Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
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Book Reviews of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Book Review: Works with twins too
Summary: 5 Stars
My 15-month-old twins still weren't sleeping through the night, wouldn't go back to sleep unless in my arms, and were cranky all the time. I was desperate for rest and a full night in my own bed when a friend bought me this book. Imagine my surprise to discover it was written by their new pediatrician. I found the quick-read Action Plans helpful to start with in my sleep-deprived state and made immediate changes from the tips there. Once I read a few chapters, I found out I was doing everything wrong, from keeping them up until they passed out from exhaustion every night, to letting them fall asleep in my arms for every nap. All the statistics and data Dr. Weissbluth included from his research helped me realize how sleep-deprived my poor boys were. Plus the bold, boxed-in Practical Points, hints and warnings were great for quick reference later. I thought the book was a terrific teacher and learned more than just techniques. It educated me about the whole process of sleep, the different types of sleep, and problems surrounding them. Dr. Weissbluth kindly gives options for parents of problem babies who can't tolerate the seeming "cruelty" of his extinction method - but we tried it and I fully recommend it. After three horrible nights of crying (but no less actual sleep for me than usual), the boys settled into their new routine and one month later are sleeping together 10-11 hours through the night 90% of the time and napping together 2-3 hours every day. I've never had so much free time on my hands. They are put in their cribs awake 3 hours earlier every evening now that I've read this book and go to sleep with NO CRYING - I swear. They start the day at the same time as they always did, but now I wake to hear them giggling in the morning instead of crying. And as a bonus, the son I had labeled as colicky, difficult, and fussy is now suddenly eating better, is much less whinny and crabby, and is finally starting to try new things like walking now that he is getting the rest he needs. Thank you Dr. Weissbluth for giving me back my evenings with my husband, and helping me enjoy my wonderful boys during their waking hours. This book is a must have for every parent and I will give it as a baby shower gift from now on.Book Review: Worked like magic!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a 4 1/2 month old that started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks. He suddenly started waking more and more during the night at around 14 weeks. Not only that, but he has always slept in his car seat since it was the only way to get him to sleep at night. He began to try to roll over in his carseat and I knew it was time to move him to the crib, so not only did I have a baby waking up every hour or so but I also had to switch sleeping places.I was adamantly against letting him cry. Everytime I tried the crib and he woke up and uttered a peep, I ran in to get him. I would place him back in his carseat but he would still wake up. Oh, I should also mention that getting him to nap was an ordeal. 3 times a day I would have to put him in his front carrier and vacuum the house.
Anyway, my husband was out of town for a week and I was seriously sleep deprived. He sent me 2 books--Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby and The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I was convinced, after reading both books, I would start trying the No-Cry method. This seemed to make things worse. One night at 1:30 am, after being awaken every 20 minutes, I decided to put my baby in his crib, shut the door and see what would happen. After 5 minutes of crying, he was sound asleep until 6:30 am.
The next night, just as the Dr. said in his book, my baby cried a lot more (35 minutes) but fell asleep until 6:30 am. Yeah!!!
Now, 4 days later, he goes down for his naps with 2 minutes of rocking in he dark room and he goes to sleep at night without any protest.
I have to say that I felt that letting him cry would be cruel, but now I believe that letting go without proper sleep was more cruel. I wasn't even giving him a chance to fall asleep on his own. He is now on his way to being a great sleeper. Dr. Weissbluth's methods are sound and he gives a lot of evidence to back up his claims. All I know is that his advice worked like a charm.
I have one last thing to say. My parents and their parents and countless generations before have let their babies cry at night. To me, it seems children today have less ability to handle things because parents rush in way to quickly to help. Maybe giving children a chance to do things on their own is best.
Book Review: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Summary: 5 Stars
This book worked for us. We got the book and tried it when my son was about 7 or 8 months old. While it was difficult to hear him cry the first night, we stayed in the hall outside his room and he went to sleep. The second night he cried less and the third night he went right to sleep. Based on the success and positive results with using the book to help our first child sleep better, we started much earlier with our second child.It was also helpful to me as a novice mother to be told that my infant needed to sleep (in his bed) every two hours. The baby books and pediatricians had ample and quantitative advice for feeding my baby but didn't seem to have much to offer on sleeping my baby. This book helped to explain sleep patterns, gave specifics on how much sleep to expect at different ages and how to help my child sleep. I used to track my baby's sleep and wake times with the lap function on my sports watch. If he was fussing I could easily assess whether he was hungry or tired, or something else.
While there are many methods and idealogies for getting your children to sleep, I think the most important thing is that the parties responsible for the child (parents, care givers, etc.) follow the same methods. My husband and I both read the book and agreed that we would try it. It would not have worked if we hadn't both stuck to it for a reasonable time.
To this day my children (ages 4 and 5) are some of the best 'sleepers' I know. My friends and neighbors, and even my pediatrician, constantly express amazement that my children still get 11-12 hours of sleep each night. We have a specific bed time routine that has evolved as the children have gotten older. Once we are done with the reading and brushing the teeth, etc., I know and they know that they will be in their beds until there is 'a 7 on their clock.'
While I try not to give 'my advice' to others, I do recommend this book to friends and say that it worked for us. My sister asked for a copy after she had her third child. She said it changed the sleep habits of the entire family. When a friend has a baby I usually send a nice baby blanket and this book with a note that 'it may not be for everyone but it certainly worked for us.'
Book Review: No More Sleep Problems for my Toddler & Baby
Summary: 5 Stars
Our 2 girls sleep like magic. They nap reularly and go to sleep at 7 p.m. (sometimes earlier) and sleep until 6- 7 a.m. I first read portions of this book when I was desperately trying to get our first baby daughter to sleep. She used to be a happy girl - suddenly, she bacame cranky and tired but wouldn't sleep anywhere like she did when she was a newborn. After weeks of trying to figure out how to get her to nap, I read portions of this book. I didn't know that babies have a 2-hour awake window, then they become overtired and need a nap. The very first day I skeptically tried what the author said (I watched for signs of drowsiness then laid her in her crib and left) Wham-O - that baby went right to sleep without a peep! I consulted this book every time there was a change in her sleep patterns (when she started battling bedtimes, naptimes,etc) and every time I have done what the author said - it worked! The man knows what he's talking about.
Now with our second baby, it is so much easier - she naps like a dream. She's 7-months old and still wakes up once at night. But I took the author's advice and feed her at night, keeping the lights low, etc and lay her back down and she goes right back to sleep.
I didn't really like letting our daughters cry it out - but I had tried lots of other things and they all resulted in a lot of crying for my baby and a lot of frustration and anguish for me. From my experience, not letting the child cry it out results in a lot more crying in the long run. When I started cold-turkey (putting her down and leaving the room, letting her cry) it took only a couple of days and the crying was all over!!! Now, they hardly cry ever - both of my children love to go to sleep. We are all a lot happier! Everytime someone says to me, "Wow - your children are good sleepers!" I always thank God and tell them about this book. I'm not kidding!
The ONLY complaint I have is the book is very technical and sometimes hard to find the section that addresses your particular issue - especially when you're frustrated and sleep deprived from your screaming baby! But hang in there you'll find the answer in the book and when you do - it will be WORTH it!
Book Review: Brilliant! Do your family a favor and read this book.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book really does offer the best solutions to achieving a well-rested family. I read this book while I was pregnant of my first child and followed the given advice carefully. By six weeks our baby was sleeping solidly from 10pm until 6am without feeding or waking in between and by nine weeks he was sleeping from 8pm until 7am without feeding or waking. He was also sleeping well during the day. What I like most about the book is that the solutions it offers take into account the different ideas people have about letting their child cry, using a family bed and nursing. I also love how the solutions take into account the differences in temperament of a child (different solutions for different temperaments)and are tailored to differences in age.
What we found to be the most valuable advice is the so-called window of wakefulness. If we applied this limit of one to two hours of wakefulness, we could put our son down for a nap after a short soothing ritual without any crying, fussing or endless soothing efforts. If we missed this time-limit even by a bit, it would take a lot more effort on our side to put him down for a nap and would involve hours of walking the floor with him. To us this is now the "magic window" and we respect it religiously. I can't believe I have never read about this anywhere else and find it to be the key to a happy child and a well-rested family.
I also think that Dr. Weissbluth's advice about respecting your childs rest is excellent. It is very luring for any mother to lug ker kids with her in the car and stroller hoping they will get enough rest along the way. I have friends who consistently force their kid's lives around their schedules and the result is exhausted, cranky kids with terrible sleeping habbits. The worst part is that these mothers then complain about their kids being difficult. I agree with Dr. Weissbluth that the best thing (if possible) parents can do is to adapt their lives to the sleeping schedules of their kids. It takes a sacrifice but it is worth it every time we pick up our well-rested, happy child after a nap and we really have this book to thank for it.