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Summary: Not Just for Sleep-Deprived Parents
Review: As a volunteer parenting counselor, I get a lot of questions regarding sleep. Until now, I thought I needed to have all the answers! I've never felt the total sleep deprivation raising my three children so it was hard for me to relate to the bleary-eyed parents asking me for help. Finally, finally, finally I have a reference book and a book to recommend - my work is done! Funny thing - after reading the book, I started some of the suggestions for my family and have found them to help each of my children (ages 6, 3 and 4 months). Our family saw improvement even though we never felt the desperation felt by other families. Implementing the strategies may take some organization; but it's all good. A gentle and effective book - what a great combination for new parents. This book will find its way into my brother and sister-in-laws' Christmas stocking to help them with their new baby due in February!
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Summary: Wise and Wonderful
Review: The no-cry sleep solution is a lovely book. Elizabeth Pantley's wise and gentle approach will help you sort out your baby's sleep problems without needing to resort to letting her scream. It is an easy-to-read book with lots of tips and information that you can start using immediately. I applaud Elizabeth for taking a stand against leaving babies to cry endlessly, and for sticking up for the babies out there! The book left me feeling reassured, encouraged and empowered.
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Summary: This is the Most Important Parenting Book On the Market
Review: It is impossible to describe the difference this book makes. After 10 months of constant sleep deprivation, I finally picked this book up, and within 4 days, my little one was trundling off to bed easily, and sleeping soundly through the night. Parents - don't let your babies cry alone in their cribs at night: (...) This book will show you how.I can't recommend this more highly; I'm going to give it to every new parent I know.
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Summary: top choice for sleep change
Review: I have recommended this book to a whole handful of parents in this last month alone. There's a waiting list for it at our local library. This book is an answer to many parent's greatest challenges- it details OPTIONS to explore in your child's sleep plan and offers hope to all- no matter what the parenting style. Most important to me- it prioritizes the child's emotional well-being and health and promises NO-CRY combinations which really worked for our family.
I was waking many times each night and placing a lot of blame on my 2 year old for her waking cycles. She slept just next to me in her own little bed and would rouse often during the night. After charting her waking habits for 10 non-judging days (as recommended in this book) I was able to recognize small changes we needed to make to assist her, and large changes we needed to make to assist me! I realized that the amount of sleep she was getting was working just fine, but that my sleep was being disturbed by my next pregnancy, and that mild insomnia was clouding my judgement. The book has two sections- one for young infants and then one for older babies and toddlers. I was pleased to find that the ideas were applicable to such a large range. NORMAL sleep cycles and their variablity are explained and simple, effective methods of charting to detect patterns are provided. A menu of solutions is proposed for all sleep issues from which parents can choose what works best for them.
A fabulous book- a must for every parent's library.
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Summary: Thank you Elizabeth Pantley!
Review: I cried the first time I read this book because I had just gone to my pediatrician who said, after nursing my daughter to sleep for her first year, that I would have to let her cry for hours to undo this problem. When I read the No-Cry solution, it made sense to me, and has given me hope that I will be able to get my daughter to sleep on her own, eventutally, with time and patience. Like Elizabeth stated in her book, if I had my choice to teach my daughter to sleep well with tears or time, I choose time!!!
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Summary: A Must Have Book for New Parents
Review: My wife and I recently had our first child. The first week with our daughter was great. She slept a lot, breast fed well, and we were convinced that we had given birth to an angel. Getting her to sleep during that first week was easy. We would wrap her in a blanket like a burrito, place her in the bassinet or crib, and she would be out. Unfortunately, our honeymoon was soon over after that first week. As she began to experience her new surroundings, and started to go through tremendous growth spurts, she became increasingly difficult to comfort. As new parents, we felt lost with the multitude of advice coming from our friends and family. There was also the frustration of feeling like we weren't meeting the needs of our daughter, because of her constant restlessness and screaming. Fortunately, Elizabeth Pantley had recently mailed me a copy of her book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, to review on FamilyResource.com. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Elizabeth's book was packed full of useful knowledge and wisdom to help any parent care for their newborn or older baby. In the second chapter of The No-Cry Sleep Solution, Elizabeth focuses on educating parents on the basic sleep patterns of babies. Most parents (including us) are quick to believe that their newborn baby has sleep problems, simply because they can't seem to get their baby to sleep on a schedule. In response to this common misperception, Pantley writes:
"Newborn babies do not have sleep problems, but their parents do. Newborns sleep when they are tired, and wake when they are ready. If their schedule conflicts with yours, it's not a problem for them; they don't even know it." After educating parents about basic sleep facts, she walks the reader through the process of keeping sleep logs. The logs are easy to understand, and she provides templates that parents can use for their own logs. My wife and I weren't exactly in a place where we wanted to start keeping logs yet. However, if you have disinterest in the logs like we did, it shouldn't deter you from getting the book. The chapters that discuss the logs, also include an innumerable amount of helpful suggestions for how to teach your baby good sleep patterns and waking behavior. The chapter we found most helpful was the one entitled, "Review and Choose Sleep Solutions." Elizabeth breaks up the sections into newborns and older babies. The newborn chapter was a God send for us. Suddenly, much of our daughter's behavior began to make sense to us. One of the many things she talks about is day/night confusion. She suggests not having your baby nap too much during the day, because the infant may get day and night mixed up, which may be why she's up all night. Parents will enjoy the inserts throughout the book called, "Mother-Speak." Mother-Speak consists of short quotes from real mothers describing their experience trying to get their baby to cry less, and sleep better. I felt like Mother-Speak did a good job of connecting the content with the reader, and I think it helps give the reader a sense of normalcy and hope regarding their situation. Finally, probably the most educational chapter in the entire book is chapter 8, "Analyze Your Success." There is so much accumulated research and advice in this chapter, that it could be its own book. This chapter seemed to cover everything, literally! The No-Cry Sleep Solution is a must have for parents of babies (newborn to 2-years-old). If it wasn't for this book, I'm not sure how our sanity would be right now. Thank you Elizabeth for writing an incredibly useful and helpful book!
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Summary: Pantley's Ideas Really Work!
Review: We bought this book after deciding to move our 5 month old son out of his "side car" next to our bed, and into his crib. He had been waking every 1-2 hours, and I was exhausted even though we were in bed for 12 hours. I learned that his crib allowed him to sleep better (even though we miss him) and I have become a much happier person to be around now that I'm not sleep deprived. Her suggestions are mostly common sense, though sleep deprivation prevented me from seeing them on my own. We went from never sleeping through the night, to waking up 1-2 times for feedings during a 10-12 hour period. I highly recommend having a partner help out so that your child can know when he wakes up in the middle of the night, no breastfeeding, just dad. He loves it, and I think it's helped our son decide it's not worth getting up every hour if he won't be able to eat every time. I recommend this book highly. A fast read, (...)
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Summary: This book works!
Review: If you want to sleep and you can't, or wont, make your baby cry it out, give this book a few weeks to work it's magic. E. Pantley gives parents for babies of all ages a series of ideas and steps that really do work. It is a gentle and caring process that only takes a few weeks. The book says it may take a month or so, but we started seeing results after one night. My daughter (7 mo.) has gone from waking every 2 hours to sleeping straight through the night without crying it out - ever. I am now a sane mommy!
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Summary: This works!
Review: Pantley offers a wonderful book full of understanding, support, and warm-hearted sleep solutions that work! I was ready to shoot myself when my daughter was waking 12-15 times a night and now--six weeks later--she's sleeping through the night. Everyone told us to let her cry it out, but I couldn't. It was so worth it to go more slowly and both feel good about teaching her to resettle herself and be able to get more sleep myself.
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Summary: A Practical (and effective!)Guide for sleep-deprived parents
Review: As a mom of three, including a very high needs infant and then twins, I know sleep deprivation! As a Childbirth Educator and Doula, I have a fairly extensive knowledge of typical infant sleep cycles and behavior. But as any sleep deprived parent can attest, you can be so overwhelmed, exhausted, and desperate for sleep that you are tempted to try anything and need some support and guidance. The two most common suggestions parents are given are to let the baby "cry it out" or to "just deal with it and know this too will eventually pass", neither of which validates the feelings of these desperate parents or gives them practical ideas for trying to meet both their needs and those of their baby, and often, makes them feel worse either because they can't stand to let their baby cry nor feel they can continue to go on being exhausted and sleep deprived, they want and need help NOW. This book is that help. I bought the No-Cry Sleep Solution when my twin son and daughter were about 9 months old. I was exclusively breastfeeding them and attachment parenting them and did not want to stop that parenting style, but was desperate for sleep. Elizabeth's book was informative, easy to read, easy to follow, and most importantly comprehensive. She does not advocate for any one method of helping babies and parents to sleep, but rather gives weary, exhausted, and overwhelmed parents useful information about what reasonable expectations for sleep are, emphasizes safety, and then gives them easy to use tools they can use to identify sleep issues and many techniques they can choose from to try to bring more sleep to everyone, regardless of sleep arrangements or feeding style! I especially like her sleep logs and analysis tools. Within a few weeks of reading her book we were all sleeping better and I was less stressed as I was able to understand the reasons behind the waking and address them without tears for me or my babies! And yes, we are now all sleeping all night!
I highly recommend this book if you are looking for ways to gently and lovingly help your baby (and yourself) learn to sleep better!
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