[.ca] Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (ISBN 0671620991)

From Amazon.com:
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.

this is abuse:
as far as i'm concerned this "cry it out" method is archaic and abusive. babies are only little for a short time and they need love and patience as they navigate through this big new world. letting your child cry alone in a dark room is horrible.

Help your child get the sleep he needs:
I was very skeptical about the Ferber method. I bought various books about sleep and I tried different techniques to get my baby to fall asleep without crying it out. He always had a tough time getting to sleep, except in the car. Night time was the worst, he would cry for an hour or so, no matter how much I tried to comfort him. He never fell asleep at the breast or with a bottle, even as a newborn, and so I spent months trying to figure out a way to help him drift to sleep easily. I finally gave in and really gave the Ferber method my full commitment. My baby boy was about 6 months at the time and he did not fall asleep without any crying on the third night like I was hoping. However, the crying did decrease and we experimented with different bedtime routines, until we found the one that seemed to relax him the most. Every once in awhile he still cries a little before drifting off to dream land, but for you Mother's out there struggling with guilt that I know you have, your child will wake up a happier baby in the morning if he gets the sleep he needs. Your baby won't resent you and it is much better that you teach them how to fall asleep on their own then struggle with nap time and bed time every day. Take it from a Mom that resisted the Ferber method for months, it works and my son and I are both much happier and less stressed about sleep time. :)

Before you "Sleep-train" your child:
As a parent I know that you are tired, frustrated and have no time to eat, sleep ect. (Never mind reading books!) Please do not reach for the first availible "cure" - make an informed decision. Do yourself and your child a favour and read Deborah Jackson's - Three in a Bed or any book on attachment parenting. Then decided which kind of parent you would like to be and how you would like your child to view the world. - (Full of promise with kind and loving parents or hopeless, alone and left to "cry it out")

Well Researched Mom:
I purchased both this book and The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. Two vastly different books on how to get your baby to sleep. I read both and decided not to use the Ferber Method based on the research in the No-Cry book. The book by Dr. Ferber provides much information on the science of sleep and I found it very useful from this perspective to learn how my child falls asleep. However, I am not a mother who can listen to her baby cry, so I chose to go a different route. If you don't mind listening to your baby cry, then based on the science Dr. Ferber presents, use his method. Friends who have used it say it is very effective. If you can't stand your baby crying and you want to comfort her to sleep rather than cry her to sleep I recommend the No Cry Sleep Solution. It takes longer, but I found it so much gentler than crying-it-out. This book is still worth reading though to learn more about the science of sleep.

Read the book!:
\o...\c- Ferber never suggests leaving the child "alone in a dark room"/"alone to cry it out" - he suggests a progressive waiting approach, where you gradually limit the time you spend in the child's room comforting/reassuring him or her. I agree, the method doesn't work for every parent, or for every child...but please, \o...\c!