waking out of habit and didn't need the night feedings. If you're doing the dream feeds still, perhaps you can Ferber to get them down to just one night waking.

We did Ferber just to get bedtime under control, but she ended up eliminating the 2am feeding on her own at the same time. I think it was because she figured out how to put herself back to sleep from the bedtime sleep-training. I still nursed her at ~5am until 11 months because we all got more sleep that way, but it definitely wasn't necessary. Once DH started going in at 5am to soothe her, it took a few days of anger but then she started sleeping until 6:30-7. I guess she realized he didn't lactate and was therefore useless.

Don't get me wrong, she still needs to CIO on occasion (like this afternoon's nap), but she rarely requires us to go in and soothe her. Today she cried for a minute or two and then radio silence.

Kernel14 · September 2013

Wow only 25 ounces? They're averaging 30 during the day (we write it all down). The thing is they don't wake up at the same time every night. Some nights its 2am, some its 4am and on a rare occassion its 6am. I feel like they're still all over the place.

Someone once told me 14lbs was the magic number. Colin is only 11lbs 10 oz while Andrew is probably over 15. They are 6 months at the end of this month but their well visit isn't until their 7 month bday bc thats all the pediatrician had available. I'm really annoyed by that because I'd like to talk to her about this sooner rather than later.

blueberrystoli · September 2013

I think we phased out the night feed at the same time we got tough with everything. I started by switching from boob to bottle, and then started giving her just a couple of oz milk and would then offer water. Eventually I just offered water and I guess she decided water wasnt worth waking up for! ; )

I do have the biggest baby in the world though, so I wasnt worried about her intake at all.

Ferber

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