Ferber Method Day 8; What If The Baby Is Not Trained Yet?

Ferber Method Day 8

If you’ve been using the Ferber method to sleep train your child for an independent and better sleep, but you are still struggling even after a week, you are not alone.

Many parents have reported this struggle that the most recommended sleep training technique does not show them the results that they expected.

Keep in mind that not every technique works on every child, as they all are different from each other.

In this blog, we are going to discuss what should a parent do when the Ferber method does not work for their child till day 7 and find possible solutions to make it work best for the child if they want to continue even if there is no improvement.

What if the Ferber method didn’t work for 7 days?

There would be two situations if the Ferber method didn’t work for 7 days.

Situation 1- There is no progress till 7 nights:

It would be quite disturbing for the parents if they do not see a tiny bit of progress in 7 nights. if you feel that the method is not working for your child or causing excessive distress, it may be worth exploring alternative approaches or seeking advice from a pediatrician.

You can read the article “5 Reasons Ferber Method Is Not Working” to get more insights. You might be making any mistake unknowingly.

Situation 2- There is very slow progress till 7 nights:

In some cases, a child adapts to the changes at a very slow pace. If you see the tiniest progress every night till the 7th night, I would recommend you to continue the process for the next week also.

Ferber Method Day 8; Should I Continue?

If you are in situation 1, then it’s better to reconsider and see if you are making any mistakes with the approach. You can also try it after some time because it is possible that your child may be trapped in any other discomfort and the Ferber method is only bringing distress to him.

Moreover, there are many other sleep training approaches that you can study and find the best one for your child.

These sleep trainings include the Cry it-out method, the Chair method, the Bedtime fading method, the Pickup & put-down method, etc. Find more details here.

If you are in situation 2, then it is better to just keep going with your child’s adaptability pace. Also if you notice the progress is slow and filled with lots of crying and tantrums, you can modify the time intervals according to your child’s temperament.

Here are some quick tips to make the Ferber method for those parents who are noticing slow progress:

1- Read the Ferber method and do thorough research again if the progress is slow. Find if you have made any mistakes.

2- Limit interaction when the child is in bed. Extra interaction and presence in the room also hinder the progress.

3- Provide reassurance to the child if he can understand you. Let him know you are next to his room and will be here if he needs you.

4- Modify the time intervals and make them shorter if the child is fussy.

5- If the progress is slow, make up your mind that it might take 2-3 weeks because every child is different.

Progressive Interval Schedule For The Ferber Method After Day 7:

I would suggest continuing the Ferber method if there is a little light of hope and you notice the tiniest progress in your child,

If the baby’s progress is very slow:

If you have been following the standard progressive waiting intervals but your baby hasn’t shown a lot of progress, you can simply minus 10 minutes from the last intervals you followed on the 7th day of sleep training and then gradually add a few minutes to each interval. It can be a good decision to reduce the waiting time and then gradually increase it once again to make the baby comfortable with the process.

If the baby is showing good progress but is not fully sleep-trained yet.

If you think your baby is already showing good progress but has not learned to sleep completely without any support, you can continue with the Day 7 waiting intervals.

Ferber Method After Day 7 (Modified Intervals Example):

Following is an example of how you would add minutes to each interval.

Note that this chart is just an example, you can choose the waiting intervals according to your baby’s progress.

	First check	Second check	Third check	Subsequent check
Day 7	20	25	30	30
Day 8	10	15	20	20
Day 9	15	20	22	22
Day 10	20	22	24	24
Day 11	22	24	26	26
Day 12	24	26	28	28
Day 13	26	28	30	30
Day 14	28	30	30	30

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Summary:

If the Ferber method of sleep training didn’t work for 7 days and you are on day 8, check the progress of your child.

If you see your child is adapting to the change but slowly, I suggest that you should continue with the method.

If you think this method is not for your baby, you can consider waiting a few more weeks to sleep train again using the Ferber method or try any other sleep training method.