Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
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Book Reviews of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Book Review: Very Helpful
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this book a few months before my first child was born on the recommendation of a friend who used it for both of her babies. I can't recommend the book highly enough. The book recommends you put the baby to sleep after maximum awake periods of 2 hours for at least the first 4 months. For at least the first 6 weeks after my baby was born I was highly frustrated as it was difficult if not impossible to get him to sleep so regularly ... luckily I stuck with trying it and by 3 months my son was sleeping through the night (7PM until 4:30AM or 5AM and then again until 7AM) and started taking naps very predictably at the same time every day. When he isn't sleeping he is happy, smile-y and a joy. I also didn't need any of the 'let him cry' moments that the book is criticized for by some.
From watching other friends struggle with baby sleep and nap habits I know I am lucky. Actually, my friends have been telling me I am lucky ... what I really think is that this book helped me so much it looks like luck but was actually the positive effect of the book. Even my mother (who is never restrained in giving 'advice') was amazed at how well behaved my son is. She started questioning whether my brother and I as children were overly tired and that was why we cried so much. She said, "since this book wasn't around when we were babies" she had no idea babies needed so much sleep and definitely didn't make such an effort with naps as I did.
I have no idea if my experience has been luck or good preparation from this book but reading it can't hurt!
Book Review: Best I Have Read!
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I was struck reading the negative reviews of how many people (usually emotional females) declared this method 'cruel' or 'inhumane' when it was obvious that they had never even tried it. They would pre-judge the method from the start by saying something like this "would not work".
I must say I was a little sceptical at first when I tried Dr Weissbluth's method on our 9 month old who was not good at falling asleep without either a bottle, a car ride or a stroller ride. We were told by plenty of people that letting your baby cry is cruel etc. The problem is that we were keeping her up until 10 or 11 at night and hardly getting any time for ourselves. This made parenting a little stressful and exhausting as it left little spare time during the day.
But Dr Weissbluth's method made a lot of sense as it is co-ordinated with you baby's natural sleep habits. This means that when you put your baby down at the correct time it is ok to allow for a certain amount of crying as it is teaching your baby to self-soothe. It is also important to co-ordinate with your baby's natural sleep rhythms.
The first time we tried putting our daughter down early it was tough as she cried for an hour! But then the next day it was 25 mins. Now the most she ever cries is about 5 minutes. And she sleeps longer and is generally a happier baby during the day!
This vital information was missing in the Babywise book and I agree with previous reviewers that Weissbluth's book is much more helpful and practical.
Book Review: Great methods
Summary: 5 Stars
After buying myself 20 months of poor sleep b/c of following attachment parenting nighttime methods, I had reached my wits end. I was also 6 months pregnant and in sore need of some sleep that didn't involve my daughter's waking up every two or three hours in spite of the fact that she had been weaned at night for several months. After three days of extinction (no patience for anything else) she started sleeping through the night with not a peep out of her. This is a child who MIGHT have slept a maximum of 5 consecutive hours once or twice since she was born!! It's been 3 weeks now, and while we're by no means perfect in this method, my sleep and hers have improved by 100%. I appreciate many of the facets of attachment parenting, but when you start resenting your child for causing your lack of sleep, then it's time to change something (and not my attitude like some AP people might say). I should also mention that she only cried a maximum of 20 minutes the first night which was much better than I expected.
Dr. Weissbluth helps parents to appreciate that their children's need for sleep is as fundamental as their need for food. That was the real wake-up call for me. I still need to do a better job of protecting her naps b/c sometimes, I regretfully let her go without one and boy, am I sorry. It's hard to be so hardnosed about a child's sleep schedule, but I think having a well-rested, cheerful child is the payoff. No one wants to be around a whiny, exhausted child, including the parents.
Book Review: From co-sleeping to the crib in 4 nights
Summary: 5 Stars
What critics fail to understand (or fail to read in the book), is that Dr. Weissbluth reveres the bond between children and parents, and teaches you to be in tune with your baby's needs, not to ignore them. If you follow his techniques from the beginning, you may never have any crying at all. Crying is what happens when parents miss their babies' sleep cues and let them become overtired.
We follow Dr. Weissbluth's advice about naps and bedtimes religiously, and our daughter is the happiest, most well rested baby around. She co-slept with us for 11 months (something Dr. Weissbluth addresses and supports), but she moved to her crib when it began interfering with her ability to fall, and stay, asleep. There was a lot of crying, from her and us, but after 4 nights, she was sleeping a solid 12 hours in her crib, with at most a few minutes of fussing (not crying).
There is a lot to learn, but Dr. Weissbluth explains everything very well, and answers many common questions. For people who think this book just advocates dumping your child in the crib and closing the door: It took us 3-4 months to learn to pick up on our daughter's sleep cues. Now, we are so in tune with her sleep needs, we can predict what time she will need to sleep, and for how long, by observing her for 30 seconds. Thanks to this book, we have become more effective parents, and our daughter has learned how to get the sleep she needs to get the most enjoyment out of every day. How is that lazy or cruel parenting?
Book Review: Finally, my baby sleeps!
Summary: 5 Stars
For the first 5 months of life my baby only took 1 or 2 half-hour naps a day, and woke up often throughout the night. I was soooo exhausted and stressed. It took hours for her to fall asleep for naps, and both of us were miserable. I tried soothing, nursing, crying-it-out, and putting her in a swing, but nothing helped. I didn't realize that even though I thought I was responding to the first signs of tiredness (rubbing her eyes, etc), she was already too tired to fall asleep. Several ideas in this book helped me understand what she needed, and now (at 7 months) she is a happy baby who takes great naps, and only wakes up for one nightly nursing session. I learned the following: She needed a much earlier bedtime, so she now goes easily to sleep at 6:30pm instead of 9 or 10pm. I also learned that babies are ready for their first nap after only being awake for 1-2 hours in the morning. Sure enough, I started putting her down at 8:30am, and after 3 days she started going to sleep without crying. The third thing that helped was discovering that she needs another nap after every 2 hours of awake time. Once implemented, she started sleeping great! Not perfect, but we're all pretty happy with it. I saw some reviewers complain about Weissbluth's advice regarding crying, or sleeping/not sleeping in the family bed, etc. I ignored those parts of the book. The timing advice was where my instinct had been off. The instruction on timing can be adapted for use with most parenting philosophies.