Ferberization

The Ferber method, or Ferberization, is a technique invented by Dr. Richard Ferber to solve infant sleep problems. It involves "baby-training" children to self-soothe by allowing the child to cry for a predetermined amount of time before receiving external comfort.

The "Cry It Out" (CIO) approach can be traced back to the book "The Care and Feeding of Children" written by Dr. Emmett Holt in 1895. CIO is any sleep-training method which allows a baby to cry for a specified period before the parent will offer comfort. "Ferberization" is one such approach. Ferber does not advocate simply leaving a baby to cry. More extreme methods, such as Dr. Marc Weissbluth's extinction method, are often mistakenly referred to as "Ferberization", though they fall outside of the guidelines Ferber recommended. Some pediatricians, however, feel that any form of CIO is unnecessary and damaging to a baby.

Dr. Richard Ferber discusses and outlines a wide range of practices to teach an infant to sleep. The term ferberization is now popularly used to refer to the following techniques:

The technique is targeted at infants as young as four months of age. A few babies are capable of sleeping through the night at three months, and most are capable of sleeping through the night at six months. Before six months of age, the baby may still need to feed during the night and it is probable that the baby will require a night feeding before three months.

Ferber made some modifications in the 2006 edition of his book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. He is now more open to co-sleeping and feels different approaches work for different families, children & situations.

Crying is associated with physiological stress in the baby in the short term, and some pediatricians do not recommend techniques like "controlled crying" and "camping out" as a result, based on probable long-term psychological and physical problems. A study that looked at long-term consequences in children older than seven months concluded that there were no beneficial nor negative effects. However, there are no data on children younger than seven months.Co-sleeping, a common alternative, has its own benefits but also risks if not breastfeeding.

Leaving babies to cry without comfort causes a rise in a hormone called cortisol, a stress hormone. Prolonged increases in this hormone inhibit brain and emotional development.

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