I started Ferber when my baby is about 4.5 months. before I start Ferber she is making noise which will turn into crying if I did not give her the pacifier and pat her. she did this while her eyes are closed every night and almost every 1 hr or so. I only had 1 to 2 hrs of sleep every night and I couldn't take it. I decided to use Ferber and it changed my life since. she slept thru the night without making noise and crying. her feeding improve as well as she is sleeping well. we used to have alot of problems feeding her as she doesn't really want to drink but that changed after Ferber. inside the Ferber book he suggests to reduce the number of feedings at night gradually and extend the interval until u finally stop feeding altogether at night (which Ferber mentioned that it usually take about one week). for me I still continue with the feedings and did dream feeding about 2 to 3 times per night. she doesn't wake up at all, just sleep drink. but the only issue is that she might pee alot which might wake her up if her diapers are soak. so I will change her diapers once during the night while she is sleeping to prevent that.
for check-ins, so far we are at day 45 of Ferber, we only did check-ins about 5 days out of the 45days. we did only if she is crying intensely as we notice that check-ins will make her cry even more and harder. so we don't really do check-ins. now she don't even cry as she know that she will need to fall asleep herself. sometimes she will only make some noise and will fall asleep, usually it will only take about 10mins or less for her to sleep.
if I rmb correctly, Ferber says that this method does not work if u try for 2 weeks and the baby still crys alot and takes very long to sleep. then it will be good to take a rest and try again next time. for mine, she learned how to sleep from the second day although sometimes there will be days whereby she cry more when put her in the cot. even when we are 2 weeks in sometimes she cry alot still before she sleeps if she is fussy. but once she sleep , she is able to sleep through the night. if I rmb correctly it is only from day 30+ onwards she doesn't cry much or make noise at all when we put her awake in the cot for her to sleep for the night. before that she only make noise for awhile before sleeping. out of the 45 days that I did Ferber, she only cry intensely for the most 5 of the days, with day 1 about 50 mins of crying, other days if she cry intensely it's about less than 30mins.
I would advise that if u decide to do this, don't give up jus because u hear your baby cry. I almost give up because she cried so hard for the first day. Ferber mentioned that crying is harmless to them and in fact this is more beneficial to them as they can sleep well. after I did this, I totally agree with him, now my baby not only sleep well, she can feed well and is much happier. for me I can sleep longer and better as well. this totally changed our lives. my only regret is the we should have started this earlier when she hit 4 months old. we only started this when she is 4.5months. but better late then never.
Anonymous