Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
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Book Reviews of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Book Review: A must-have for any parent
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Weissbluth offers firm yet compassionate advice to the tired and/or frustrated parents of children, from newborn to toddler. If you are trying to get sleep at night, trying to regulate naps, trying to teach your child how to fall asleep on his or her own, or are wondering how much sleep your child should be getting and how often, this book will teach you.
The introduction tells the overexhausted parent which sections to read first, knowing that if you can't see straight you can't digest the whole book. Weissbluth continually reassures parents who might feel reluctant or doubtful that they are doing the right thing. Furthermore, he offers alternate methods for teaching your child to sleep and explains how to transition from one to the other; if you're willing to let him/her cry, it explains how; if you'd rather limit the crying you tolerate, it explains how. The book also explains how to watch your child and time it so that you can put your child down to sleep with no tears at all (for you and the baby). The book details the typical sleep schedule based on age group while acknowledging that every child is different. To that end, he teaches his reader how to tell where their child fits in. As your child gets older, Weissbluth also explains how you should expect their sleep schedule to change.
My son was around 2 or 3 months old and he was starting to become quite fussy during the day because we were having difficulty getting him to stay asleep; he kept waking himself up after 15 minutes for naps and was still eating every 2 or 3 hours at night. This book explained how long babies should be awake between naps, how to teach them to take naps (which will impact how well they sleep at night), and then, how to teach them to fall asleep on their own. We followed his advice and after one week he was sleeping in his crib; the most amazing part was that we could put him down awake but drowsy and he would fall asleep on his own. Within days he started sleeping through the night. We accomplished this without having to listen to him "cry it out." Although there are some times now when he does cry when we put him down, that's to be expected from time to time. After a few minutes, though, he's out. He now expects to take naps and go to sleep at night, and he is the happiest, most easy-going child when he is awake--a direct result of being well-rested.
If you want to educate yourself, not simply follow rules given out by someone else, professional or otherwise, buy this book. You will continually return to it as your child grows. I look at it almost every week, whereas "What to Expect" and others have fallen to the bottom of the reference pile.
Book Review: I adore this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I cannot say enough about this book.....However, I'll start by telling you my story.
From the very first day that my daughter came home from the hospital she did not want to sleep anywhere except with me. I was told by many that I should have her sleep in her crib from the beginning. The first day home I tried putting her in the crib for a nap, my husband and I laugh when we think of the look on her face, If she could talk I think that she would have said "I know that you are not even thinking about me sleeping here". She slept in our room for the next 17 months. Every 2 weeks I would try putting her in her crib, she would cry and I would feel terrible. It was my job to protect and love my child, why would I do this to her? I didn't HAVE to, so back to our room she went. Besides, I loved having her so close. My husband was not so happy and it became a sore spot.
Everything changed when she was about 16 months old. She began tossing and turning, kicking, waking up in the middle of the night to get off the bed to play. Our previous arrangment worked because we were all getting sleep, now none of us were sleeping, it was time to move her into her bed. I saw an article about this book in a parenting magazine and ordered it. Here is a recap of the move from family bed to crib and then crib to big girl bed:
Family bed to crib
Night #1 - cried for 42 minutes, slept for 5 hours, woke up cried for 18 minutes, slept the rest of the night.
Night #2 - cried for 35 minutes, slept for 2 hours, woke up cried for 10 minutes, slept the rest of the night.
Night #3 - cried for 11 minutes, slept through the rest of the night.
Went to bed everynight with no crying for 8 months until we moved her into her big girl bed.
I used the book for that transition as well.
Night #1 cried for 1.5 hours, slept for 1 hour woke up and cried for 1 hr 45 minutes, slept for 3 hrs, woke up cried for 45 minutes, slept the rest of the night.
Night #2 - Cried for 3 hours, slept for 2 hrs, woke up cried for 1.5 hrs, slept the rest of the night.
Night #3 - Cried for 20 minutes, slept the rest of the night.
It has now been 5 months and she sleeps in her bed everynight with no crying.
This books works if you follow the advise. The point that really stuck with me is that we are the parents and know that our children need to be independent and must have rest. I realized that I was being silly allowing a one and half year old child do the parenting for me. She is so well rested and happy now. I give the book to friends and at baby showers. I have had so many people thank me for it.
Good Luck!
Book Review: It Worked For Us!
Summary: 5 Stars
I told myself that I would never let my baby "cry-it-out". Well, at 7 months, my baby was taking about two 30-minute naps during the day and he woke up SCREAMING after each one. He also woke up 3-4 times during the night. I could tell my little guy wasn't getting enough sleep but I didn't know how to help him. At first, I bought Elizabeth Pantley's book, "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" and tried that for a few weeks, but we were not seeing results as quickly as we'd hoped (she does state in her book that it could take months to see significant results). So, I bought Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child with the thought that I would never really try it, that I was just going to see what he had to say. But, after reading it, it made so much sense, so I decided to give it a try. THE RESULTS:
My baby takes 2 REGULAR naps per day, for over 1 hour each, and he wakes up happy!
He goes to bed at around 6:30-7pm each night and sleeps until about 5am when I nurse him and then he goes back to sleep until about 7am.
THE PROCESS:
It was not easy to get to this point, but after 1 month of trying Dr. Weissbluth's method, my baby is finally getting the sleep he needs. Since my baby was 7 months old when we tried Dr. Weissbluth's method, he did have a difficult time for about one week in learning how to fall back asleep when he would wake up. It was very hard to listen to him cry, and I must admit that the first day I abandoned the new "regime" and couldn't help but comfort my little one. It did get better for us after about one week, although in the book Dr. Weissbluth has several examples of parents saying that their baby only took 2 or 3 nights of crying to get into the new routine, it was more difficult with us. I did read that if you follow this book from the beginning with your baby (you do NOT let your baby "cry-it-out" before 4 months, you just establish a sleeping routine) then your baby is already used to it, so learning to sleep and fall back asleep on their own is a lot easier. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is expecting, has a newborn, or is just frustrated with how little sleep their child is getting -- no matter their age.
As a side note, the book is somewhat poorly organized, so when you read it, do not skip over sections that may not apply to your child, i.e. "Birth to Four Months" if your child is not in that stage or has already passed it go ahead and read through the whole thing because in later chapters he keeps referring back to those ideas and you will spend forever hunting for what he is talking about!
Book Review: Try it and see how your child responds!
Summary: 5 Stars
When my first child was 5.5 months, I happened upon this book. It is about learning to be an observant parent who understands your child's sleep clues. Yes, every child is different, but we are all human and this book focuses on the very natural human need for sleep and explains natural human sleep cycles (by age group) so it's easier to understand WHEN your child probably will want/need to nap or go down for the nightThis book explains and teaches in a non-dogmatic manner. It suggests questions to ask yourself that are insightful and thought-provoking. It stresses helping your children learn the skill of falling asleep by themselves, which is sometimes tough, but just as important as teaching them to eat by themselves. I learned that sleep is more biological than logical and that some sleep is more restful and restorative than other sleep.
The two most important lessons I learned: 1) the earlier a child goes to bed at night, the longer she sleeps through the night, and 2) it is possible to put a child down awake and have her not cry before falling asleep on her own. I didn't believe any of this until I tried it! This book helped me understand that by the time my daughter "seemed tired", I had missed her cues, she was overtired, and overtired children have trouble getting to sleep.
I am not a fan of "cry it out" but I did learn (and could hear) that there's a difference btw "I'm in pain/hurting" crying and "I'm tired" crying. Just as you wouldn't mind if your child cried because you wouldn't let him stick his finger in an electrical socket, I didn't mind when my tired child cried because she didn't want to sleep. A few minutes into her crying (and I mean less than 10 or 15 minutes) she fell fast asleep. Nowadays, she recognizes our "it's time to go to sleep routine" (bathing, reading, rocking) and generally cries less than 2 minutes, if at all.
This book helped me remember that our kids will cry over many things in their lives . . . but if we parents are doing what's best for our child, some things are worth letting them cry over for a short period of time. Luckily, the crying ends within a day or two, because once you start to recognize the signals of "tired", you can beat the overtired state and put your child to sleep without any crying. It works!!!
My daughter's personality blossomed when she got two consistent, restful, undisturbed naps a day and started sleeping 10 hours at night. She's happy, smiling and alert. That makes Mom and Dad happy too. There are wonderful lessons to be found in this book . . . happy reading (and sleeping)!!
Book Review: This man actually knows what he is talking about!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never written a book review before, but couldn't help myself with this one. THIS IS A SUPERIOR BOOK AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! I am a mother of 2 and have my BSN, specializing in pediatric nursing. I wanted to write a review as a rebuttal to a couple of the negative reviews people wrote. Weissbluth does NOT suggest that letting your child cry it out is the ONLY way (he presents is as ONE way, and happens to be the way he thinks is most effective. He also gives TWO other options). Weissbluth also does NOT suggest that all babies should be put to bed at 6:00 PM, or that sleep is more important than time with their parents, or that you can't ever run an errand or go on vacation! Forgive me, but people need to read more carefully if they are going to write a book review!!!!
Weissbluth DOES believe, through his EXTENSIVE, COMPREHENSIVE sleep research, that an earlier bedtime is better for infants and toddlers. However, this could mean different things for different families. He talks over and over again about a 7:00 or 8:00 bedtime being a good thing, if your child is well-rested when he or she wakes up in the morning! He merely suggests super early bedtimes (5:30 to 6:30 pm) for CERTAIN babies who are having specific sleep problems, as a way to remedy that! So his comments about parents who work are merely to encourage parents of those particular children to organize work schedules around what is best for your child's rest. He is very clear that most children will NOT need a bedtime that early!
Weissbluth is also very clear that YOU CAN HAVE A LIFE AND STILL HAVE A WELL-RESTED CHILD! He just makes the point (which is a very good one), that you can't be running errands all over the place all day long and expect your child to sleep on the go...and still be well-rested! He also merely WARNS that vacations can temporarily disrupt a child's schedule. He does not say it is bad to go on vacations!!!!
This book is a God-send because the author is one of the most knowledgable experts on sleep that there is! And the thing I love about him is he takes into account that different children have different temperments and personalities, so the exact same strategy won't work for every child. It has to individualized a little bit, and he gives you ways to do that!
Sorry to go on and on, but it really just struck a nerve with me to read all of these one-star, horrible reviews that are raking this book and its author over the coals for things it/he never even says! Read more carefully!