Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition
by Richard Ferber

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition
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Book Summary Information

Author: Richard Ferber
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-05-23
ISBN: 0743201639
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Touchstone
Accessories:

Book Reviews of Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition

Book Review: Less crying, more sleeping (for everyone!)
Summary: 5 Stars

My twins never were great sleepers, and never slept through the night until I implemented Ferber's recommendations at 12 months. Until then they regularly woke 3-7 times/night, and had to be nursed back to sleep. I began working full time around 5 months and began falling apart at the seams. So too did my husband, who dutifully got up and helped me get them nursing and back to sleep each time they woke up.

As a breastfeeding, co-sleeping mom, I initially balked at the notion of cry-it-out, since it seemed counter to the way I was raising my kids. But as they got older, they seemed less able to fall asleep, even when next to us, and they were cranky and obviously sleep-deprived. They cried a lot whenever I tried to get them to sleep, even when I drove them around in our car -- they'd eventually fall asleep, but not without tremendous protest. We rocked them and tried (oh so gingerly!!!!) to put them down in a crib or on our bed, and they would immediately wake up, screaming, so upset that they were no longer being held. I was losing my mind. I'm sure this sounds familiar to many.

I finally ordered this book, right before their first birthday. I was very intrigued by the topics and read it cover to cover, which I highly recommend. It made SO MUCH SENSE. Chapters 4 and 6 were the most useful to us, but the whole book provided a firm foundation on which my new understanding of my girls' sleep needs rested. My instinct had been that they needed more sleep and that they didn't need to eat at night, and the book validated my instinct and helped me think about what some good achievable sleep goals might be. I loved how, unlike Weissbluth, Ferber didn't recommend such an early bedtime, and he seemed to suggest more flexibility in the daily schedule. I've never been a schedule person, and I definitely felt like Ferber's recommendations for various issues could totally work with the way I was already parenting my children.

I spent about two weeks trying to wean them off of so many night feedings, and slept on the couch while my husband tried to be the main nighttime caretaker. Ferber offers some suggestions for night weaning, and while I didn't follow his night weaning plan exactly, I did implement some of his recommendations with success.

Once we had gone two nights without any nursings, we decided it was time to implement Ferber's "sleep associations" plan, since they were falling asleep either nursing or sucking their pacifiers, and then waking up between sleep cycles when they found neither boob nor pacifier in their mouths. As Ferber recommended, we cut out the pacifiers cold turkey. Best decision we ever made. We did our night routine, laid them in their cribs, said goodnight and walked out of the room. We checked on them at regular intervals, as described in the book, and they cried for about 45 minutes total. The second night they cried for about 10 minutes. The third night they didn't cry. AT ALL. They occasionally have cried a bit during the night, but they put themselves back to sleep after 5 minutes or so. Their naps have gone from 30-minute jokes to 2 hour breaks from which they awake happy and rested! I'm not making this up.

They now seem to enjoy going to bed and are crying significantly less in a 24-hour period because they don't fight sleep and they don't wake up crying that there isn't a boob in their mouth. Honestly, it's amazing. I read every major academic report I could find on the long-term effects of crying, and I was rather worried about it. But what I found, at least for us, was that the Ferber method actually yielded FAR LESS crying than we had been experiencing. And by checking at regular 5 or 10 minutes intervals while the training was happening, we could be assured that our girls weren't feeling terrified. They were pissed off, yes. But they were not scared. And especially not at 12 months old.

I read Pantley and I read Weissbluth and I read one million blog posts from other parents, and Ferber's method is the only one that was clear, well developed and made sense. I tried some of Pantley's recommendations and they just seemed to make my girls madder. What they really wanted was to sleep. They wanted to sleep in their cribs, with their blanket and stuffed animal and have their space. And they wanted to sleep all night. They really did! They just needed a little help getting there.

I think it's somewhat unreasonable to expect a 3 or 5 month baby to sleep through the night, but as our babies become toddlers, I think many of us see that healthy sleep habits aren't being developed. In my opinion, this is where Ferber's book and methods comes in. I really think that once you are confident that your child isn't hungry at night and doesn't have other pressing needs (teeth, etc.), Ferber's method is an excellent way to teach your child how to comfort herself. Which, really, makes for a happier child.


Summary of Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition

Does your child

  • Have difficulty falling asleep?
  • Wake in the middle of the night?
  • Suffer sleep terrors, sleepwalking, or nighttime fears?
  • Have difficulty waking for school or staying awake in class?
  • Snore, wet the bed, or head bang?

In the first major revision of his bestselling, groundbreaking classic since it was published twenty years ago, Dr. Richard Ferber, the nation's foremost authority on children's sleep problems, delivers safe, sound ideas for helping your child fall and stay asleep at night and perform well during the day.

Incorporating new research, Dr. Ferber provides important basic information that all parents should know regarding the nature of sleep and the development of normal sleep and body rhythms throughout childhood. He discusses the causes of most sleep problems from birth to adolescence and recommends an array of proven solutions for each so that parents can choose the strategy that works best for them. Topics covered in detail include:

  • Bedtime difficulties and nighttime wakings
  • Effective strategies for naps
  • Sleep schedule abnormalities
  • A balanced look at co-sleeping
  • New insights into the nature of sleep terrors and sleepwalking
  • Problems in setting limits
  • Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, bed-wetting, and head banging

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems offers priceless advice and concrete help for a whole new generation of anxious, frustrated, and overtired parents.


When your child isn't sleeping, chances are that you aren't either. Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems--a tired parent's essential for more than 10 years--offers valuable advice and concrete help when lullabies aren't enough to lull your child into dreamland. Based on Ferber's research as the director of Boston's Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital, the book is a practical, easy-to-understand guide to common sleeping problems for children ages one to six. Detailed case histories on night waking, difficulty sleeping, and more serious disorders such as sleep apnea and sleepwalking help illustrate a wide variety of problems and their solutions. New parents will benefit from Ferber's proactive advice on developing good sleeping patterns and daily schedules to ensure that sleeping problems don't develop in the first place. You'll also find a bibliography of children's books on bedtime, sleep, and dreaming, as well as a list of helpful organizations. Here's a book that is sure to put you and your whole family to sleep--in this case, that's a good thing.

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