With our first child, our daughter, we never had to lift a finger to get her to sleep.
Two months after she was born, to the day, she had a bath, took a bottle, and was laid in her crib drowsy but awake.
That night, she slept from 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. the next morning, and I was a brand-new woman. I could see straight! I could answer questions coherently! I could have sex with my husband again!
In retrospect, we set up conditions perfectly. We had a space heater in her room, providing white noise. We dimmed the lights. We read her a story and left her with a lovey she’d become attached to. We didn’t have a glider, so we never rocked her to sleep, and we put her down without a pacifier, because she wouldn’t take one.
In short, we didn’t create any rituals associated with sleeping that she was incapable of recreating by herself. So when she woke up briefly, as all babies do, she simply went back to sleep after seeing that everything was exactly the same as it had been when she first drifted off.
And that, my friends, is the heart of the Ferber Method.
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My daughter was a perfect sleeper, too. Which is part of the reason why I stopped at one kid.
Yay for sleeping! We ended up having to do this for Sam, but it worked like a charm. Glad you’re getting some rest!
Hurray! I’m so glad you’re finally getting some sleep. We used the same basic method when Josh was about 9 months. We were desperate and then couldn’t believe we hadn’t done it sooner.
My daughter is an amazing sleeper, my sons take after their father, hard t get to sleep and an early (VERY) riser!
sounds perfect! Wish I’d known about Ferber wen my kids were that age.