Melissa, Kathleen and all you other Night-waking discussers:

I agree with you all that the best course of action is to simply follow the
cues of our individualized little off-spring. Each child is his own boss.
I've seen exclusively BF infants who sleep 6-8 hrs. at one month of age
(not MINE of course!) and everything in between.
 Diversity *is* the watchword, after all, no?  Isn't the wonderful part of
belonging to mankind the fact that we are all different?

The "Family Bed" book is the best read around to put our collective minds
at ease....plus an anthopological point of view helps us see that not all
cultures have children sleep each in his/her own bedroom, with his own T.V.
and bathroom.
We seem to want to compartmentalize our families and avoid social
interaction and touching as much as possible. Which is why we're soooooo
screwed up !

UNITY IN DIVERSITY!  Hurrah for us all!

P.S. Who the heavens is this Dr. Ferber?  Remember, some of us non-U.S.
culture residents don't watch U.S. TV or recognize the newest "expert"s
that make the night-time talk-show circuit.

Roberta