Ferbern.
/ˈfəːbə/, U.S. /ˈfərbər/ Originally U.S.
A strategy for training children to fall asleep on their own by gradually limiting intervention by caregivers. Originally and chiefly attributive, usually in Ferber method.
ΚΠ
1990 Allergies in misc.kids (Usenet newsgroup) 27 Feb. We've been through the Ferber mehod [sic], it works great for sleep problems.
1993 N.Y. Times 18 Feb. c8/4 Other sleep experts say that this technique, commonly known as the Ferber method, does not work for every child and can be harder on parents than on children.
2000 Maclean's (Electronic ed.) 17 Apr. It was emotionally difficult to do Ferber.
2002 A. Halliday Big Rumpus 51 I..regard the highly popular Ferber technique of getting children to sleep through the night by leaving them to cry as close to sanctioned child abuse.
2008 H. C. Olson et al. in P. J. Tyrer & K. R. Silk Effective Treatm. in Psychiatry li. 765/2 A modified Ferber method can include a temporary sleeping area for the parent in the child's room to strengthen parental resolve by allowing more opportunity to sleep.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1990