Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition

• Have difficulty falling asleep?
• Wake in the middle of the night?
• Suffer sleep terrors, sleepwalking, or nighttime fears?
• Have difficulty waking for school or staying awake in class?
• Snore, wet the bed, or head bang?

In the first major revision of his bestselling, groundbreaking classic since it was published twenty years ago, Dr. Richard Ferber, the nation's foremost authority on children's sleep problems, delivers safe, sound ideas for helping your child fall and stay asleep at night and perform well during the day.

Incorporating new research, Dr. Ferber provides important basic information that all parents should know regarding the nature of sleep and the development of normal sleep and body rhythms throughout childhood. He discusses the causes of most sleep problems from birth to adolescence and recommends an array of proven solutions for each so that parents can choose the strategy that works best for them. Topics covered in detail include:

• Bedtime difficulties and nighttime wakings
• Effective strategies for naps
• Sleep schedule abnormalities
• A balanced look at co-sleeping
• New insights into the nature of sleep terrors and sleepwalking
• Problems in setting limits
• Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, bed-wetting, and head banging

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems offers priceless advice and concrete help for a whole new generation of anxious, frustrated, and overtired parents.

The main thing this book taught me was the importance of being consistent - sending a consistent message to your child and doing so with love and caring. It also helped me to analyze my son's sleeping habits and look at what was behind his waking up to determine what should be done about it.

I would highly recommend this book to parents who are looking to establish good sleeping habits or correct problems that have arisen.


Thank you Dr. Ferber!   March 22, 2007
M. Lagrou
36 out of 38 found this review helpful

This is NOT the cry-it-out plan you have heard about!

I was originally very reluctant to even read this book due to comments I had heard about "Ferberization." Since we practice attachment parenting principles, what I thought was the Ferber approach, did not seem an option for us. However, after 16 months, my son was still nursing every 2 hours at night. I was physically exhausted and it was taking a toll on the whole family. I read both The Baby Sleep Books by Sears and The No Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley. Although they offered numerous tips on how to teach your child to form positive sleep attachments, I finished both books not really having any idea on how to SOLVE my son's sleep problem. In my sleep deprived state, I needed a no-fail, step by step PLAN! In this updated edition, Dr. Ferber sets out a clear and concise plan to solve your child's sleep problems, and it works!

The book starts with an extremely informative overview of children's sleep cycles and how they differ from adult cycles. On thing that Ferber really emphasizes, is that your child's awakenings are not the problem, as they are a natural part of every person's sleep cycle. The problem is, more often, that a child does not know how to go to sleep without a parent's intervention (rocking, nursing, patting etc), so when they naturally awake in the night, they need the intervention in order to fall back asleep. The solution: teach your child to fall asleep in the same conditions he will find himself in when he wakes up in the night (most commonly alone in his crib), so that he may easily fall back asleep. Ferber details a plan called progressive wait, where you put your child in his bed, sleepy but awake and leave him to fall asleep on his own. Obviously the child will protest, but you return at intervals of your own choosing to calm and comfort him, but again leave before he falls asleep. Eventually, you increase the times between your returns to comfort the child, until he falls asleep. Ferber suggests intervals of 5, 10, and 15 minutes; we started with 1,2, and 3 minutes because even 5 minutes of crying alone seemed too much.

Dr. Ferber also details a plan for night weaning which was very effective for us. He suggests lengthening the time between night nursing sessions by a 1/2 hour each night until the night feedings are eliminated. My husband tended to our son if he awoke before it was time to nurse and comforted him back to sleep. The first 2 nights were hard, but our son quickly learned that if Dad came in, it was not time for milk. The night weaning was complete in about a week and we then used the progressive wait technique to teach him to fall asleep in his crib by himself. So, in less than a month, our son went from always falling asleep by nursing in my arms and nursing at EVERY night awakening, to going to bed awake and falling asleep by himself in his own bed and staying asleep all night! I was truly amazed to see the improvement in my son's mood during the day! I knew the sleep deprivation was affecting my moods and ability to function, but it never occurred to me that HE would be happier after a night of uninterrupted sleep too! I wish that I had read this book months ago!

So, if you are pregnant or have a tiny infant who has not yet formed sleep rhythms and sleep attachments, then read The Baby Sleep Books by Sears and The No Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley. Those books will give you ideas on how to form positive sleep associations and avoid sleep problems. But if you are sleep deprived and need a solution, then read this book today! This is NOT the cry-it-out plan you have heard about! This is a plan with minimal crying, lots of comforting, and you and your baby will be sleeping better and be happier soon!

Note: I have noticed many of the critical reviews listed here are for the OLD version of this book and call for serious updating. This review is for the new 2006 edition. Check the dates of the reviews you read!