I understand this is National Sleep Week.  I happened to be up for a
while in the middle of the night last night and caught part of ABCs
overnight news show.  They had a piece with Dr. Ferber showing how a
family "taught" their 2 year old to sleep at night with the Ferber
method.  It nearly broke my heart!  There was a camera in the
baby/child's room so you could see what was happening when the
parents were avoiding going in.  Dr. Ferber was explaining the
child's behavior to the parents.  After putting the child to bed,
firmly saying "good night" and walking out, the child screamed for
well over an hour before falling asleep from sheer exauhaustion.  A
couple nights later, when the child was giving up after only 10-15
minutes of screaming, the child would pick up his toys and throw
them toward the end of the bed.  Dr. F. said to the parents, "Look,
he's arranging his sleeping space."  It sure didn't lok like
"arranging" to me.  It looked more like the baby would try to hold
the toy for comfort and threw it down in disgust because it just
didn't give the comfort the child was looking for!
What bothered me the most was a comment by one of the co-hosts at
the end of the piece.  She stated, "All the new parents I know use
this with their NEW BABIES and just love it." (my emphasis).  The
report was showing it with a child at least 2 years old and didn't
say anything about newborns!  (I did miss the intro, so maybe it did
there.)  I wonder how many viewers, especially new moms up at that
hour because they "can't get the baby to sleep" will now think this
"leave them to cry it out" approach is OK even for newborns?!

Winnie

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