My son (now 4 1/2) was also a bad sleeper. I can vividly remember him at 6 months old. He would wake up every hour (almost on the hour) all night long. Needless to say I was exhausted and really starting to lose it.

I read the Ferber book. It seemed to make a lot of sense to me, although I really struggled with the "cry it out" concept because it didn’t fit with the rest of my parenting. I think that babies cry for a reason, even if it is only attention - they must need that attention.

Anyway... I decided on a modified Ferber approach and it worked very well.

First I worked on weaning him from eating at night. (I don’t know if this is a problem in your case). I think this was a good idea because as he as aged I can see what an affect the hydrocoritsone has had on his appetite. He really was hungry.

I was nursing at the time. I figured out how long I was nursing him (e.g. 10 minutes) and decreased it by one minute each night, each feeding.  I think this is an approach Ferber discusses. Also, I had my husband help sometimes. It seemed to make it easier because when he saw his Dad he didn’t think of food like he did with me. After I think a week, he was down to just a minute or two and I stopped nursing him in the night. I would go in, pat his back etc. But no food.

Then, when I knew he was no longer crying for food, I started the Ferber method. I modified it a bit - I went in I think every 2 minutes, then 3 minutes etc. So it took a bit longer, but I was not able to make it the long chunks of time that Ferber starts with. I really believe it is important to do it gradually if you are going to let them cry it out. You don’t want to break that trust that you have spent 7 months building up. Your child now believes you will help him when he need it, you don’t want to destroy that.

 In the end, it took a couple of weeks and we had to be very disciplined. Once we were moving in the right direction, I didn’t let us slip backward. Although, it was a very gradual, and patience-trying forward movement. He started sleeping from 10pm to 5:00 or 6:00. Still not great, but way better.

One final note - he still isn’t a big sleeper. If they nap in preschool (only for 35 minutes) he will go to bed at 10:00-10:30 and be up by 6:00. If he doesn’t nap, he’ll go to bed about 8:30 and be up by 6:00. And actually, he has never slept as much as his peers. If I am comparing his sleep to another child, or a book’s,  I subtract an couple of hours and there he is. I guess just the luck of the draw - we got one that doesn’t need much sleep.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

-Chris