Morning!

I watched the Mad show last night and just wanted to make a few comments....

Whoever wrote the script for this thing is a genius. Think about it. If you
were a Ferber Fan, you probably would think, "Gee, that's exactly like it
was for us. It was hard, but it worked!" And if you were anti-Ferber, you'd
think, "Gee, that was awful. Yes, the baby went to sleep, but at what cost?"
So everybody is "equally" pleased and angered.

The last line of the show was excellent, IMHO--the mom cried out, "turn back
the clock!" I think she realized that the end did not necessarily justify
the means.

I also found the interplay between the mom and the dad interesting. The dad
is the softie to begin with, until it "works." The mom tackles this from an
authoritative stand--this is what we HAVE to do--and it is her gut that is
the most torn. (She begins to feel physically ill listening to the baby.)
Her instincts almost win out as she decides to go to the baby, and it is her
confidence that takes a bruising when the baby finally stops crying before
she can go in to them.

That's one of the biggest dangers I see in using the Ferber method (in
addition to not responding to the child's need, of course). The mom who uses
this method is forced to ignore what her gut is telling her to do. And when
the method "works," she's forced to think that her gut is wrong.

I would like to know how they got that tape of the baby crying....

Melissa Vickers, IBCLC
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http://yourpregnancy.com/experts/panel/mcvickers.htm
Huntingdon, Tennessee