Anyone tried the Richard Ferber method?

[hana1978]

Its where you dilute the middle of the night feeds with water so your baby will increase his daytime intake of milk!
I was thinking of trying it as my LO is willing to do his long stretch from 3am - 9am and i want it to be from his DF at 11pm to 5am but not if everyone thinks its a bad idea  :?
Any advice?

[Mariek]

Hi Hana

I haven't tried this but I'm sure some of the other ladies on here have. Hopefully they'll be able to give you more info,

love

[carolyn]

The water in the bottle issue can be a touchy subject.  I have a friend who works in the Pediatric ICU and she says never give a baby water.  Their little bodies are so delicately balanced that it can mess up the electrolyte balance very easily. This has been the most persuasive evidence I have heard for no water.

[Holly n Harvie]

Have you tried giving the DF at 10 instead??? Just a thought, not sure if the extra water thing would do anything. I guess you try it and see eh?

[Gareth - Harvey & Theo's Dad]

I agree with Carolyn.  Especially if you're using formula, it's important for each feed to be nutrionally complete, and the formula manufacturer warns against diluting feeds. 

I think it can be an effective method with children who are fully weaned to solids (hopefully 12+mths) as the milk is not their main nutritional source.  In this instance you could be using the method to break a habit of waking just to drink milk.