Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
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Book Reviews of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Book Review: Love this Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
My kids tend to be good sleepers. Now. It wasn't always that way! I was lucky if I could get my first to sleep for a 45 minute nap when he was a baby! And with a husband that was deployed at the time, that meant I got NO sleep. Until I read this book!
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
The Good:
Expert Sleep Advice
This guy has been studying sleep for over 30 years. There is plenty of scientific data to back up his suggestions on sleep, and he includes this in the beginning of the book. It's not just some Joe-Schmo who had a few kids and thinks he knows everything there is to know.
It's Not Just Cry-It-Out or Attachment Parenting
Dr. Weissbluth touches on both in the book, and this WILL work if you fall into one of the two extremes. However, he is more concerned about the TIMING of sleep rather than the method to get them there. Yes, he does claim that it is easier and quicker if you do allow some crying, but it is NOT necessary.
Age-by-Age Chapters
Once you get past the science part (which, honestly, I skipped with my first baby. Who has the time???) he breaks up the advice by age of the child... birth to 4mo, 5mo-12mo, etc. It tells you how long naps should be, optimal wake time, sleepy signs... What works for your 6mo may not work for your 3yo, so getting the information is optimal. I reread this frequently, especially during the infant time.
IT WORKS!
No, you aren't guaranteed that your 2 month old will sleep 12 hours straight at night. Some may, but that's not the norm. Breastfed babies in particular may need a night feeding until they are 9mo old. But, if you follow this, your children WILL get the sleep they need, and it will make for a happier, more well rested family. My kids sleep 11-12 hours at night, and even the 4 and 6 year olds still take naps almost daily. The baby (7mo old) goes to bed around 6:30pm, wakes to feed around 4am and then goes back down until about 7am. She also takes 2 long naps and one shorter nap every day. All 3 are very happy and well rested, and usually I am too!
The Bad:
Scientific- Not an Easy Read!
The beginning of this book is especially difficult. Once you get into the hands-on chapters it is easier, but be prepared!
Tends to Lean Towards Crying it Out...
And if you are reading it looking for it you may miss where he says it is not necessary. Read carefully!
I recommend this book to EVERYONE I know who has a new baby. I have actually become somewhat of an informal "sleep guru" to some of my high school friends on Facebook. It's not me... it's my "sleep bible"!
Cross Posted at Love Hate Reviews: [...]
Book Review: Totally different child!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
PLEASE, if you have a child who doesn't sleep or EAT well, get this book and try it. My 6 1/2 month old has never eaten well (formula allergy as a newborn, became a snacker later on). She rarely ever finished a 4 ounce bottle even though I knew at this age she needed more; she just didn't act interested. She was hyper and couldn't settle and really eat until she was half asleep; so we ended up doing night feedings more than we should have at this age. Six nights ago we decided to let her cry it out. That first night she cried for only 45 minutes at bedtime. She woke at 10 and 3 and cried again for about 45 minutes. It was tough but the next night she only cried a little and it was more of a sleepy/fussy cry, not so angry as the night before. After two nights of me not disturbing her with patting and replacing the pacifier and unneccessary feedings, she ate 5 ounces of formula every four hours on the dot during the day. I couldn't believe it. She was overtired and that was why she was hyper and not eating well. She has been eating like a little piggy all week long. Now she sees her bottle and yells for it. She doesn't fight with it or slap it out her mouth after only an ounce or two. I'm amazed. Please don't just resign youself to believing that your child is a bad sleeper or a bad eater. I had almost convinced myself that she just didn't have a great appetite and she was just a restless sleeper. How wrong I've been! My sweet baby is even sweeter. Now for nap and nighttime, we snuggle for a few minutes and I lay her down awake. She snuggles down and goes to sleep. She occasionally fusses a little at naps, but nothing at night. She's down at 6:30 or 7:00 and up around 7:00 the next morning. I do a sleep feed at 11:00pm and nothing else until she gets up for the day. She actually had the early bedtime before and would be "down" for 12 hours, but with all the waking and restlessness off and on all night. Obviously that was not quality sleep because it did not produce the results this has. Don't believe those books that say pat and shush your baby all night long and if they cry, they'll be warped(see Baby Whisperer book). They desperately need deep sound sleep and it is your job to make sure that they get it. I feel terrible for not sleep training my baby sooner. She could have been eating and sleeping so much better for the past two months (Dr. Weissbluth says you can't start true sleep training until 4 months of age). All in all, this book is a fabulous science based take on the importance of healthy sleep and how vigilant parents need to be to make sure their children get it. I would recommend this to anyone needing help with sleeping through the night or naps.Book Review: Lifesaver for first-time parents
Summary: 5 Stars
My only regret with this book is that I didn't get it sooner! I purchased this book when our son was 6 months old (he's now almost 10 months). After a few hours of researching the endless stream of baby sleep books, I eenie-meenie-miney-moed it and ordered this one. My scientific method of selection certainly paid off! : ) Our son wasn't a super-difficult baby (no colic), but he certainly had his moments, especially after the sun went down. My husband and I both work full time (I had to return to work only a few weeks after delivery) and our son's temperamental sleep patterns were REALLY taking a toll. Like other reviewers on here, we took turns waking up multiple times throughout the night, which resulted in us spending months sleeping in separate rooms. Anyway, at 6 months his sleep patterns actually started to devolve even more, so I bought this book for some guidance. Can't recommend this book enough! BUT, you must take it for what it is and not expect a miracle! Every child is different. The author discusses in length the myriad of challenges and solutions a child and its parents may face, but it's up to you to figure out the ideal solution for your individual situation. He does recommend the cry-it-out method, but only in applicable situations, which he thoroughly discusses (and I must say I support his stance 100% after I experienced first-hand that bed-time battles in older children are much more the result of learned behavior than actual sleep problems). He also recommends the family bed in some cases (extreme colic, etc.), but thoroughly covers the guidelines of this method so as to limit the occurrence of problems down the road. In a nutshell, the book is REALLY thorough in it's coverage of just about everything related to baby sleep. The book is thick, slow-reading, and slightly technical due to all the statistical data he references from his numerous case studies. (The author repeatedly recommends new parents read the book BEFORE the baby comes as it's VERY difficult for sleep-deprived people to wade through the information and comprehend it!) Finding the solution to your baby's sleep problems isn't easy (and once you do figure out what works, everything changes with the next age milestone!), but you will find something that works in this book. You just have to be patient and thorough and you will succeed. It's worth the work! We have the happiest little guy in the world now as long as we stick to our sleep-schedule and pay attention to his changing needs and sleep cues! As I said before, he's almost ten months old and has been sleeping from 7pm to 7am, without any wake ups.Book Review: This book can really help establish good habits for you and your child
Summary: 5 Stars
A very good friend of mine gave me this book right after my son was born, and told me it is her sleep bible. Now it is mine also.
I have read several books on sleep, on fussiness, etc. Our son is 5 months old and was a very fussy newborn with a lot of trouble sleeping. This book has proven very useful, despite its flaws.
The book is really poorly written and hard to follow. But persevere - it does have useful insight and advice that, if you can just pull them out, will make all the difference. Weissbluth sets expectations about what to expect when with babies' sleeping patterns, and also gives straightforward advice to parents about how to make sure the baby is sleeping enough.
Getting the baby to sleep is at least as much about training the parents and caregivers as it is training the baby!
From Weissbluth I learned how much my baby should sleep every day, when he should sleep, how his sleeping patterns will evolve. I learned how important it is for us to be consistent, to provide the right environment for sleep, when and how we might 'sleep train', and generally how to help our son sleep.
At 5 months our son naps 3 times a day, for 4-5 hours total, and he sleeps about 11 hours at night. He has just started sleeping all the way through the night. It has been a long, hard road to get to this point.
Don't take Weissbluth too literally. He is very clear that different things work for different babies. So, for instance, he says that there is no research to suggest that solid foods will help your baby sleep. But there is so much anecdotal evidence that it does, and I through my own experience into that pot. Our son started sleeping much better at night once he started on solids about 3 weeks ago. And not just rice but sweet potatoes were what helped. He was simply hungry during the night before he started eating some hefty foods, he did not wake.
As another example, Weissbluth suggests that the morning nap, that evolves at around 3-4 months, should start between 9 and 10. Our son is usually asleep by 8:30am. Weissbluth also says that babies should awake between 6 and 7, and our son awakes about 5:30am. We just watch our son and trust our instincts, but use the book as a guide for how to approach his sleep.
As my pediatrician says, "I read the books, and you read the books, but your son doesn't read the books."
Nonetheless, Weissbluth has helped us get it mostly right so far.
Book Review: Wish I'd read this sleep book first!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the best "baby sleep book" that I read for various reasons and I wish I'd read it before my son was born! It would have explained a lot and really helped. As it was, I read it when he was four months old and it was a huge find. I did a LOT of reading before and after birth about childrearing and this book is the bible about infant sleep science compared to the others. I agree with other reviewers who love this book as an "in between" as far as strict schedules on one hand and mayhem on the other. First and foremost, this book is not just written by a physician but one who specializes in sleep and has actually conducted research on the topic. I find the Sears family approach on various things helpful but I think for sleep babies really do need more "leadership" for lack of a better term, in order to create healthy sleep habits for life. This book has super helpful info for sleep throughout different ages, including teenage years. The most important takeaway to me was just how important sleep is for babies and that it's really up to the parent to facilitate healthy sleep habits (more like healthy sleep SKILLS, really). I have so many friends who started out "no cry," couldn't stand the idea of a hearing their dear baby cry and scream at night. No parent does. BUT, these are the parents who had babies who were wrecks at night. This means the parents, or mothers at least, were wrecks during the day because THEY couldn't sleep at night. Finally just about each of these parents I know ended up saying they couldn't take it anymore and they were going to "Ferberize." Talk about all or nothing. This is the must-read book I recommend to pregnant friends. It's amazing how before I read this book I THOUGHT I could recognize a tired baby but once I read it I figured out I was seeing an overtired baby. By the time you see signs like rubbing eyes, fussy, etc. you're past that and should have put baby down earlier. At first when I used Weissbluth's tips my husband didn't understand why I was putting our son down so frequently and before he "looked tired." After 2 weeks of seeing how absolutely happy and cheerful our son was when truly well-rested, I never heard another peep about that and he has thanked me so many times.