Veronica wrote, "The Ferber Method is a widely accepted way of teaching a baby
that bedtime means just that.  There is a book out on this subject.  I have
heard many success stories.  It seems heartless at times to let baby cry for
even short lengths of time, but for babies with high contact needs, you have
to make a decision and it usually comes down to the family bed or behavior
modification techniques."

A few years ago a client lent me Dr Ferber's book, "Solving your child's
sleep problems" and it so enraged me that I wrote a 4-page critique on it.
The author talks about a colicky baby's "need" to cry alone, and suggests
that by *not* comforting him a mother is "responding" to this need.  He
suggests (p 42) that a baby of three months does not "need" to be fed at
night.  If the baby cries so much that he vomits, he says, "Vomiting does
not hurt your child and you do not have to feel guilty that it happened." (p
70). He suggests (p 74) that a six month old baby can be left to cry for
three hours, and that feeding too often ("learned hunger") can become a
trigger for "abnormal wakings" (p 78).     He suggests that door-closing
techniques can be used on a child old enough to get out of his own bed.  A
whole chapter is devoted to head-banging, body-rocking and head-rolling,
which is seen as normal by virtue of the fact that many children start doing
these things at about six months, when they are expected to "settle".   Need
I go on??

I have another one, "Teach your baby to sleep through the night.  You need
suffer sleep deprivation no more, just read this book." by Schaefer and
Petronko (1989).  Much the same. I wonder why it is that these kind of
parenting books are so seductive?  In my practice, while I work to support a
mom in her own choices and goals, I feel a responsibility to voice an
opinion about "behaviour modification techniques" which conflict with what
we know about the human baby's requirements for food and comfort.  Where the
baby's needs compete with parental desires for "a good night's sleep", or
"time alone as a couple", (or whatever ..) I try to give parents specific
information showing the vulnerability of their baby and how these kind of
cultural beliefs and practices can actually physically harm him.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe (who had one model baby who "slept through"
from 13 weeks by some kind of magic, and then twins who woke 5 - 6
times/night *each* for *years*, so I *have* walked the mile in the moccasins ..)