Question for those who used the Ferber Method

I have a couple of questions since i know that technically the process is supposed to take 7 days-- and I am impatient!!

1- How long did it take for you to notice a difference in your baby's sleep? Last night was our second consecutive night doing it, and while Sasha went back to sleep a little faster-- she still woke up just as many times.

2- Did you set a time that if your baby woke up and if it was late, or rather early enough, you would just feed them? My "rule" was that if she woke up after 5AM, I would feed her and try to get her back to sleep. The past two days she has done this and then she goes back to sleep til about 7 30ish.

3- And do you need to be strict with the time you wait to go in? I find for the longer waiting periods, I tend to doze off and not go back in after 7 mins exactly for example, this isn't going to hurt the process, right? I figured this was ok, since it's more time, not less, that she is "on her own".

Thanks!!

Re: Question for those who used the Ferber Method

We did a modified Ferber method since Alexa is just about to turn 5 months old and technically at this age being EBF she still needs to eat.

As long as its been 4-5 hours since her last feeding if she woke up I wold nurse her and put her back down. Lately she is hit or miss with teh night feedings. Some nights she will sleep straight 6:30 pm- 7:30 or 8:00am With NO night feeding. Last night she she went down at 6:30 pm woke up at 4 am nursed and slept until 9:15 am!

When I put her in the crib she "yells" for 10 seconds then babbles for like min and is asleep. This is after 10 days of our modified Ferber method.

I noticed that she was slowly learning to put herself to sleep after 3-5 days of this. After teh first good night of sleep I noticed a HUGE improvement in naps, I was actually able to get her to nap finally!

My set time was anytime after 7 am is morning and ok to wake up....

I didn't totally follow the times since we were doing amodified version we didn't really want her full blown crying for long periods of time because of her reflux and her young age.

Alexa tends to whine so I would use the "timing method" for the whining but I would not let her really full out CRY hard for more then 3-4 minutes. I would go in and rub her belly and talk to her.

I also introduced a "lovey" while doing all of this. She is just starting to grab for it and will rub it on her cheek when she is sleepy.

I can honestly say that after a week of doing this she is a COMPLETELY different baby. Napping better, actually sleeping at night and she is much happier.

WHat is even more amazing is that she has learned to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up!!! Last night she woke up 45 min after we put her down. I heard her babbling on the monitor for like 2-3 min and then she was back to sleep!!!! THAT WAS HUGE for us.

I hope this helps some even though we didn't do strictly Ferber.

Re: Question for those who used the Ferber Method

1. each day there was a difference, by day three she slept through the night

2. my "rule" is to not go into her room until after 5:00 am or unless she is screaming bloody murder. she starts to fuss between 4 and 5, some whimpers maybe a little cry, but is able to get back to sleep.

3. at night i try to get her to bed between 7 and 7:30. her current pattern is to get up 45 mins to an hour later. if she is screaming, i'll wait a few minutes, go in, pick her up, console her and put her back down. then i'll start the 10 minute count. right now most of the time i don't have to go back in, but if i do it's only for one more time.

i still nurse her to sleep, she does not go in her crib completely awake but rather in a milk drunk state. the only time i'll nurse her again during the initial 45 minute wake is if she didn't really feed before going to bed and could be hungry (in the beginning she sometimes was so tired she passed out the minute she got a boob, 2 -3 suckles and then she was out cold). now that we are in more of a routine, this is happening less and less...

Re: Question for those who used the Ferber Method

bump for additional responses.. curious what tonight may bring!