The Ferber method, night by night
The Ferber method means putting your baby down awake, leaving the room and coming back for short checks at set times that grow each night. Here is the chart, how to use it and what the research found.
What is the Ferber method?
It is named after Dr. Richard Ferber, who described it in his book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (1985, revised in 2006). He calls it progressive waiting. Researchers call it graduated extinction, and many parents call it timed checks or check and console.
The idea is that a baby who learns to fall asleep without being fed, rocked or held at bedtime can do the same when they wake in the night.
Ferber method chart (2006 edition)
| Night | First check after | Second check after | Third and later checks after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night 1 | 3 min | 5 min | 10 min |
| Night 2 | 5 min | 10 min | 12 min |
| Night 3 | 10 min | 12 min | 15 min |
| Night 4 | 12 min | 15 min | 17 min |
| Night 5 | 15 min | 17 min | 20 min |
| Night 6 | 17 min | 20 min | 25 min |
| Night 7 | 20 min | 25 min | 30 min |
These are the waiting times in the revised 2006 edition of Ferber's book, as cited by the Sleep Foundation. From night 8, keep the night 7 times.
The original 1985 chart
The first edition used longer waits: 5, 10 and 15 minutes on the first night, rising to 35, 40 and 45 minutes by night 7. If you see two different Ferber charts online, this is why.
| Night | First wait | Second wait | Third and later waits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night 1 | 5 min | 10 min | 15 min |
| Night 2 | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| Night 3 | 15 min | 20 min | 25 min |
| Night 4 | 20 min | 25 min | 30 min |
| Night 5 | 25 min | 30 min | 35 min |
| Night 6 | 30 min | 35 min | 40 min |
| Night 7 | 35 min | 40 min | 45 min |
How to do it
- Finish the bedtime routine, put your baby in the crib drowsy but awake, say goodnight and leave the room.
- If your baby cries, wait for the first time in tonight's row of the table. Then go in.
- Keep a check short, about a minute. Speak softly and pat their back. Do not pick up or feed. Leave while your baby is still awake, even if they are still crying.
- Wait for the second time, check again, then the third. After that keep using the third time until your baby is asleep.
- At a night waking that is not a planned feed, start again from the first time for that night.
- If the waits feel too long, use shorter ones and lengthen them each night. What matters is that they grow.
The rules for a check
- Keep it short. About a minute is enough.
- Speak softly and pat your baby's back. Do not pick up and do not feed.
- Leave while your baby is still awake, even if they are still crying.
- The check shows your baby you are near and lets you see they are fine. It is not meant to stop the crying.
What age can you start the Ferber method?
Ferber's own book says five or six months. The Sleep Foundation says sleep training, including the Ferber method, can start once a child is 6 months old, and the published trials enrolled babies of 6 months and older.
Cleveland Clinic says babies are often ready for sleep training in general at about 4 months. No medical body sets an age. Our plans offer timed checks from 6 months.
How long does the Ferber method take?
According to the Sleep Foundation, babies usually start falling asleep on their own within a few nights to a week. Some take longer, and no one can promise a number of nights.
If there are no signs of improvement after seven days, stop and reevaluate, and talk to your pediatrician or a sleep specialist.
Does it work, and is it safe?
A 2006 review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine looked at 52 studies of behavioral sleep methods, with more than 2,500 children. 49 of the 52 reported better sleep, and across the studies about 8 in 10 children improved on average. Most of the studies were small and few followed children for more than a year.
A 2016 randomized trial of 43 babies of 6 to 16 months compared graduated extinction, bedtime fading and a control group. Both methods improved sleep, and a year later there were no significant differences in emotional or behavioral problems or in attachment. With about 14 babies in each group, it is too small to rule out small harms.
A follow-up of another trial at age 6 found no lasting effects, good or bad. In a 2015 trial, babies woke just as often on a movement sensor after the program, but their parents rated the sleep problem as less severe.
So the honest summary is that trials have found better sleep in the short term and no evidence of harm, in studies that were small.
Ferber or cry it out?
With the Ferber method you go back in at set times. With cry it out, which researchers call extinction, you say goodnight and do not go back in until the morning or a planned feed. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine found too little evidence to recommend one over the other, so the choice is about what you can keep up for a week or two.
Get the check-in times as a plan for your baby
Answer nine quick questions. Your plan puts the check-in times for each night next to a schedule for your baby's age, a bedtime routine and what to do at every night waking.
Related guides
Sources
- Ferber R. Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. First edition 1985; revised edition 2006.
- Sleep Foundation. Ferber Method. Updated July 2025.
- Mindell JA, et al. Behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children. Sleep, 2006 (review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
- Morgenthaler TI, et al. Practice parameters for behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children. Sleep, 2006.
- Gradisar M, et al. Pediatrics, 2016 (randomized trial, 43 babies of 6 to 16 months).
- Price AM, et al. Pediatrics, 2012 (follow-up at age 6 of a randomized trial).
- Hall WA, et al. BMC Pediatrics, 2015 (randomized trial, 235 families).
- Cleveland Clinic. When and How To Sleep Train Your Baby. January 2025.
General information for parents, not medical advice. Independent, not affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics or any medical body. Talk to your pediatrician about your baby's health.