A Parent's Guide to the Ferber Method of Sleep Training

The Ferber method is a sleep-training strategy developed by Richard Ferber, MD, a pediatrician and the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston. In 1985, Dr. Ferber wrote the best-selling book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems—which he later updated in 2006—that detailed his method of allowing babies to cry for a short, predetermined period of time before comforting them. The strategy was designed to help babies learn to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own—or fall back to sleep independently if they wake up in the middle of the night.

Keep reading to learn more about the Ferber sleep training method, how it works, and when to start "Ferberizing" your little one.

What Is the Ferber Method?

The Ferber method is also called "graduated extinction" because it uses behavioral theory's principle of extinction to eliminate a previously enforced behavior. In this case, your attention is the reinforcer of nighttime crying. However, the Ferber method differs from another popular technique called extinction-sleep training (the cry-it-out method), which is essentially leaving your child, even if they cry, until they go to sleep.

"The cry-it-out method was kind of the default mode in the late 19th and early 20th century, where the whole thing was you really shouldn't spoil your child," explains Craig Canapari, MD, director of the sleep medicine program at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of Never Too Late to Sleep Train. The Ferber method differs because it involves checking in on your child at gradually increasing time intervals.

How Does the Ferber Method Work?

While it may not sound easy, implementing the Ferber method is actually quite simple. After following a set bedtime routine, place your drowsy infant in their crib while they're still awake then leave the room. If they cry, wait for a period of time—Ferber suggests three minutes the first night—before returning to the room to briefly comfort them.

Comforting could be patting your baby or talking in a soothing voice. It should not involve picking them up, feeding them, or turning on the light. This reassurance should last only a minute or two.

Leave the room again, and extend the time period—Ferber suggests five minutes—in which you allow your child to cry. Ferber refers to this technique as "progressive waiting." If necessary, come in again and briefly comfort them, and then leave while they're still awake. You continue this process, but extend the wait time to 10 minutes, until they fall asleep without you being in the room. If your child wakes up in the middle of the night, repeat this process to help them go back to sleep.

On the second day, allow your baby to cry for five minutes initially, then 10 minutes, and then 12 minutes. On the third day, begin at 10 minutes, then 12 minutes, and then 15 minutes. The idea is that after a few days of slowly increasing the waiting time, most babies will eventually learn to fall asleep on their own, knowing that their parent is not going to pick them up when they cry.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says self-soothing—allowing babies to learn calming strategies—offers them an important life skill.

How Do You Do the Ferber Method?

Here's a Ferber method chart detailing the recommended check-in times.

Day 1

• First check-in: 3 minutes
• Second check-in: 5 minutes
• Third check-in: 10 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 10 minutes

Day 2

• First check-in: 5 minutes
• Second check-in: 10 minutes
• Third check-in: 12 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 12 minutes

Day 3

• First check-in: 10 minutes
• Second check-in: 12 minutes
• Third check-in: 15 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 15 minutes

Day 4

• First check-in: 12 minutes
• Second check-in: 15 minutes
• Third check-in: 17 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 17 minutes

Day 5

• First check-in: 15 minutes
• Second check-in: 17 minutes
• Third check-in: 20 minutes
• Subsequent check-in after: 20 minutes

Day 6

• First check-in: 17 minutes
• Second check-in: 20 minutes
• Third check-in: 25 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 25 minutes

Day 7

• First check-in: 20 minutes
• Second check-in: 25 minutes
• Third check-in: 30 minutes
• Subsequent check-ins: 30 minutes

When Can You Start 'Ferberizing' Your Baby?

According to Dr. Canapari, the window for beginning any type of sleep-training method is between 4 to 6 months old. "You can do it up to age 2, but the older your child is, the harder it's going to be," he says.

Researchers say that developmentally, infants aren't capable of "sleeping through the night" (defined as six to eight consecutive hours) until they are 5 to 6 months old. However, not all infants conform to that timeline. Complicating matters, researchers point out that parental expectations around sleep vary by culture and values.

Dr. Canapari says for most methods of extinction-based sleep training, including the Ferber method, babies usually cry the hardest on the second or third night. This is referred to as an extinction burst, and it's often when many parents give up on the method. Researchers say this happens as a result of a baby's cries not eliciting the usual response. So it increases in frequency, duration, and severity in an attempt to draw that desired response.

"When you see that extinction burst," says Dr. Canapari, "that's when you're on the cusp of improvement. I would usually say to people that, generally, the crying is going to be on the downslope, and will get better three to four days after the intervention."

For some parents, allowing their baby to cry—even for a few seconds—feels cruel. "There's evidence from an evolutionary standpoint that we are wired to respond to children's cries," says Dr. Canapari. "This is a very deep drive, and it kind of goes against our natural inclination to ignore this."

But rest assured that experts haven't linked the Ferber method to emotional scarring in babies. In fact, a 2016 study in Pediatrics did not find that graduated extinction produced adverse stress responses or long-term effects on parent-child attachment or child emotions and behavior.

Are There Any Tips for Ferber Sleep Training Success?

As often is the case in most child-rearing ventures, the key to making the Ferber method work is consistency. The process should take a few days or a week—not weeks and weeks, says Dr. Canapari.

If it's dragging out, make sure your partner and other caregivers are on the same page as you. Picking up the baby and rocking them when they cry at night can drag out the process. "A lot of parents feel stress or guilt about any sort of behavior modification," says Dr. Canapari, "but I say you owe it to yourself and your child to have healthy sleep habits."