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

Richard Ferber (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 23, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kirkus Reviews Welcome news for exhausted parents.

T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. author of Doctor and Child Dr. Ferber is remarkably clear about a complex and common problem....Most parents will be able to use this book as a guide in helping them sort out theirs from the child's needs and will be able to follow his clear, practical directions to the relief of sleeping through the night.

Publishers Weekly Ferber is sound, sane and reassuring....Parents of the sleepless should have this one on the shelf for its facts and solid suggestions that work.

Booklist A practical, informative and sensitive guide.

Kirkus Reviews Those wrestling with a persistent or more serious problem will find this a real boon.

About the Author

Richard Ferber, M.D., is an associate professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston. He lives in Newtonville, Massachusetts.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Rev Exp edition (May 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743201639
• ISBN-13: 978-0743201636
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (312 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Sleep Disorders
  • #58 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Parenting

More About the Author

Richard Ferber, M.D., is an associate professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School and director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston. He lives in Newtonville, Massachusetts.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

641 of 670 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars True "attachment" parenting December 11, 2006

By J & A

Format:Paperback

My wife and I tried for a while the ideas presented in the "no-cry sleep solution" without success. After months of lots of cry and no-sleep problems (both for our son and for ourselves), I decided to read Ferber's book. Because we were concerned about the "cry-it-out" method, I also did some research on what is known in the scientific literature. Here is a summary of my findings:

1- there are several published studies showing that cry-it-out (extinction) and graduated extinction methods are effective in solving sleep problems. Almost no controlled and detailed scientific studies support the "no-cry sleep solution" methods.

2- there is no hard evidence that letting your child cry-it-out causes long-term problems (unless you're ignoring real medical problems).

3- there is evidence that a child's sleep deprivation leads to impaired cognitive development.

4- cold-turkey cry-it-out (extinction) requires more maintenance than graduated extinction, the method proposed by Ferber.

5- Parents using graduated extinction to solve their child's sleep problems bond with their child more than parents whose child does not sleep through the night (true attachment parenting).

The above considerations led my wife and I to try Ferber, since it is in our son's best interest that he sleeps well. I should emphasize that Ferber does not support the "cold turkey" cry-it-out method, where you just let the child to cry to sleep. Instead, he supports the periodic check and reassurance of the child, to let him/her know that you're there for them (graduated extinction).

Ferber's book was very easy to read, even for a tired parent. I followed his recommendation, and read the whole book before attempting any treatment. This was very important to us, as we found out that our 9-month old son was eating too much at night, causing his sleep problems. After keeping a log of our sons sleep, we followed Ferber's treatment for night eating, and then we changed his sleep associations. Now, for the first time, our baby slept almost 10 hours in a row.

Here is how I would summarized the pros and cons of Ferber's book:

Pros: easy to read; works; not judgmental on parents expectations and capabilities; supported by scientific research; not a cold-turkey cry-it-out method.

Cons: Not for everybody (some parents are unable to let their child cry, even for a minute, without consoling them);

Bottom line: Solving your child's sleep problem is in your child's best interest. You need to make sure that your child does not have any medical problems (our son had reflux, and we had to solve it before we approached his sleeping problems). You also need to make sure you have the right diagnosis of the sleep problem before attempting a treatment, and this requires reading most of the book.

Update: Since we starting using Ferber's two months ago, our son sleeps for about 10 hours in a row, and he is clearly a happier child. When we put him to sleep, most of the time he doesn't cry at all, and when he does, he usually cries for less than a minute.

Update: I just stumbled upon a nice website that has interesting information about the science of sleep (among other things). If graduated extinction is not for you, they do have other suggestions that are gentler and that seem to work well. Here is the link:[...].

121 of 124 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The review I never thought I'd give August 14, 2010

By RKelly922

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm here to say, I think the book 'Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems' (aka Ferber Method, "Cry It Out" Method) is the most misunderstood book out there! Here's my story:
JP is my first baby. I thought I would be a 100% "attachment mom". I've read Dr. Sears books and I definitely thought that this was the parenting style for me (and still do in most aspects) I was NEVER going to be one of "those moms" that let their baby cry themselves to sleep. The thought of "crying it out" made me feel so bad - I didn't want MY baby to think I had just abandonned him to sleep alone. So for the first 6 months, I rocked, cuddled and fed JP to sleep (and enjoyed every minute of it!). We definitely formed that strong attachment I was waiting for. This worked great for us both - at first. He was sleeping through the night around 8 weeks and kept it up until around 4 months. Then he started fighting bedtime and was waking very, very frequently. Unfortunately, it wasn't just me he was attached to - he was also attached to his bottle and rocking chair! Nothing we did could get him back to sleep - short of feeding/rocking. Even that only lasted a short time, we were getting up several times a night and everyone in the house was exhausted - baby included. I would love to always rock and cuddle my baby to sleep but it was starting to create problems. :(
I was desperate to do anything. I read the No Cry Sleep Solution, Sleep Lady Book, everything I could get my hands on. All of these things had valid points - they just didn't seem to be working for me! Finally, I broked down and read the Ferber book - Solve your Child's Sleep Problems. Like I said before, I did not set out to be a CIO mom. Not only did I not want to do it, I didn't think it would work! JP seems to be very strong willed (already! oh boy!) and before, even the times I tried to let him "fuss/cry it out" he never seemed to back down or even get remotely calmer.But upon reading the first chapter I could tell that this book was sorely misunderstood. Dr. Ferber came across very knowledgeable and compassionate and really explained baby sleep patterns. There was a whole chapter dedicated to Sleep Associations (which is what JP had with rocking/bottles) and how to break them. He really broke it down and had very understandable analogies that made me think of things completely differently. (i.e. What if you fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the night in a completely different spot of the house?It'd probably upset you and prevent you from going right back to sleep! (Like when babies fall asleep in your arms and wake up in their crib)) CIO isn't the only sleep method used in the book either. So after completely reading the book we went for it. I was still very scared because I had heard horror stories of babies crying it out for hours and I just KNEW I wouldn't be able to handle that and be consistent. I read that nights 1-3 are the hardest so I braced myself and gave it a go.
NIGHT ONE: MUCH better than expected! I still rocked him and read to him but instead of letting him fall asleep in my arms, I put him in his crib awake. Of course he complained and protested but he definately wasn't hysterical. I kissed him and left the room. I returned to comfort him (but not pick him up) after 1 minute (this let him know I didn't abandon him). Left again, returned after 3 minutes, left again, returned after 5 minutes. After 24 minutes he was asleep. He woke a few times during the night, but to my surprise he went right back to sleep after I rubbed his back for a few seconds and gave him a kiss.
NIGHT TWO - he didn't cry when I put him in his crib, but after about 5 minutes he started fussing. He fussed for 11 minutes (with me going in to console him after 3 minutes). AND he slept through the ENTIRE night again - not even a peep!
NIGHT THREE - he cried for 6 minutes (with me going in to console him after 5) and he slept through the whole night again! He's been sleeping great ever since! Even naps are so much better!
So although the method is called "Cry it out" I will say that in my experience, there wasn't too much crying involved. I will admit, it was very hard that first night to hear him cry - but since I was going in to console him every few minutes, I knew he wasn't truly hurt - just annoyed at me for changing up the routine. I kept telling myself - "I'm doing this so he can get a better nights sleep!" Upon reading the book, it made so much more sense to me and I never once interpreted it as being cruel. The fact that I was going back to him after every couple minutes made us BOTH feel so much better.
Sorry this is so long - I just really wanted to get this all out and to share my experience with anyone else who may be going through sleep regressions and unsure of the CIO method.

71 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Dr. Ferber! March 22, 2007

By M. Lagrou

Format:Paperback

This is NOT the cry-it-out plan you have heard about!

I was originally very reluctant to even read this book due to comments I had heard about "Ferberization." Since we practice attachment parenting principles, what I thought was the Ferber approach, did not seem an option for us. However, after 16 months, my son was still nursing every 2 hours at night. I was physically exhausted and it was taking a toll on the whole family. I read both The Baby Sleep Books by Sears and The No Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley. Although they offered numerous tips on how to teach your child to form positive sleep attachments, I finished both books not really having any idea on how to SOLVE my son's sleep problem. In my sleep deprived state, I needed a no-fail, step by step PLAN! In this updated edition, Dr. Ferber sets out a clear and concise plan to solve your child's sleep problems, and it works!

The book starts with an extremely informative overview of children's sleep cycles and how they differ from adult cycles. On thing that Ferber really emphasizes, is that your child's awakenings are not the problem, as they are a natural part of every person's sleep cycle. The problem is, more often, that a child does not know how to go to sleep without a parent's intervention (rocking, nursing, patting etc), so when they naturally awake in the night, they need the intervention in order to fall back asleep. The solution: teach your child to fall asleep in the same conditions he will find himself in when he wakes up in the night (most commonly alone in his crib), so that he may easily fall back asleep. Ferber details a plan called progressive wait, where you put your child in his bed, sleepy but awake and leave him to fall asleep on his own. Obviously the child will protest, but you return at intervals of your own choosing to calm and comfort him, but again leave before he falls asleep. Eventually, you increase the times between your returns to comfort the child, until he falls asleep. Ferber suggests intervals of 5, 10, and 15 minutes; we started with 1,2, and 3 minutes because even 5 minutes of crying alone seemed too much.

Dr. Ferber also details a plan for night weaning which was very effective for us. He suggests lengthening the time between night nursing sessions by a 1/2 hour each night until the night feedings are eliminated. My husband tended to our son if he awoke before it was time to nurse and comforted him back to sleep. The first 2 nights were hard, but our son quickly learned that if Dad came in, it was not time for milk. The night weaning was complete in about a week and we then used the progressive wait technique to teach him to fall asleep in his crib by himself. So, in less than a month, our son went from always falling asleep by nursing in my arms and nursing at EVERY night awakening, to going to bed awake and falling asleep by himself in his own bed and staying asleep all night! I was truly amazed to see the improvement in my son's mood during the day! I knew the sleep deprivation was affecting my moods and ability to function, but it never occurred to me that HE would be happier after a night of uninterrupted sleep too! I wish that I had read this book months ago!

So, if you are pregnant or have a tiny infant who has not yet formed sleep rhythms and sleep attachments, then read The Baby Sleep Books by Sears and The No Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley. Those books will give you ideas on how to form positive sleep associations and avoid sleep problems. But if you are sleep deprived and need a solution, then read this book today! This is NOT the cry-it-out plan you have heard about! This is a plan with minimal crying, lots of comforting, and you and your baby will be sleeping better and be happier soon!

Note: I have noticed many of the critical reviews listed here are for the OLD version of this book and call for serious updating. This review is for the new 2006 edition. Check the dates of the reviews you read!