New Ferber and Sears books soften hardline stances on getting baby to sleep
Categories: Eating & nutrition, Development
My wife and I are in sleep-deprivation land these days; our little Juniper has
decided she wants to wake up 10-15 times a night rather than her usual 3-4. In the past I have described the
ideological battleground taking place between Dr. Sears and Dr. Weissbluth in our apartment as a
no-holds-barred boxing match. Well,
today I officially declared Weissbluth the
loser, as we just can't bear to let her cry it out in our tiny place anymore. It's just not working.
Then, just now I saw this article about how in new editions of the popular parenting books by Dr. Ferber (Weissbluth's "cry it out" mentor) and Dr. Sears, each is softening their stance on sleep a bit, and moving closer to each other from the ideological poles. Ferber now writes that letting children cry "was not meant to be the way to treat all sleep problems" and in his updated edition, in stores next spring, he will make it clear that he offers other solutions besides just crying. I'm sure Weissbluth is off crying himself somewhere, feeling very alone. But Weissbluth can take some comfort in the fact that his longest foe, attachment parenting guru Sears, is actually relenting on his relentless attachment philosophy. In The Baby Sleep Book," Sears suggests that if the mother is sleep-deprived, it may be time to wean the baby off nighttime feedings. Sears says he now thinks his earlier books placed too much emphasis on catering to the baby's needs, and did not address the parents' needs enough. "What your baby needs is a happy, rested mother," he says.
Hallelujah, it's about time these dogmatic extremists came to their senses. Why has it taken this long for them to bring some common sense to their vastly different approaches?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
momma2mingbu 12-18-2005 @ 7:03PM
I just hope Dr. Sears also addresses the possible effects of eliminating nighttime nursings. For some women, this can lead to supply problems. And it can cause fertility to return earlier. Moms need to be fully informed so they can make the best choices, so they need to be able to weigh those facts with their needs for sleep as well.
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Leslie 12-18-2005 @ 7:03PM
We own the Weissbluth book, I have not read too much of it because letting Benjamin cry was breaking my heart. Then we discovered Elizabeth Pantley who wrote The No-Cry Sleep Solution. This is a book that works with our family.
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