Exactly 18 days ago, my wife and I started utilizing the Ferber method with our 5 month old. We had originally planned to wait till the holidays were over since we do a lot of traveling and implementing a schedule would be very difficult. The day before we were to start our 3 week long holiday visit (we spend some time at my parents and some time at the in laws and they both live in different cities 700km apart), our daughter Rya was having one of her worst days we’d seen. Exasperated at the fact that we weren’t seeing progress at all with he sleeping patterns, we decided to switch it up and try something new.
For those of you that don’t know, the Ferber method includes implementing a structured schedule (feeds, naps and bedtime), implementing bedtime routines to queue the baby for sleep and most importantly, teaching your baby how to soothe. This last part is usually the one that is controversial amongst parents as a component of it is to have your baby cry out, sometimes during long stretches of time.
On December 20th, we decided we would plunge and try the method. We started in the afternoon for her nap. She ended up crying through it and never sleeping (1 hour of crying). Ferber suggests you lay the baby down awake and leave their room. After 5 minutes of crying, to go and simply show your presence, ensure your baby is safe and try to comfort them but while never picking them up. After a minute or two of soothing, you are to leave the room again and wait a total of 10 minutes before entering again. The third cycle is 15 minutes and should you baby not fall asleep prior to this cycle ending, it simply restarts for another 15 minutes. Therefore, her first nap we entered after 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and three 15 minute lapses.
Ferber suggest you pick them up after an hour of crying at nap times but to continue the method until they fall asleep at night. That evening was a tough one. Rya ended up crying for a total of 2 hours and 30 minutes. The next day, naps weren’t better at all as she didn’t sleep during the day but did fall asleep quickly at night (40 minutes). The day after not only did she get a bit of sleep in naps; she fell asleep at night within 5 minutes. Within 3 days we went from baby that would cry 2 to 4 hours in our arms to a baby that was self soothing within minutes!
We selected a schedule for our 5 month old that looks like this:
6:30 – 7:00 AM We wake around
8:30 AM She feeds and gets changed into a new diaper. She is read a bedtime story with dimmed lights (bed time routine)
9:00 AM Laid in her crib for her morning nap. She usually naps for 1 to 2 hours
12:30 PM Bed time routine
1:00 PM Laid in crib
5:00 PM She feeds on a solid mashed veggie, get a bath then bed time routine
6:00 PM Laid in crib for the night
Not only is Rya getting more sleep, she is a completely different baby during the day. She is now much happier, talkative and playful! It’s really nice to see!
Props to Dads 
We did the same and had the same results. And Leah is sooooo much fun to be around now! Thumbs up for this method!
Hey Kev, I was a bit surprised as to how well and how quickly the changes came. I must say, the first night was a bit tough on me to let Rya cry it out by herself for that long but I’m now very glad I did. I’m happy it worked for you guys as well! I bet Leah is super fun to be around… she is such a cutie!
Holy crap – this method really works! You two must have been so shocked when she fell asleep in 5 minutes on the third night. I wouldn’t have believed it myself! Congrats guys. Now, question for you – in retrospect, would you have started the Ferber method earlier? How early can you do it (i.e. I can’t see anyone leaving a newborn alone while crying?)
xo
Hey Julia,
Shocked is only a portion of what we felt. Stunned, amazed, bewildered… and these feelings lasted for a whole week!
There are varying opinions on when you can start the Ferber method with your baby. Some sites suggest as young as 3 months while others recommend to wait till they are 6 months of age. In retrospect I think we could have started this method a bit earlier… but not by much. Since Rya had colic from birth till 3 months, there really wasn’t anything we could do except to try and soothe her. Once her colic went away, she was amazing for a week. Then she got sick for another week which was miserable. After she got over her sickness, she never really went back to her good sleeping habits and that’s probably when we should have started the method. Know this though, all babies are different and they certainly require different things. This method just happened to have worked for us and am I ever glad it did!
Same here, we had to do the 5-10-15 method for Raphaël (took around 3 days as well). We didn’t really have to do it for Alexis and Zachari. I didn’t know it was called the Ferber method, I always called it 5-10-15.
Hey Luc,
I actually remember talking to you about it when you were implementing it. Ferber is the doctor that came up with the method. He wrote a book about it. I’m glad it worked out so well with you guys but more importantly that you didn’t need to use the method on your 2 other kids!