Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Rating:
Summary: Worked great to us!
Review: We bought this book when our baby was born and started reading it when he became 6 weeks old. The first day we tried Dr. Weissbluth's method, our son cried for 1.5 hours to sleep. He had never been able to fall asleep by himself - he always needed someone to rock him so it was his first achievement as a human being, at least we think so. I could not believe my eyes that the method worked so well.

This method is not for everybody. However, for any parents who would like their babies to sleep well and who want some peace to themselves at night, it is worth a try. This book does not say how long it would take a baby to learn how to fall asleep unassisted. It took our son about 4 weeks until we were confident that he had actually learned it. Your child may or may not need that long period to learn it.

A downside of this book would be NOT the contents but the way Dr. Weissbluth writes (often too scientific?). I often had to read a section over and over until I fully understood it. I thought it was my own problem being a non-native English speaker but my husband (native English speaker) had the same problem, too. So, I would suggest that you read NOT from the first page but start from the section explaining for the specific age group, for example 0 to 4 months.

Our son is 5 months old now and sleeps 11 hours straight at night (goes to bed around 7pm). He is a very happy child with lots of smile that makes us happy each day.

Rating:
Summary: Save your money, here's a summary of this book
Review: About a month ago, my 10 month old baby had a cold, and I felt so bad that I started bringing her into bed with us so I could keep close tabs on her.  Unfortunately, after she started feeling better, she was entirely unwilling to go back to her own bed.  So I bought "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."  Boy, for anyone who is having trouble nodding off, its a great book, put Me right to sleep!  His 400 pages could basically be condensed down to a twenty page pamphlet, and those 20 pages could be summarized as:  Put your baby to bed earlier and let her cry it out.

With the attachment parenting trend seeming to dominate every popular parenting magazine, I had started to feel as if someone would call child protective services if my baby every cried.  Or that I would do some type of permanent damage to her self confidence and our relationship.  But at the same time, I basically knew that by leaping at every little squeak she made, I was teaching her to cry every time things didn't go exactly her way.  She wasn't getting enough sleep and neither was I.

So, absolutely feeling sick to my stomach, I put her to bed an hour early and shut the door.  She cried very hard for about 20 minutes and I couldn't stand it.  I was so upset myself I went in and rubbed her back a little, and she fell promptly asleep.  For the next two hours she stirred a little, but never really woke up.  Then she slept the entire night, In her Own Bed!  She even slept an hour later than she normally had been.

Now, this one night of sound sleep would have been well worth the $15 I spent on the book, if my husband and I had actually slept.  In the month that she had been in our bed, we had gotten so accustomed to her being there, that we both kept waking up all night looking for her.

Since then, we are all sleeping better.  She definitely complains at nap and bed time, but only for a couple of minutes.  And her crying is very clearly annoyed protesting rather than sounding as if she is seriously upset or has a problem.  She is sleeping longer both at night and at nap time.  During the day, she is much more able to entertain herself.  She had been taking two, or sometimes three naps a day, but they were only half an hour long.  And when she was awake, she needed constant entertainment.  I couldn't do anything other than be with her.  Now I have time to write and long reviews of parenting books!

I realize that this has been basically a review of the method and not the book. Obviosly, the method has worked for us. And what it basically boils down to is, your child crying is not a terrible thing. You need to remember that you are the parent, and if you decide that it is time for a nap, then its time for a nap, not a debate.

Regarding the book, it is clearly very well researched, but excessivly long. The information is very repetative and not terribly well organized. However, if you are willing to wade through testimonials praising the doctor and read the same piece of information over and over again, there are some usful sections. For instance, the book suggest concrete times you should target to put your child to sleep along with averages for how long most children sleep at specific ages. And while ou might get tired of all the quotes from parents tooting the doctors horn, they did help me find the courage to let her cry and not think that I was the worlds worst parent.

So should you buy the book, probably not. If you are reading this book because your older baby is struggling with sleep, than you probably know its because you have been a bit of a pushover. Toughen up, put the music on so the wails don't break your resolve, and send me the $15.

Best of luck, things got enormously better for us in 2-3 days.

Rating:
Summary: This will change your life!!! ...
Review: I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Weissbluth! I am the mother of a 2 year old and a 5 1/2 month old infant. After 4 days, my toddler has gone from 2 or 3 night wakings to sleeping 12 or 13 hours at night. She never even had to cry it out, she just needed an earlier bedtime. My baby was napping a total of 30 minutes per day, and waking 2 to 3 times at night to eat. Now he take two, two hour naps and sleeps 14 hours at night with no feedings. Although it is hard to let your baby cry it out, you can have a happier baby, life, marriage and home if you stick to Dr. Weissbluth's methods. I will buy this book for every expectant mother I know!

Rating:
Summary: Scientifically correct....but harsh to put into practice
Review: While the doctor is a specialist in the area of sleep the book fails to appreciate that babies are people with feelings.

To give you an understanding of what I mean here are a few EXACT quotes.

Page 177 "Use thick layers of zinc oxide paste in the diaper region so that no rash will develop when you do not go to your baby at night to change diapers."

How long to let your baby cry? Page 159 for naps "no more than one hour" for bedtime "there is no time limit at night if the child is not hungry or ill"

Why do you let him cry? Page 159 "We are leaving him alone to forget the expectation to be picked up."

To answer "Isn't crying harmful" he says: "Not necessarily." "When a child cries she may more quickly unlearn to expect to be picked up."

And if your baby cries so hard she vomits? Page 176 "If the vomiting is irregular and occasional you should try waiting until after you think she is deeply asleep before checking, and then quickly clean her if needed."
(Wait until she's ASLEEP before checking? Clean her IF NEEDED?)

In response to a parent who says she wants to respond to her crying baby at night, Page 178 "Letting your baby cry is not doing nothing. You are activily encouraging the development of independence" He then says you may not want to hear your baby cry because you have Page 179 "Working mother's guilt. You may feel guilty about being away from your child so much."

What if your baby climbs out of the crib? Page 193 "A crib tent will prevent your child from getting out of the crib, and it allows you to remove yourself from his protest crying" And if you don't want to use a crib tent because he says "some parents feel that the crib tent locks their child in the crib like an animal caged in the zoo" then "lock the door instead."

To keep a 3 year old from getting up too early in the morning "Place a digital clock in her room and set the alarm for 6 or 7" "You do not respond to her cries before this wake-up time."

Enough said. Not only are the ideas harsh and the grammer terrible, I much prefer the sensitive approach in The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley where you don't have to deal with vomiting, crying or crib tents.

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: My daughter had so many sleep issues that I read many books to try to find the answer to our problems. I knew about Dr. Weissbluth but I kept avoiding reading the book because I knew it included "crying it out" and my husband and I did not agree with that method.

After a visit to the pediatrician, she suggested "letting her crying it out" and that it was the only way to fix her sleep problems. That's when I read the book. I didn't want to go into something blindly without knowing about it first. Dr. Weissbluth explains in detail how sleep is so important to infants and children. Everything he described in the book seem to fit my daughter (post-colicky baby, overtired and fussy because of it). He explains how to break the cycle of and "overtired" baby and how to teach them to sleep. There are other methods besides letting the child cry it out, but he said they're not as effective. He gave me the courage to help my daughter sleep better. It worked! I can't say it was easy - it was incredibly tough (heart-wrenching) but within 3 days there was significant improvement in her sleep. My daughter is now more rested and a much better sleeper.

The only drawback to the book is that it is not very well organized, but who cares if the content is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Very informative, but I disagree with his methods
Review: I found this book to be very helpful for understanding the importance of quality sleep, and for understanding the complexities of babies' sleep patterns. Some of his advice was very useful, like putting your baby to bed earlier to get her to sleep later. It makes no sense, but it works.

However, I fundamentally disagree with his methodology for getting your baby to comfort herself. Put the baby to bed, close the door, and walk away for the entire night? Sorry, I can't do that. That's too brutal for me. I used this book to understand sleep, but I used Jodi Mindell's and Ferber's gentler methods of progressive checking, which allows you to check on the baby periodically and reassure her. Weissbluth says that just prolongs the agony, but I did not find that to be true. Besides, I am simply incapable of walking away from my crying baby for 12 hours at a time. The baby at least deserves to know that you're nearby and that she's OK, even if it's scary to go to sleep by yourself.

Finally, I hope this new edition had better editing and organization. My older edition is poorly organized, and it frequently contradicts itself.

Rating:
Summary: Great information, but too rigid method
Review: I got this book from a friend of mine when my daughter was three month old. It helps me to understand her needs for napping, and teach me to learn from my baby. But his plan for older baby just seems to change too dramatically from a caring approach to a convenient (for parents, in my opinion) approach. I tried to let my daughter cry it out for about two three days, and she just change from an happy, quickly-responsed baby to cranky, fussy baby during the day time. She didn't understand why I ignore her needs during the night, and she reflects it when she was with us during the day. I than change my method back to the approach this book gave for younger baby-- listen to your baby. I would not get up and get her when she uses her "I-just-want-attention whimpering", but I would go to her when she starts to cry with "personal emotion". I would try not to pick her up nor nurse her unless she is very upset and hungry. Less than a week after I tried my own method, she started to sleep through the night more or less. She woke up more during some nights with needs than others, but most of the times she sleep from 8pm to 6-7am. Just like us, we sometimes woke up more than most times. I just cannot deny her personal needs when it is there. After all, she IS a helpless human being. Sleeping through the night is very important to her and to me, but it cannot deny the fact that sometimes she feel little ache ness that she has no idea what it is but just hurts, scared and need comfort. I wish this book didn't have such distinct cutoff between its approach for younger and older baby. However, the biological information is very valuable in this book. But as a biologist, I think the author ignore the complicity of human social structure. If human's basic biological need is so important that we can override our emotional needs to biological needs, monogamy would not have ever worked in our society!!

Rating:
Summary: It REALLY works
Review: I am the mother of 4 1/2 month old twins. They have 2 completely different personalities. I would be totally insane if not for this book. We could have chalked up our results to luck, but since we have 2 and they are so different, we belive in Dr. Weissbluth's advice. They have been sleeping through the night since 2 months and their naps are getting better and better with VERY little (if any) crying or fussing.

If you follow the book and trust in it (no matter how hard) - it can really help. And looking back - it wasn't really hard, it just seems that way when you are exhausted. All I can say is TRY IT. Especially if you have multiples.

Rating:
Summary: I'll jump on the bandwagon
Review: We have twins and they were born 11 weeks premature. All they do is based on their due date, not their actual date they were born. Therefore, instead of the standard 3-4 months of not sleeping through the night, we added 11 weeks. We were so ready for a good nights sleep, and this was the route to go!

Dr. Weissbluth is not a writer and the book is difficult to read. I re-read it a few times and got it down what he was trying to say. Now I swear that my babies have read this book as well! If I do what he says to do, the babies respond to the letter!

The babies are 3½ months old (according to their due date) and they sleep through the night and take regular naps. We never pace the floor at night or put them on top of the dryer, or take them for a late night drive. Simply put, they sleep. And so do we.

I read Ferber and Sears and you can take a little from all of them. I found Weissbluth to be the best solution for us.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre writing, great advice, one caveat
Review: I found this book poorly written and poorly organized but VERY helpful. I think the author also exaggerates at times, potentially over-worrying parents about their kids' poor sleep habits. However, after being up all night with a baby who refused daytime sleep, I read it. I think his tips on babies getting "overtired" and needing soothing to sleep are especially helpful. Using this book and some of my own expansion of the ideas, I now have a 2 1/2-month old who wakes once a night and naps twice a day. I do not recommend using this book until your child is at least 2 months. I also am hesitant about the cry it out recommendations for older kids. Still like anything else, take the stuff that suits you and your child and leave the rest. In this respect, this book was invaluable.

One caveat: He recommends not picking up your baby once (s)he is in bed. I am *very worried* about that suggestion. My son will often wake up screaming 5-25 minurtes after I put him down for the night or a nap. Invariably I pick him up and he lets out some whopping burps. It hurts when you feel like you're gonna burp and I worry that some of those screaming babies may need to be burped! His advice on sleep patterns is excellent but remember to use your parenting instincts and common sense!