Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

Just wondering if anyone has had luck with anything else - no Ferber. Thanks!

Re: Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

I am NO expert at any of this. Heck, my cat still wakes me up at 5:30 but I am sure your library has a ton of books. Did you speak to the doctor? How old is the baby? I think age has a lot to do with it also.

Re: Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

Ive read NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION... yes it took about 9 months till I could put it to use but Emma sleeps from 8pm-5am nightly

Re: Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

I'm not sure of the sleep method you are referring to but here is what I did with my son (who is now 3 and the BEST sleeper!)

I had EVERY book on sleep training and trashed them all and just tried my own method. First of all my son breast feed and sleep in bed with me until he was three months old. Ever since the day he was brought home from the hospital I alway had a sleep routine. He would have a warm bath, then we would read a book, then I would sit in a rockingchair and nurse him to baby lullabys (it was a CD that came with one of the sleep books I bought). He would fall asleep and into the crib he went. My ex-DH would stay up until his next feeding which was about 1:00AM (he was a night owl anyway). He would give him a bottle of pumped breat milk, and each night we would put less and less amount of milk in the 1:00AM bottle until the baby figured it wasn't worth it to wake up for 1oz of milk! This took about a week and by 3-1/2 months he was sleeping from 9:00PM until 6:30 AM!

Estabilish a bedtime routine early on! I think that is so important. To this day my son gets his bath at 7:30, we read a book, say our prayers and he's asleep by 8:00PM and sleeps until 8:00AM! This has been his bedtime routine since he was an infant.

Good luck!

Chris

Re: Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

Chris,

I totally agree with you on the importance of a routine. My son is also a really good sleeper, always has been. But I look at my nieces...my 7 year old niece STILL sleeps with my sister and BIL most nights and when she doesn't, it's a total struggle and she's up until all hours.

Re: Has anyone used a sleep training method OTHER than Ferber with success?

I used a book called Sleeping Through the Night by Jodi Mindell as my guide. I found what seemed to work and only varied from it slightly as I saw a routine that began to work for my daughter. It is a helpful book if you need ideas on how to break bad habits, night wakings, etc. I do not recc. this book if you do not want your child to cry at all the first few nights. I started this at 4 months when she no longer needed a feeding at night. I was only breastfeeding her when I started. She is now 9 months and sleeps from 8:30 to 7:30. We started with 10PM bedtime and gradually moved it as she began to sleep longer. There was some crying in the beginning, but it was mostly whining because she was so tired. I can now leave her with a sitter. If I tell them the routine she is in bed close to her usual bedtime. Sunday night my brother babysat while I was at a wedding. He said she actually dove into the crib when he leaned in to put her down. It makes for a better night out when you call home to find out they are sleeping. Good luck!