Michelle Obama recently opened up about a parenting challenge she and her husband, former U.S. President Barack Obama, faced while raising their daughters.
In a new episode of her podcast “Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast,” she and her older brother Craig Robinson had a conversation with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. They discussed a popular sleep training method used for babies, known as the Ferber Method.
The Ferber Method became widely known in 1985 through Dr. Richard Ferber. It helps babies learn how to calm themselves and sleep on their own without needing their parents to constantly comfort them.
While talking about the method, Michelle shared that she and Barack didn’t initially agree on using it for their daughters, Malia and Sasha, when they were young.
She said she didn’t want to try the method at first. Barack was more open to it. Michelle found it hard to imagine letting her baby cry for long periods, even if it was supposed to help in the long run.
Michelle admitted that her emotional reaction may have been influenced by the hormonal changes after childbirth. To help manage things, they agreed that Barack would handle the night duties while she got some rest.
To give the method a try, Michelle said she had to cover her ears while her baby cried, which was very difficult for her. However, the method worked faster than expected.
She said it didn’t take more than a week for it to succeed — and most of the progress came in just the first couple of nights since they started early.
Michelle also mentioned that the method worked better because they used it soon after one of her daughters stopped breastfeeding at four or five months old.
She believes that starting early helped their child adjust faster and made the whole process smoother.
In another part of her podcast, Michelle joked about being happy that she didn’t have sons. When asked why she and Barack never tried for a boy, she responded that a son would’ve been “another Barack.”
The podcast host Angie Martinez said a little Barack would’ve been “amazing,” but Michelle laughed and said she would have “felt sorry for him,” likely referring to how high the expectations might’ve been for a son with Barack’s name.
